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Dabo Remembers The September 11 Terrorist Attacks

Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney can remember vividly where he was when he learned of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
Credit: AP
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Dabo Swinney generally used his drive from Tuscaloosa to AIG Baker's office in Birmingham to pray, catch up with the latest sports news, or just sit in silent reflection.

Like so many people's commute to work, Swinney's 60-mile drive through Alabama was not particularly memorable. One day stands out in his memory, however — September 11, 2001.

Six months into his new career leasing shopping centers for his former strength coach, Swinney's Tuesday morning had a familiar feel to it. His roughly hour-and-twenty-minute drive was nearly over when his local sports radio station offered a startling piece of breaking news.

"I was driving down (Highway) 459 in my green Tundra. I loved my green Tundra," Swinney recalled. "I was driving down the road and all of a sudden they came over and interrupted on the radio and just started talking about there’s been a plane crash. At first, it was like, they just thought it was a crash, they didn’t know what was going on. And wow.

"Then all of a sudden it comes back and just everything gets consumed on the radio that I’m listening to and I’m just in my mind, I’m going, ‘Man, this can’t be real.’"

The AIG Baker office spent the day in a standstill, its employees unable and unwilling to pry their eyes from the events unfolding on television. Swinney didn't put much thought into his projects in Las Vegas and Kansas; he thought about his then two-year-old and three-year-old sons, Drew and Will, respectively. He thought about the world they'd grow up in and the impact these events would have on it.

He thought about the families that lost loved ones, and the first responders who risked their lives charging into the crumbling World Trade Center towers.

He still does.

"I think it’s great to take some time today to pause and reflect on all the people who lost their lives, the impact that they had on all of their families, the children who lost moms and dads and then all of the unbelievably brave and heroic people who I saw that day," he said. "The old saying, there’s a difference between running away from a fire and running to it. The people that were running to it and through it — just amazing heroism from so many people. The policemen, the firemen, the first responders that lost their lives trying to save others.

"I know there’s a lot of people out there today whose lives were saved because of the sacrifice of others. So that’s what I think about when I think about it."

Swinney keeps a daily reminder of the events to this day. In 2016, Clemson played Boston College in the Eagles' third-annual "Red Bandana" day, honoring former lacrosse player Welles Crowther. Known for wearing a red bandana under his uniform during his playing days, Crowther died in the terrorist attacks after saving almost 20 people; Swinney brought home a red bandana from the game and currently keeps it in his briefcase.

It reminds him of the sacrifice Crowther and countless others made under duress, of a world-changing tragedy, and of his solemn drive to work in his green Toyota Tundra.

"You never know how you might respond in a situation like that but incredibly, incredibly difficult day for our country," he said. "Obviously I wasn’t alive during Pearl Harbor, but I would imagine it was probably a very similar feeling for this country, so hopefully it’s not something that we ever have to deal with again. It was a tough day. One I’ll never forget.”

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