How did you hear about the 9/11 attacks? Where were you for the 2001 Rice game?

[mcgradynu]

Was fall of my Junior year at Univ of New Hampshire (early days of Chip Kelly working out his spread offense as the Wildcats OC).

A buddy of mine in our house who NEVER was up before noon knocked on my door and told me to turn the news on. Then my mom called and we watched on the phone together as both towers collapsed.

One of Bin Laden’s nieces or nephews went to UNH at the time and they were helicoptered out which was kind of wild too. Most teachers dismissed us all that day and said there weren’t any lessons taught that would be more important than what was happening.

Hung Old Glory out the window that night with a spotlight on it and Martin Sexton’s rendition of ‘America, The Beautiful’ on loop.

We were at the Rice game. Flying was so bizarre then.

 

[turek420845]

As we approach these anniversaries, what do you remember about 9/11 and the first NCAA football game after the terrorist attack?

I had an 8am TR class in Chase Hall on East Campus. The prof for the next class in the room came in and told us "They've got it real bad in New York City. Someone flew a Cessna into one of the world trade center towers," which is evidently what was on the news by 9:15am Central time. Needless to say, digesting the news on Fox and CNN the rest of the day told a far different story than a cessna.

For the Rice game, I was in class in Burnett Hall listening to all of the cheering and fireworks while learning about interpersonal communication. Attendance was mandatory and missing one of the 14 three-hour class meetings was a letter grade deduction. From what I've read, it was a great atmosphere and Crouch had a very efficient game. Also, it's crazy if true that it wasn't televised.

I remember being at home seeing it on the news. My sister lived in Baltimore at that time and I worried about her. It was crazy seeing all of it. I watched the Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11 yesterday and it was crazy hearing all the personal stories.

 

[HuskerGarrett]

I was in 3rd grade. I don’t remember technically telling us anything significant or turning on the TVs but they sent the whole school home, K-6. We were pissed because it was almost recess time and it was big football playing months on the play ground and everyday was a big deal, so we couldn’t do that. I don’t remember a lot else to the day other than my parents being home in the afternoon, the tv on the news, and my dad not saying much. Me and him are still really close to this day so if he’s not talking then something is very wrong.

obviously learned and understood more as I got older.

no idea on the Rice game. Honestly have never seen a replay of the game or heard much about it until Shanle and Sharp were talking about it on the radio either yesterday or the day before. Knew about the tunnel walk but never actually seen or knew anything further about that game come to think about it.

I can’t remember if I was in 3rd or 4th grade

 

[dsbigred1]

2nd hour Biology class. Heard 1st tower was hit in the hallway between classes. Watched 2nd tower get hit live during class. Our starting center, and his younger brother (backup QB) had a brother in North tower and he died that day.
Our football schedule somehow had a game for that night (why the hell we were playing on Tuesday, I don't know). At lunch we found out the game would be played. It was awful, but really aligned with the fact that our coaches were enormous jackasses.

 

[HCFord1]

One of Bin Laden’s nieces or nephews went to UNH at the time and they were helicoptered out which was kind of wild too.

I feel like this needs more detail.

 

[Faux Sean Callahan]

Sucks we didn't schedule Rice again for it.

Also sucks we couldn't just kill Luke

 

[Drue629]

I can’t remember if I was in 3rd or 4th grade

It was fourth grade 100%.

 

[Drue629]

I was a recent college graduate and was way too hungover at work. I was on a consulting assignment in Denver and went to the Giants/Denver game the night before.

I was listening to sports talk radio (JT the Brick) and he said something to the effect of, "some jackass ran his plane into the World Trade Center." So I went on CNN and there was just a picture of what looked like a small hole so I figured it was a Cessna. Then the next one hit and shit got real. The company we were working with just shut everything down since people were distracted. I went back to my hotel room to tend to my hangover and watch the events play out.

That's kind of crazy you say that, being in Colorado my dad tells the story the same way. He was listening to the same radio station when they said some jackass ran his plane into the trade center and then they came on shortly after when the 2nd plane hit and apologized, said it was a terrorist attack.

I was in 4th grade, I remember watching it on the news with my mom before school and watching the 2nd plane hit. I don't remember much about the rest of the day.

