East Islip was awash in red this week — and the color carried a powerful meaning.
The Suffolk County school district honored Welles Remy Crowther, the World Trade Center finance worker remembered as one of the most extraordinary civilian heroes of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and known to many as “The Man With The Red Bandana.”
Crowther, 24, did not simply run from the burning South Tower. Instead, he repeatedly returned to danger, helping nearly 20 people escape from the 78th-floor sky lobby before losing his own life.
“Even at a young age, he was always about knowing what was right,” Crowther’s close lifelong friend Michael Barch told The Post. “And standing up.”
Survivors he guided to safety later remembered the selfless Upper Nyack native by the red covering he wore over his face — the detail that became his enduring symbol.
At East Islip, student athletes wore red bandanas during their games throughout the week while raising money for The Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust, which is led by his mother, Alison.
“We’re playing for him today,” said senior Lexi Kneisel, a member of the school’s volleyball team, before East Islip pulled out a five-set win over Smithtown West on Wednesday night.
“He died helping people. It’s a great story,” teammate Anna Kohlhoff added. “It’s really nice to hear about someone who would risk their life and help others.”
President Donald Trump posthumously awarded Crowther, a one-time Boston College lacrosse player and volunteer firefighter turned equities trader, America’s highest civilian honor — the Presidential Medal of Freedom — on Tuesday.
“A few weeks after, when they were clearing out his apartment in the West Village, they found an FDNY application that he had already started to fill out,” Barch said. “In his final hour on Earth, he really kind of was the fireman that it sounded like he was really meant to be.”
Crowther’s unwavering bravery and composure in the face of death became part of the East Islip curriculum this week, with short documentary screenings and impactful discussion that followed.
The district wanted to balance teaching the tragedy of 9/11 25 years later with helping students absorb the power of unrefined selflessness and what good can do in the face of evil.
Barch, who graduated from Nyack High School in 1995 with Crowther and shared a limo with him for prom, will speak at East Islip on Friday. He plans on passing on the message, “You don’t have to be a hero and save people in a building” to make a difference like Crowther, whom Barch called “a good friend that’s not afraid to look you in the eye and be like, ‘What are you doing? You’re making a mistake here.’ ”
“Help the person next to you — go sit with the kid who’s sitting alone at the lunch table.”
ALSO READ: JD Vance Fact-Checked for Inaccurate WWII Statements
Senior safety Parker Redding has already taken away that “character is what you do when nobody’s watching.”
“Nobody knew it was him at the time,” Redding said before opening the season with a mighty 43-3 win over Comseowogue.
“He could have easily saved himself in one trip and just been done with it. But he wanted to go save others because that’s the kind of person he was.”
The harrowing experience of 9/11 resonates differently with this group of high schoolers who were all born years after the senseless murders.
Senior lineman Evan Gordon is still trying to wrap his head around “the insane situation” that unfurled.
Crowther is helping him never forget.
“It’s definitely something like that we have to remember,” he said. “And we have to recognize.”
The East Islip football coaches’ message was simple ahead of Wednesday night’s game, where packed stands were filled with patriotic apparel from teenagers and parents alike.
“Just be more like him,” Gordon said.
Comseowogue also wore red bandanas as part of their white, blue and yellow uniforms.
“Everything we learned about him, it just makes it so much bigger than a game,” Redding added. “Everyone’s so much more motivated.”
The 1-0 team is using the beloved college athlete’s biggest life lesson to take control of their own destiny this year and push themselves.
What could be more motivating than Crowther’s final actions?
“If you can go do something crazy like that, we can go to the gym five times a week,” Redding said. “This week, specifically with seeing the videos of him, everyone’s even more fired up.”
