CHAPEL HILL – Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks on the United States that set the nation on its heels and world on alert. And when North Carolina’s football team takes the field versus Georgia State inside Kenan Stadium, the Tar Heels will wear decals on their helmets remembering the historic and tragic occasion.
The University has plans to do much more than that as well, as the Tar Heels and Panthers square off at 7:30 pm.
“The athletics department has got a lot of cool things to honor our first responders,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said Monday. “It will be great to have a full stadium for the first time in a couple of years. And there’s absolutely no way we can do enough to recognize first responders for who they are and what they’ve done.”
On September 11, 2001, hijackers commandeered four jet airliners: two were flown into the twin towers comprising The WOrld Trade Center in New York City; one went into the Pentagon across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.; and a final plane was flown into a field in Pennsylvania. Hostages-turned-heroes on board the latter flight charged the cockpit and thwarted the hijackers, eventually driving the plane into the field. Reports indicated the plane was headed for the nation’s capital, either the White House or the U.S. Capitol Building.
Each of twin towers had 110 stories, and not long after the planes flew into them, they collapsed. In all, 2,977 people were killed and more than 25,000 were injured.
Among those who perished were 412 first responders: 343 firefighters; 37 Port Authority and New Jersey Police officers; 23 New York City Police officers; eight emergency technicians; and one patrolman from the New York Fire Patrol.
The black decal with white writing reads, “Never Forget 2001-2021,” and will be set on the back of each player’s helmet and to the left of the American flag.
“It’s a wonderful time to appreciate and say, ‘thank you’ to first responders and honor them,” Brown said.
Like so many Americans over a certain age, Brown vividly remembers what he was doing when he learned about the tragedy, which took place on a Tuesday morning.
“I was coaching at Texas when 9/11 hit,” he recalled. “I was in a meeting, because we had an open date, and somebody came in and said, ‘Coach, a plane has hit the twin towers.’ I’m thinking heart attack, I’m thinking something awful. Then they came back and said, ‘Coach, there’s another plane down in Pennsylvania and another plane has hit the Pentagon.'
“So, President Bush being the (previous) governor of Texas (and) having the twin daughters that were going to school at Texas, we were panicked. They told us to get all of our players and find them and get them to a basement.”
The Longhorns’ starting quarterback at the time was Chris Simms, who was from the New York area and whose parents lived there. His father, Phil Simms, was a legendary quarterback with the New York Giants in the 1980s.
Brown, his staff, and assistants tried locating Simms’ parents and other relatives of those within the program that lived in the area. They were frantically reacting like everyone else in the nation.
“We were all trying to figure out what happened,” Brown said. “And obviously, that is a significant day in all of our lives because it changed how we live, it changed our security, it changed how we travel.
“It’s something we will address with the players, because it’s something they need to know that’s a big part of history, and that will be honored this weekend.”
UNC will also honor Kirby Saunders, Director of Orange County (NC) Emergency Services. Saunders has served 22 years in the field, spending most of his career on disaster response teams, including most recently “a two-week stint in Hawaii following the Kilauea volcano eruption in 2018,” as written by Chapelboro.com.
“(He) actually went to New York and fell in love with being a first responder at 9/11,” Brown said about Saunders. “So, he will be honored on Saturday night.”
UNC has not yet released its full slate of plans for Saturday night.
