Sept. 11: Aggies raise money for first responders

On Sept. 11, 2001, the suicide missions of al-Qaida operatives sent two U.S. planes crashing into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon. A fourth plane was diverted from its Washington, D.C., target by passengers.

"The day that is happened was a somber day, I sometimes compare it to the day that Bonfire fell," said Cliff Williams, Class of 2003. "People were just in shock that someone would want to harm American citizens like that."

Communication professor Nancy Street was at home when she heard the news, and watched the second plane crash into the towers with shock and disbelief. The feeling on campus was much the same.

"People gathered over TVs and radios listening for more information," Street said. "People who had relatives or friends in the affected area were madly trying to get cell phone service to find out if they were okay."

Thousands of T-shirts, three colors and one cause united the 82,601 fans on Sept. 22, 2001, engraved in history as the day the Aggie family "Stood For America" in what has come to be known as the Red, White and Blue Out game.    

The group of students at the time came up with the idea to sell $5 T-shirts with the message "Stand For America" in red, white, and blue — each for a specific deck of Kyle Field — to raise money for the NYC firefighter and police funds.

"We really thought about it and felt that the kids of the fallen firefighters and policemen that were the first responders were the ones that really needed the help quickly," said Eric Bethea, class of 2002.

Once the idea was born, the help came pouring in from all sectors of the Aggie family.
The T-shirt printing companies in College Station at that time began printing around the clock. After three days of exhausting workers, the companies offered to train students to print and a continuous flow of student volunteers took up the task 24 hours a day.

Former students who caught wind of the effort offered to drive truckloads of red, white, and blue shirts from places as far as Louisiana to restock the printing companies when Bryan-College Station area ran out.

The 12th Man Foundation allowed the group to set up stations right outside the ticket pull to reach every student attending the game. Alumni networks spread the word to former students to gain support as well.    

On the day of the game, the three decks of Kyle Field were solid blocks of red, white and blue, something Bethea said they weren't expecting.

"Even leading up to the day of the game, we still thought it was just going to be the student section so when we actually walked in and saw the entire stadium had done it and done the whole red, white and blue by their tier, we were just completely blown away. It was kind of a surreal moment."

The funds raised by the T-shirt sales totaled $180,000 and revenues generated from picture sales of the game added another estimated $30,000.

Williams said there was a push for many of his Corps classmates to join the military.

"I think it changed a lot of people's aspect of how they thought about possibly joining or not joining the military," Williams said. "Not since Pearl Harbor had we been affected by something like this and it gave people a pretty good reason to go fight for our country."  

As a visual example of the impact 9/11 had on A&M is the Freedom from Terrorism Memorial, on the northwest corner of the Quadrangle. The memorial honors Aggies lost on Sept. 11 as well as those who are and serve in the War on Terror.     

"It was something we decided to build in order to pay tribute to those that are sacrificing their lives to help keep us out of harm's way," Williams said.

From grieving, to fundraising, to dedicating, 9/11 left its mark on Texas A&M.

"That was definitely our generation's defining moment, 9/11," Bethea said. "It was one of those things that hopefully are just a once in a lifetime deal, but it really brought the student body together."