A red bandanna left in tribute beside the name 韦尔斯·雷米·克劳瑟 at the National September 11 Memorial. The 1999 BC alumnus lost his life leading others to safety following the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.
The inspirational story of 韦尔斯·雷米·克劳瑟 '99, who died on 9/11 after courageously leading strangers to safety in the minutes prior to the collapse of the World Trade Center's South Tower, 是一本新书的主题吗, 红色大手帕, by award-winning ESPN correspondent Tom Rinaldi.
Taking its name from the trademark handkerchief Crowther always carried, the book looks at the 24-year-old's selfless acts on that tragic day 15 years ago, as well as the upbringing that shaped the young man, who worked as an equities trader for Sandler O'Neill and Partners but still harbored the childhood dream of becoming a firefighter.
Rinaldi's interest in the story grew out of his work writing and reporting a 2011 ESPN documentary called '《穿红色大手帕的人.' He thought there was a larger story to be told.
"The feature, which first aired in 2011, was more than 13 minutes in length,雷那蒂说 in a Q&A with the publisher, Penguin Books. "That's a long time on television, but there was so much more to tell about Welles Ñ before the day his life ended, and in the aftermath of his death.
"To build a fuller portrait of who he was, 他从哪里来, 抚养他长大的家庭, and the experiences that shaped him, to build a context around the choice he made in the final hour of his life, 这需要更充分的说明. A book was the right venue to do that."
"People see the fallen, beat-up world around them and ask: What can I do? 也许:像威尔斯·克劳瑟那样. Take your bandanna, change the world.——佩吉·努南， 《华尔街日报》
Each year, the University remembers Crowther at the "Red Bandanna" football game and hosts the 韦尔斯·雷米·克劳瑟 Red Bandanna 5K 使…受益 韦尔斯·雷米·克劳瑟 Charitable Trust. This year, the game takes place Oct. 7日和10月7日的跑步比赛. 15. 除了, 克洛泽的名字, along with the names of the 21 other alumni who lost their lives on 9/11, 是刻在 电子游戏软件纪念迷宫.
双子塔倒塌后, 克洛泽的父母, 杰弗逊和艾莉森, 接受了他的死亡, but the mystery of his final hours painfully lingered.
袭击发生几个月后, Alison Crowther read a news account from several 9/11 survivors who said they and others had been led to safety by a stranger, 背着一个女人, down nearly 20 flights of stairs then returning back up to search for others. 幸存者不知道他的名字, but one remembered a single detail clearly: the man was wearing a red bandanna.
Rinaldi says he first learned of Crowther's story in 2010 from ESPN producer Drew Gallagher, a Crowther friend and fellow member of the BC Class of 1999.
“威尔斯的选择, 还有他的英勇, struck me as both specific and symbolic Ñ as one of many outside of uniform who acted selflessly, 悲惨地死去, amidst the unspeakable horror of that day,Ó雷那蒂说, the recipient of 15 Sports Emmy awards and six Edward R. 默罗奖. "He passed through the same doors, 呼吸着同样的空气, 坐同样的电梯, 就像我哥哥那样, who worked for more than 15 years on the 81st floor of the south tower."
Rinaldi says the book offers a view into a single life among the 2,977 people who died on 9/11. Central to Crowther's life was a family tradition of volunteer firefighting and Crowther volunteered with his father at Empire Hook & 梯公司编号. 1、在他们纽约的家附近.
"That ethos—of answering the call, 冲向混乱, of helping others who face danger—took root deep inside him, 从未离开,雷那蒂说. “在他死前一个月, he called his father and told him he wanted to leave his job in finance to become a member of the FDNY. After his death, cleaning out his apartment, his father found his application, filled out."
The veteran reporter says no story he's reported during his career has touched him more deeply than that of Crowther and his parents.
Watch a feature report on ABC "Good Morning America"
除了 to the connections they have maintained with BC, the Crowther family has established a scholarship fund in their son's honor and Welles Crowther's story is a central feature of a character-based school curriculum.
Rinaldi says he often carries a red bandanna in his back pocket. "In a time of great division and loud discord in our country, 我们之间的距离有多远, 大手帕是存在的, as does Welles' life and its final hour, as symbols of what might bind us together—in our caring for one another,他说.
"I hope the red bandanna might exist as a red badge of courage for our time, as a reminder of the common fabric in our humanity."
——艾德·海沃德|新闻 & 公共事务
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2016年，文森特. Russo '75, managing shareholder of Russo Law Group, P.C., and host of the Telly Award-winning program "Family Comes First," interviewed 艾莉森和杰弗逊·克劳瑟 about their son's life and legacy:
