Sept. 11, 2001: the day our world was changed forever. Back then I was working at Student Sports and we produced a national magazine that covered high school sports including football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, lacrosse and, of course, softball.

For the October 2011 issue, our staff—me included—compiled various snapshots of how the darkest day in our country’s history was seen through the eyes of those in high school and club sports. The following vignettes cover a variety of sports, but it seems relevant on this day when we look back in honor and rememberance of those who died…

 

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Originally published in the October, 2001 issue of Student Sports Magazine

The terrorist attacks 13 years ago today on New York and Washington, D.C., first stung and surprised America, but ultimately served as a unifying force.

As a nation, we paused, remembered, honored and cried.

Then, as Americans, we used sports to help restore a bit of normalcy. The pre-game playing of the National Anthem instantly had more meaning. Camaraderie and sportsmanship were at an all-time high back then. If nothing else, to be engrossed in a sporting event took our minds away — although but for a brief period — from the tragic events of that most tragic of days.

 

The following is a collection of short stories of reaction and response to the tragedy from coast-to-coast:

 

*** A Hero’s Action: Minnesota school remembers former quarterback who probably fought hijackers

 

By Mark Tennis and Scott Neuenfeldt

As the strongest nation in the world tries to mend its wounds, people throughout America are moving on with their lives in one way or another. One of the best examples of that took place only three days after the terrorist attacks at Bloomington Stadium in Minnesota.

Bloomington Stadium, near Minneapolis, is the home of Jefferson High, a school that in 1980 made it to the state final with quarterback Tom Burnett Jr. at the helm. Burnett went on to become a successful business executive in the San Francisco Bay Area. On Sept. 11, he was on United Airlines Flight 93, the plane that eventually plummeted nose first into a Pennsylvania field, killing all aboard.

On a somber night three days after the attack, Tom Burnett Sr. returned to the field where his son had some of his greatest athletic moments. The football field — where words like courageous and inspirational took on different meanings after the tragedies in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

At one time, Tom Burnett Jr. was part of the American ritual of high school football. The ritual is embedded deep into the fabric of America, as his father chose to attend a game just three days after his son died apparently while helping to foil a fourth hijacked plane that terrorists may have been planning to crash into a target in Washington, D.C.

While most professional sports across the United States paused to mourn, high school football in many states continued. As Jefferson coach Jon Leverenz told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, “I think it’s good for America to do this. Friday night in America means high school football. This shows America is still ticking on the inside.”

Tom Burnett Jr. and others on United Flight 93 probably did what they felt was necessary and the right thing to do. The terrorists that inflicted harm on America were willing to die for their cause and may not have thought Americans would do likewise. They couldn’t have been more wrong.

As the Burnett family remembers a brother and a son, it was no surprise what Tom Burnett Jr. did on the plane to the people that knew him. Those who didn’t know him owe Burnett Jr. a never-ending debt of gratitude.

 

*** In Memory of a Fallen Panther

by Brentt Eads

Sadly, the Southern California match-up between Palos Verdes Peninsula and La Puente Bishop Amat held on Friday, Sept. 21 was similar to hundreds held across the nation that night: it featured a moment of silence in respect for an alum who perished in the terrorist attacks of nine days before.

Chris Larrabee was a 26-year old former football player at Peninsula, Class of 1993, who worked on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower and was killed when hijackers crashed an American Airlines plane into the building. Larrabee had relocated to New York City in February and was training with the Cantor Fitzgerald brokerage firm that had offices on four floors of the tower and lost nearly 1,000 employees.

At the football game, the American flag flew at half-mast. Fifteen minutes before the start of the contest a small school choir sang “God Bless America,” “America, the Beautiful,” and “The Star Spangled Banner.” The Panther players wore two decals on the back of their helmets: one bearing an American flag and another with the initials “CL.”

In the stands, fans wore flag pins and clothing with patriotic symbols or colors. One older man wore a U.S. Marine hat. Yells for the struggling team often gave way to quiet introspection during lulls in the on-field action. Throughout the game, a 30-7 dominating win by Amat, administrators and friends reflected on the loss of the student-athlete who graduated eight years ago and made the tragedy 3,000 miles away seem much more close and personal.

“It’s very simple,” Athletic Director John Barr said solemnly, “this was a terrible loss for everyone in the Panther family.”

“This senseless loss makes the horror in New York seem very real for our school and community,” stated principal Kelly Johnson. “I remember Chris played football his junior year and then missed a lot of time his senior year with a major illness, maybe a brain aneurysm. He couldn’t play football and had to struggle to get through school, but he did it and went on to Arizona and was doing great with his whole life ahead of him.”

Blake Paullin, a star tight end for the Panthers a year ago, plays on the University of Utah football team as a walk on. Not traveling with the Utes for an away game, he was able to watch his alma mater play and reflect on his interactions with Larrabee.

“Our family is very close to theirs,” he explained. “We used to have BBQ’s together all the time. Chris was outgoing and always upbeat. He knew what he wanted in life. We would talk all the time, mostly about surfing and football. His death makes me realize football isn’t the most important thing in my life. I just thank God everyday for my mind and body and the opportunities I’ll have that, tragically, Chris won’t be able to have.”