 

[Pipe Line]

I can’t remember if I was in 3rd or 4th grade

I just can't remember age. I think 9 turning 10

 

[Daddy]

Thanks everybody for sharing. It's really interesting to see where people were and what they remember despite what it meant and the death that resulted from the attacks.

I was in 4th grade at the time in Omaha. They didn't tell us right away and I don't remember if they told us exactly what was going on. Also, none of us probably would have known what the World Trade Centers were. All I remember is hearing that planes ran into buildings in NYC on purpose and a lot of people had died. Our assistant principal at the time was an Air Force vet named Mr. Huben and an absolutely awesome guy. As a quick aside, we didn't have many male teachers at our school and most of us knew nothing about him other than that he was a military guy, so we all thought he was going to be a huge jerk. He was what seemed like 7' tall back then and had a bit of a northeastern accent so that kind of furthered our preconceived notions of him being a tough SOB at the time. We were way wrong about him. He was a great guy, knew when to be tough but also knew when to be gentle. Always extremely fair and approachable. I think he went on to various education administrative roles in the Omaha area. Anyway, we held a prayer vigil that afternoon and my class was right near Mr Huben who was sitting in the back. He was in tears. The former military tough guy was crying. We all thought he was crying because he was going to have to go to war and he wanted to stay at the school because he had just started. When I saw him crying I knew it was a very serious thing. My parents obviously explained everything when we all got home that evening but I don't remember that at all. I remember Mr Huben.

Edit: was thinking about it a little more and remembered that my dad was on the road for work at the time. I don't know if I've been suppressing these memories or what but I'm now remembering being terrified that he was on one of the airplanes. He wasn't. But all I really knew at the time about his travel is that he would travel all over the country and I didn't know where he was. He was supposed to be flying home that morning so it was plausible to 9 year old me that he could have been on one of the planes. His flight home was grounded obviously and he rented a car and drove home.

Also remember seeing Air Force 1 flying over Omaha heading to or from Offut. Hard to miss the only plane in the sky that day.

 

[jaihawk]

I had just started working for MDS Pharma Services at the time and was supposed to fly out the next day to go to Munich, Germany for work. Was sitting in my office when one of the girls that worked for me ran in and said something about a horrible accident of a plane running into a building in NYC. I turned my radio over to a news stations and that's what they were reporting as well, when the 2nd plane hit. I tried to get online to see what was going on, but the internet had basically slowed to a crawl because everyone else was doing the same thing. When we realized it was a terrorist attack, we talked to all of our staff about it and then told them to take the day off and go home and spend time with their loved ones. I just remember going home and watching the news for 12 hours straight.

All I remember about the Rice game is how emotional it was and how patriotic people were at that point. It sucks that it takes tragedies like that for people to actually embrace this country and what it stands for. Just the game prior, I remember jumping all over some male students that were yucking it up during the National Anthem and not giving it the respect that it deserves.

 

[mcgradynu]

I feel like this needs more detail.

I don't have a ton more detail to share. It was simply something I was told that day or the day after. Didn't witness anything and he wasn't someone at the time that people would have kept tabs on.

I did find this from the local area paper though:

Taliban leader promises bin Laden decision today

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: A council of Afghanistan's top Islamic leaders will decide the fate of the suspected terrorist mastermind. Pakistan is not confident that the Taliban will turn him over. Cox Ne…

www.seacoastonline.com

 

[HuskerGarrett]

It was fourth grade 100%.

Thank you!

 

[HuskerGarrett]

I just can't remember age. I think 9 turning 10

Yeah I would have been 9 as well

 

[vailhusker]

I feel like this needs more detail.

This is were you start getting into the conspiracy theories. The rumors where that while everything was grounded there was a flight or flights that left the US to Saudi Arabia with Bin Ladens family members and other Saudi nationals with out any intervention by the FBI. The 9/11 Commission found there where flights of Saudi nationals and government officials that left between Sept 14th-24th. One flight left with 26 Bin Laden family members on Sept 20 with 22 of the members interviewed by the FBI before it left. But @mcgradynu saying the Bin Laden family members where being picked up that day when everything was supposed to be grounded is what adds to the confusion of the timeline of that day and the days after. I don't want to turn this thread into a 9/11 conspiracy thread but if you want to go down that rabbit hole here is an article that I found from a fact checking website from March 31st 2002 with more information about the flights. I don't know if the information is still accurate after all these years, but it has the quotes from the 9/11 commission's report.

