Boston College football team members will wear red bandana stickers on their helmets at Saturday's game at Central Florida to honor Welles Crowther, a former BC varsity lacrosse player who has been hailed as a hero who saved many lives in the south tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

In addition, Director of Athletics Gene DeFilippo has invited Welles' sisters, Honor Fagan and Paige Crowther, to travel to Orlando this weekend as part of the official team party as Boston College takes on the University of Central Florida. UCF plans to introduce the sisters during the third quarter of the game. This past week, several UCF students who were moved by a recent ESPN "Outside the Lines" video documenting Crowther's 9/11 heroics, started a Facebook event page to encourage UCF fans to wear red bandanas to the football game in remembrance of Crowther. So far, more than 5,900 people have vowed to wear red bandanas to the game and the story has made national sports headlines.

Boston College will honor Crowther's memory at next weekend's home game vs. Duke University. The Crowther family has been invited to attend to participate in a recognition ceremony and BC will distribute approximately 6,000 red bandanas to the student section at the game.

"Welles Crowther is a true American hero, and we are very proud that he was a Boston College student-athlete," DeFilippo said. "As Americans reflect in the upcoming days on the solemn occasion of the 9/11 anniversary, we are humbled by the bravery Welles exhibited that day."

Welles Crowther was an equities trader in the south tower of the World Trade Center on September 11. Months after the attacks, survivors began piecing together stories of the events and Crowther's heroic acts came to light. Crowther used the last hour of his life to save the lives of others, using a red bandana to cover his nose and mouth as protection against smoke and debris. Crowther had carried a red bandana in his pocket since his father gave him one as a child, and it became his trademark as he wore one under his helmet as a BC lacrosse player. His heroics were documented in the "Outside the Lines" segment on ESPN, produced by ESPN's Drew Gallagher (BC '99), who was a friend of Welles at BC, written by Tom Rinaldi and narrated by the actor Edward Burns.