 

*** Answering the Call

Chicago (Ill.) Mount Carmel assistant freshman football coach Joe Kubik was one of about 50 Chicago-area firefighters who were summoned to New York just hours after the attacks.

Kubik, 33, who has a wife and three small children, didn’t hesitate to help his fallen “brothers,” the hundreds of other firefighters who were buried in the collapse of the World Trade Centers.

“We did anything they asked us to do,” Kubik told the Chicago Tribune. “Mostly we just dug, dug and dug, looking for victims. The only way to really dig was with our hands. We were looking for anyone alive in the rubble. We didn’t have any luck.”

Back home, his players defeated Brother Rice of Chicago, Ill., saving him the game ball. They spoke highly of his bravery and sacrifice. “We really have a lot of respect for him,” cornerback Chris Orr told the paper.

 

*** On Guard: senior football player in Army town wonders if he’ll be called to duty

By Murray Evans

When Dusty Wilmore decided in February 2000 to join the Oklahoma Army National Guard, he was planning for his future.

“They have a program in which they pay for college tuition,” Wilmore said. “I wanted to join so I can have college taken care of.”

Then came Sept. 11, and the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. All of a sudden, Wilmore’s future — like that of thousands of his fellow students and National Guard cohorts — seemed up in the air.

Will he be able to graduate? Will he be able to attend college? Will his unit be called to serve? Will he be sent off to war? All of those questions have flashed through the mind of Wilmore, a senior lineman on the football team at MacArthur High of Lawton, Okla., a town located adjacent to Fort Sill Army Base.

“I really didn’t know what to think (after the attacks),” said Wilmore, who will turn 18 on Feb. 28. “I didn’t think anything like that could happen in our nation. The thought (of being called to duty) has crossed my mind a few times. I’m ready to go if I have to.”

Wilmore grew up in a military family — his parents, Dan and Vera, both served in the Army. Dan Wilmore served in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War, and was away from his family for almost a year. He and his wife were pleased with Dusty’s decision to join the National Guard.

“We made him aware that he could be sent off (to war),” Dan Wilmore said. “But Dusty thought what we did was great. He believes in his country. He knows (the National Guard) is a good thing. It will benefit him and make him grow up.”

Some of Dusty Wilmore’s initial questions already have been answered. He will be able to graduate with his class, and he won’t be able to be called to active duty until after he completes his Advanced Individual Training next summer. Beyond that, he still wonders what will happen.

Wilmore, who is 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, starts both ways for MacArthur, a school in Oklahoma’s second-highest class, and has received recruiting interest from both major colleges and small schools.

But as much as he’d love to play college football, he knows his National Guard duties — whatever they may be — have to come first for the time being.

“If I’m called, I’ll go,” he said. “That’s what I signed up for, to defend my country. I didn’t expect it … but that’s something I’ve dealt with.”

 

*** Working to Keep the Peace

By Jason Deagan

In the wake of the terrorist attacks, the United State’s Arab-American community has sometimes felt under attack as well.

At Dearborn (Mich.) Fordson High, where the student population is 85-90 percent Arab-Americans, the administration has tried hard to keep its student-athletes from any negative incidents of racial slurs and stereotyping.

Boys athletic director Mark Shooshanian said security has been increased at all the school’s football games, but there have been no problems thus far. “The (games) we’ve had since (Sept. 11) have been fantastic; nothing but cooperation from both schools involved,” he said.

He added that the school’s students are still struggling with what’s happening around them, unsure of what people think of them and how they will be treated in the future. “There is an uncertainty there,” Shooshanian said. “(Our students) hurt just as much as anybody else. They are all (U.S.) citizens and playing sports just like other kids are.”

Shooshanian said he’s actually heard fewer racial slurs since the attacks because the issue is so sensitive. But sophomore football player Towfek Ittayem had a different perspective. “I hear a lot more,” he said. “They say things like ‘camel jockeys, go back home,’ and ‘you terrorists, leave here.’”

Ittayem says the verbal assaults on the field just make his teammates play harder. “We get looked down on and mistreated,” he said. “We can’t do anything back, otherwise we look bad. We take it out with our pads.

“… We are as much American as everybody else. We are Arab-Americans. I’m sure there were Arab people in the towers. The people who did this were bad people. You can’t point fingers (at the entire Arab community).”

 

*** Heightened Alert

By Mark Tennis

Air Academy is no normal high school, certainly not in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks. The Colorado public school is located on the U.S. Air Force base just north of Colorado Springs, and following the attacks, security was beefed up and a lot of changes were made.

“We’ve had to dump all our athletic and activity schedules and start over,” athletic director Diane Shuck told the Denver Rocky Mountain News. “We can’t have any high school competitions at our school.”

About 1,300 of the school’s 1,450 students either live off base or are children of Air Force Academy personnel.

“The civilian parents are not allowed on the Air Academy grounds right now,” Shuck said. “Under the circumstances, they have been very supportive of what we have had to do. Everyone knows that the security to protect the cadets at the Academy is going to be extremely high.”

