NYACK, NY – Allison Crowther, Welles’ mother is pictured below walking out with the Nyack HS Captains for the coin toss. Nyack is playing Ardsley from Westchester.

When hijacked Flight 175 hit the World Trade Center’s South Tower, people on the 78th floor sky lobby huddled together, frightened and confused. There was no escape as far as they could tell. Then, a man with a red bandana covering his nose and mouth suddenly appeared from the wreckage and smoke. He spoke in a calm voice and guided them to a stairway, leading them to safety. The man in the red bandana made three trips to the sky lobby, saving as many people as he could, until the burning building collapsed.

A few months after 9/11, stories from survivors surfaced about the mysterious man wearing the red bandana. When Alison Crowther read an article about the hero in the New York Times, she knew that man was her son, 24-year-old Welles Crowther. He had carried a red handkerchief since he was a boy. Welles Crowther worked as an equities trader and was also a volunteer firefighter.

Welles Crowther’s bravery and heroism on 9/11 will never be forgotten. As survivor Judy Wein, who was rescued by Crowther notes, “People can live 100 years and not have the compassion, the wherewithal to do what he did.”