When Boston College met Clemson University for an ACC football matchup Saturday night, fans waved red bandannas, honoring alumnus Welles Crowther, who died during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center.
They weren’t the only proud Eagles honoring Crowther, a 1999 graduate and former lacrosse player.
Players took the field at Alumni Stadium in special uniforms featuring the red paisley pattern and “For Welles” replacing their names on the back. Coaches sported gear with a red bandanna design filling out the BC logo.
Alison Crowther, Welles’s mother, was honored on the field during the first quarter. The tributes will continue this month on campus.
Boston College Police officers will be cruising around campus all month in a red bandanna-themed police car and wearing patches on their sleeves in Crowther’s memory. The car — #419 — pays an unusual tribute to Crowther, who wore No. 19 on the lacrosse team.
“Ironically, 419 was our next car replacement,” the police department said on Twitter. “And 19 was Welles jersey number, so 4-19 “for Welles” was a perfect fit.”
Three members of the department came up with the idea to wear special police patches on their sleeves throughout October, said Jack Dunn, a university spokesman.
When the patches became popular, the officers decided to sell them to raise money for the Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust.
“They expect to sell as many as 1,500 patches this month for the fund,” Dunn said. “Having the red bandanna design on a BC police car is a way for BCPD to raise awareness, honor Welles’s legacy, and build community support.”
The school will also host the 18th annual Red Bandanna 5K Road Race on Oct. 19, Dunn said.
Dunn said that Crowther’s story “has inspired all of us at Boston College since his heroic death on Sept. 11.”
Crowther had worn a red bandanna, given to him by his father, Jefferson, since he was a child growing up in Nyack, N.Y. He carried it wherever he went. At BC, he always wore one beneath his lacrosse uniform.
And on Sept. 11, Crowther was working as an equities trader on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center when United Flight 175 crashed into the building.
Crowther ran from his office to help others get out of the building. He used his bandanna to protect his eyes and mouth from the smoke and debris, the Globe reported.
Survivors knew him only as the “man in the red bandanna.” Crowther is credited with saving more than a dozen people, even carrying a woman on his back, down 17 floors. He went back into the building to help get more people out, before losing his own life.
In the years since his death, the red bandanna has become a symbol of pride and loyalty for an alumnus who lived the values of the Jesuit university.
“He is the true embodiment of what we strive to be at Boston College,” said ABC/ESPN broadcaster, Joe Tessitore, also a BC alum, who narrated a video posted Saturday night to the football team’s Twitter page. ‘To be men and women for others.’ ”
Adam Sennott can be reached at adam.sennott@globe.com.