The added security measures now dictate that all off-base residing students must meet in the parking lot of a nearby mall where they are shuttled to the school by bus, but not before they have to show ID cards and have their bags searched by guards. Another change: all athletic practices are held between 6:30 and 9:30 a.m., before school starts.

“I’m there each morning at 5:30,” Shuck said. “I think we’re finally getting with it. Once on the campus, they are not allowed to leave. It’s almost a total lockdown during the school hours.”

Air Academy has moved many of its athletic contests to nearby Liberty and Rampart high schools.

While the situation is serious, students have maintained a sense of humor.

“We’ve even come up with what could be considered military terms for moving the kids back and fourth,” Shuck said. “For example, moving the kids on the school buses each morning from the mall to the school is called Operation Yellow Dog.”

 

*** Teams, Athletes Still Not Comfortable Traveling

By Sheldon Shealer

Arrangements were made, money put down, the excitement level at a high. Then came Sept. 11, and the terrorist attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The girls soccer players and coaching staff at Maria Carrillo (Santa Rosa, Calif.) held a team meeting Sept. 21 with players and parents, where the team’s trip to Downingtown (Pa.) was canceled.

A couple of parents objected to having their children fly cross-country for a soccer match.

“We were very excited and had huge support — until last Tuesday (Sept. 11),” John LaPrath said. “We have three or four parents who can’t make that decision (to let their children fly) right now. … I’m a little nervous, too, but I’m still excited (to travel). It could do an incredible amount for the team.”

Instead, it will have to wait until next year, when the team will either host a tournament or travel to an out-of-state event with the money raised this year.

Following the terrorist attacks, the fallout was immediate for high school teams expecting to travel, as airports were shut down and a rash of sports events were either postponed or canceled for a variety of reasons. DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) could not make a scheduled trip to face Rockhurst (Kansas City, Mo.) in football Sept. 15. Two soccer tournaments in Tennessee were merged into one the same weekend when all of the out-of-state competitors in both events were unable to attend.

Bill McGregor, DeMatha’s football coach, summed up the feeling immediately after the attacks.

“We have a lot of kids fearful of flying and parents who don’t want kids on a plane,” McGregor added.

And it’s not just games that were affected.

Oak Hill (Mount of Wilson, Va.) boys basketball coach Steve Smith said two of his players canceled recruiting visits because they were leery of flying. Eric Wilkins, a 6-foot-3 guard, skipped a trip to Miami (Fla.), while Antywane Robinson, a 6-foot-6 forward, postponed visits to Boston College and Southern Methodist.

Oak Hill may be considered the jet-setters of the national high school scene, taking an average of four to five flights to events every season. Smith said this year’s team has five events to which they are planning to fly.

“Luckily, we don’t fly anywhere until December,” Smith said. “I’m a little bit concerned because it’s hard to get those images out of your mind.”

Smith said the increased security regarding plane travel makes it “probably a safe time to go, but (the events are) not far enough removed that you feel comfortable flying.”

 

*** To play or not to play: NFL’s decision had a ripple effect — right down to the high school level

By Mark Tennis

A random sampling of schools with top-ranked football teams in California and calls to other top-ranked teams in the West conducted in the early afternoon of Sept. 13 showed that only a small number of scheduled games for Friday night, Sept. 14, were going to be canceled or postponed in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C.

But by the end of the day the number of those who were canceling or postponing was growing by the hour. Another sampling taken the next day seemed to indicate that manyschool districts decided to cancel after the NFL postponed all of its weekend games and after President Bush declared that Friday would be a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.

The Fresno Unified School District met on Sept. 12 and announced all of its schools would be allowed to participate in athletic events during the weekend. That stance changed on Thursday.

“The reason we reversed our decision was out of consideration for the President’s proclamation,“ said Carol Sarkisian-Bonard, assistant superintendent for secondary education, in a quote taken from the Fresno Bee. “We will have appropriate remembrances during the day at schools. To hold athletic events would not be an appropriate remembrance.”

Nationwide, the best example of the ripple effect was in Oklahoma. After the NFL made its decision, all Division I-A colleges postponed games, including Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, which originally were going to play.

Those cancellations then prompted the state association to recommend that no high school games be played, either. That resulted in cancellation of the annual rivalry game between Tulsa-area rivals Jenks and Union, which last year drew 40,000 to the University of Tulsa’s Skelly Stadium.

In California, a mixed picture emerged with most cancellations occurring in the CIF L.A. City and San Diego sections. Even in the midst of all the gut-wrenching decisions being made, games were played on Thursday, too.

At the Grape Bowl in Lodi, Calif., Elk Grove, one of the top teams in the Sac-Joaquin Section, went up against Tokay of Lodi and posted a 33-14 victory.

Tokay coach Jeff Tracy seemed to feel a lot like those who thought their teams should play in the midst of the tragedy. “We can’t let terrorists dictate to us,” Tracy told the Stockton Record. “Professionals are different. They travel with the airlines and play in

big stadiums. Nobody is going to bomb the Grape Bowl. … We’ve got to go

on. America has to go on.”