The Boston College Lacrosse Star Who Sacrificed His Life on September 11, 2001

It's interesting.

I started the day a bit shocked at the lower-than-normal volume of "always remember" and "never forget" tribute posts on social media that we've become accustomed to every time September 11 comes ever since 2001.

Don't get me wrong, the posts are still there but it just seems like this is the first year where they're lacking a bit more than usual. The irony of that statement, too, is even with what seems like a lighter load of tribute posts today, I heard a story I somehow never had before about 9/11 that involves a local lacrosse star -- of all places, on a Barstool Sports page on Instagram.

Welles Crowther - The Man in the Red Bandana

Generally known for his sarcastic and hilarious quick video posts about the biggest news stories in pop culture, Kevin Clancy -- better known as the One Minute Man on Barstool Sports -- took a bit of a somber tone given the day today and told the story of The Man in the Red Bandana, who is better known as Boston College lacrosse star Welles Crowther.

According to the story told by Kevin on the Barstool Instagram channel, although Welles was a BC student, he was a New York native who returned to his native state after graduating college and always had dreams of becoming a firefighter. And while he unfortunately never was able to officially achieve his dream, his last heroic acts prove that he would've been one of FDNY's finest.

After a plane hit the second World Trade Center tower (which he worked in at the time as an equities trader), Welles was the only able-bodied person on the 78th floor still able to help others get down to safety. And that's what he did.

According to the 9/11 Memorial website, covering his face with his trademark red bandana given to him by his grandfather when he was a child, Welles helped multiple people down multiple flights of the few working staircases left in the tower, meeting up with members of FDNY who continued helping people down while Welles ran back up to help more.

According to the Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust website, Welles' body was recovered on March 19, 2002, surrounded by members of the FDNY that he was helping get people to safety.

The craziest part? Welles' family didn't even know about his heroic efforts until they read an article in the New York Times where the people Welles helped talked about "a man in a red bandana that appeared out of nowhere to help."

Other than Kevin's telling of the tale on the Barstool Instagram page, multiple other sources highlight Welles' heroic story both online and in an ESPN documentary short called 'The Man in the Red Bandana' that aired back in September 2020.

It's still wild to me that I've lived in New England almost my entire life and today was the first today I had heard about Welles' story considering his connection to the area. The world could use more selfless people like Welles.