Here’s another 9/11 commemorative feature but with football season in full swing, it’s still appropriate.
For Navy it’s 9/11 first, football second
By BILL WAGNER, Staff Writer <mailto:bwagner@capitalgazette.com>
Dale Pehrson was sitting in a defensive meeting room inside Ricketts Hall when then-Navy head coach Charlie Weatherbie burst in and announced that an airplane had slammed into one of the World Trade Center towers in New York.
It was Sept. 11, 2001, and the Navy football coaching staff was preparing for a road game against Northwestern.
“We ran to the television and watched the replay of the plane and figured it was some sort of horrible accident,” Pehrson recalled. “We went back into the meeting room and word came that there was another one. There was a 20-minute debate about whether we would have practice, but then it was announced that everyone had to leave the academy.”
Less than an hour after terrorists flew two airliners into the Twin Towers, the Naval Academy was on complete lockdown. The entire Brigade of Midshipmen was evacuated and all other personnel were ordered to leave The Yard.
“It didn’t take very long for them to turn the entire academy into a secure area,” Pehrson said. “Within an hour or so there were Navy ships in the bay, turrets at all the gates and guys walking around with machine guns.”
Pehrson, who remains Navy’s defensive line coach a decade later, said members of the coaching staff brought home film, game plans and other material in anticipation of meeting – and perhaps practicing – off campus.
Navy did not practice that Tuesday, but did resume preparations for Northwestern on Wednesday. It was announced on Thursday morning the game had been canceled.
Pehrson recalled having a different mind-set as he worked with the Navy football players in the days and weeks after the terrorists’ attacks.
Navy’s football coaches would learn that Jonas Panik, a reserve offensive lineman on the 1996 team that Weatherbie led to the Aloha Bowl, had been killed in the attack on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
Navy returned to the field on Sept. 22 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium against Boston College, which was coached by academy graduate Tom O’Brien. There were long lines at the gates as fans were forced to pass through metal detectors.
“It really hit home here. Suddenly, you’re looking at those guys in a totally different light,” Pehrson said. “It made you think about the fact their decision to serve this country could have serious consequences. It was definitely a reminder that, first and foremost, these guys were training to become military officers and that football was secondary.”
Senior linebacker Ryan Hamilton reiterated those thoughts when interviewed by The Capital that week. “We are being prepared to one day protect this country,” said Hamilton, a Pennsylvania native who was set to serve in the Marine Corps. “When I graduate from here eight months from now, I will be ready to answer the call.”
‘Wanted to serve’
Navy’s current seniors were either in sixth or seventh grade on Sept. 11, 2001. Many say the horrific acts of that day made a lasting impression and affected their decision six years later to attend the Naval Academy.
Starting fullback Alexander Teich was in a history class when an administrator announced the attacks. Teich, a native of tiny Conroe, Texas, said he will never forget how the rest of that day unfolded.
“It’s still a fresh memory. I think it will always stay in everybody’s minds.It compelled me to come here and want to serve in the military,” Teich said. “There’s no doubt that 9/11 changed my life. I think it changed the lives of a lot of guys on this team. I think it’s the main reason so many of us are here.”
‘Giving their lives’
Navy defensive captain Jabaree Tuani, who grew up in Madison, Tenn., was confused as to why middle school had been abruptly canceled for the day. Later, his mother explained about the terrorist attacks. That was the first time Tuani began to think about a world much larger than the one he knew.
“You think about the sacrifices people in the military have made to preserve our freedom and allow us all to have a better life,” Tuani said. “You think about your family and friends and the fact they take that freedom for granted, but there are actually people out there giving their lives to make it happen.”
Starting offensive guard John Dowd also was deeply affected. The son of a New York City police lieutenant, Dowd grew up on Staten Island, a community hit hard by the events of Sept. 11, since so many residents lost family members during the World Trade Center attacks.
“The events of that day just highlighted to me how important it is to have a strong military,” Dowd said. “It made it something I needed to do instead of something I wanted to do.”
‘Devastating time’
Dowd said students at St. Peter’s grammar school could see the plumes of white smoke rising in the distance from New York City. Teachers would not tell the youngsters about the World Trade Center attacks because they didn’t know whose parents worked in the city.
Dowd did not find out what had happened until he returned home to a community that was reeling.
“You’re a little kid and all your friend’s fathers that you look up to are just crying their eyes out,” Dowd said.
Dowd was given the honor of carrying an American flag onto the field prior to last season’s opener at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. That flag was raised at Ground Zero in the days after the Twin Towers collapsed and will be returned there this weekend for the 10th anniversary memorial.
‘More than football’
Dowd, Teich and Tuani will take the football field wearing a Navy uniform on the 10th anniversary weekend of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Teich said the mids will be playing for more than themselves on Saturday at Western Kentucky.
“You’re representing all the people who lost their lives that day, you’re representing all the men and women who are serving now,” Teich said. “We absolutely have to win this weekend.”
Editor’s note: Unfortunately, Navy lost by one point; the midshipmen gave it their all, the final score Navy 24, Boston 25.
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