On what was expected to be an ordinary Saturday in mid-September of 2001, Wabash College was set to host Wheaton College for their second football game of the season. However, this week turned out to be anything but ordinary. That Saturday was just four days after the September 11 terrorist attacks. 25 years later, those who were there still remember it as one of the most surreal and important days in the College’s athletic history.
The week began like any other. Wabash Athletic and Recreation Communication Director, Brent Harris H’03, had a soccer match against Taylor University scheduled for the afternoon of Sept. 11. However, the morning of the 11 completely changed what came after.
“I was home and saw the video of the first tower on fire, smoking,” said Harris, describing his initial confusion over whether one plane or two had struck the World Trade Center.
As the attacks unfolded that morning, Wabash’s administration faced an immediate question: what to do about classes and the soccer match still on schedule?
“We wondered if we should cancel classes, but President Andy Ford was convinced that the way to work through the tragedy was by discussing it in class with peers,” said Jim Amidon ’87, then Wabash’s chief communications officer.
Harris was on the phone with Amidon discussing the soccer game when the first tower came down. Both Wabash’s and Taylor’s presidents ultimately decided the match should go on to provide some normalcy, though the game itself felt extraneous.
“Taylor scored a goal, and nobody cared,” said Harris “People are going through a tragedy right now.”
“The mood on campus was very somber but there was also an air of patriotism.” Said Amidon.
As the week went on, leagues across the country began canceling games; the NFL, MLB and college athletic departments throughout the country were rescheduling or completely calling off all events. Wabash did not.
Wheaton College had its own personal connection to the tragic week. Wheaton alumnus Todd Beamer had been aboard United Airlines Flight 93, the hijacked plane that crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers moved to retake the cockpit. Beamer is infamous for the phrase “Let’s roll,” reportedly spoken to fellow passengers moments before they rushed the cockpit and overpowered the hijackers. Harris said that Wabash officials didn’t know that part of the story at the time, only that Wheaton had lost an alumnus on one of the hijacked planes. Wheaton, like Wabash, wanted to play, and the date lined up with Wabash’s season-opening Community Day, giving officials a chance to bring the community together.
On Friday night, Wabash held a candlelight vigil around the flagpole on the mall.
“In the weeks prior, you could look up at night and see planes going across the sky,” said Harris. “After the attacks you would look up, and there’s nothing. Because there are no planes going anywhere.”
Before kickoff Saturday, both teams gathered on Wabash’s home sideline as President Ford addressed the players and crowd.
“It was a beautiful, blue-sky day, but the mood was cautious and anything but celebratory,” said Amidon. “You could hear a pin drop before and after President Ford gave his remarks.
Harris, watching from the press box, said he “didn’t have any Kleenex left” by the time Ford finished. What followed was a sight of unity among everyone in the stadium.
“I think every person in the stadium sang the National Anthem as loudly as they could,” said Amidon.
Due to the lack of other Indiana teams playing this week, three Indianapolis television stations sent reporters to cover the game.
“The media coverage was more like a Monon Bell Game than a normal regular season week,” said Amidon.
Jamal Horton, an Indianapolis Star sportswriter known for stories that could be less than flattering, was among those covering. Harris braced for the worst when Horton called, saying he’d be attending the game, until Amidon pointed out Horton’s column, in which the reporter expressed his desperate desire for the normalcy of a sporting event.
Wheaton proved to be the better team on the field that weekend, containing Wabash quarterback Jake Knott ’02. Harris was confident in the way Knott would answer the interviewers’ questions after the game.
“I knew he would do the right thing,” said Harris
Knott didn’t disappoint. When asked about his rough day, he turned the conversation outward.
“Knott said ‘I didn’t have a great day,’” Harris recalled him saying. “But there are people who are at home, and somebody in their family is not coming home today. …We have to put everything in perspective.”
Horton later claimed it was the most distinguished young man that he’d ever interviewed.
“You can look back on it now, 25 years later, and be very proud of what we did that day,” said Harris. “I don’t think we would have changed a thing.”