Did Saudis Fly Out of the U.S. While Airspace Was Still Closed after 9/11?

Did a secret flight whisk Saudis and Osama bin Laden's relatives out of the USA during a ban on air travel?

www.snopes.com

 

[Cash68847]

As we approach these anniversaries, what do you remember about 9/11 and the first NCAA football game after the terrorist attack?

I had an 8am TR class in Chase Hall on East Campus. The prof for the next class in the room came in and told us "They've got it real bad in New York City. Someone flew a Cessna into one of the world trade center towers," which is evidently what was on the news by 9:15am Central time. Needless to say, digesting the news on Fox and CNN the rest of the day told a far different story than a cessna.

For the Rice game, I was in class in Burnett Hall listening to all of the cheering and fireworks while learning about interpersonal communication. Attendance was mandatory and missing one of the 14 three-hour class meetings was a letter grade deduction. From what I've read, it was a great atmosphere and Crouch had a very efficient game. Also, it's crazy if true that it wasn't televised.

I was a sophomore in college and woke up to the news. I always turned it to the news before I went to school. They had video of the first plane hitting the one tower and within minutes I saw the other one hit live. When I went to class we just watched tv the whole time. The one odd ball thing I remember was driving past the gas stations and seeing big lines because people were freaking out trying to get gas.

 

[Cash68847]

This is were you start getting into the conspiracy theories. The rumors where that while everything was grounded there was a flight or flights that left the US to Saudi Arabia with Bin Ladens family members and other Saudi nationals with out any intervention by the FBI. The 9/11 Commission found there where flights of Saudi nationals and government officials that left between Sept 14th-24th. One flight left with 26 Bin Laden family members on Sept 20 with 22 of the members interviewed by the FBI before it left. But @mcgradynu saying the Bin Laden family members where being picked up that day when everything was supposed to be grounded is what adds to the confusion of the timeline of that day and the days after. I don't want to turn this thread into a 9/11 conspiracy thread but if you want to go down that rabbit hole here is an article that I found from a fact checking website from March 31st 2002 with more information about the flights. I don't know if the information is still accurate after all these years, but it has the quotes from the 9/11 commission's report.

Did Saudis Fly Out of the U.S. While Airspace Was Still Closed after 9/11?

Did a secret flight whisk Saudis and Osama bin Laden's relatives out of the USA during a ban on air travel?

www.snopes.com

There is definitely some stuff that doesn’t add up with 9-11. September 11 the New Pearl Harbor was interesting to watch. I’m not saying it’s all true but the documentary raises some solid points.

 

[HCFord1]

I was a sophomore in college and woke up to the news. I always turned it to the news before I went to school. They had video of the first plane hitting the one tower and within minutes I saw the other one hit live. When I went to class we just watched tv the whole time. The one odd ball thing I remember was driving past the gas stations and seeing big lines because people were freaking out trying to get gas.

I forgot about the run on gas. That was pretty nuts for a few days.

 

[Pipe Line]

This is were you start getting into the conspiracy theories. The rumors where that while everything was grounded there was a flight or flights that left the US to Saudi Arabia with Bin Ladens family members and other Saudi nationals with out any intervention by the FBI. The 9/11 Commission found there where flights of Saudi nationals and government officials that left between Sept 14th-24th. One flight left with 26 Bin Laden family members on Sept 20 with 22 of the members interviewed by the FBI before it left. But @mcgradynu saying the Bin Laden family members where being picked up that day when everything was supposed to be grounded is what adds to the confusion of the timeline of that day and the days after. I don't want to turn this thread into a 9/11 conspiracy thread but if you want to go down that rabbit hole here is an article that I found from a fact checking website from March 31st 2002 with more information about the flights. I don't know if the information is still accurate after all these years, but it has the quotes from the 9/11 commission's report.

Did Saudis Fly Out of the U.S. While Airspace Was Still Closed after 9/11?

Did a secret flight whisk Saudis and Osama bin Laden's relatives out of the USA during a ban on air travel?

www.snopes.com

Horrible situation, but this interests the hell outta me.

 

[vailhusker]

Horrible situation, but this interests the hell outta me.

It's interesting, but be careful of the conspiracies they get pretty crazy. This is when the Alex Jones's and those types started to gain their popularity, and the basis of a lot of the conspiracies you still hear today.