This afternoon at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx the college football teams from Syracuse and West Virginia will take part in the third annual Pinstripe Bowl. On Thursday evening both squads took time to pay their respects at the 9/11 Memorial.
Players and coaches from both schools have ties to the area, including Queens native Jay Bromley. The Syracuse defensive tackle told the Syracuse Post-Standard that he did not fully grasp the magnitude of 9/11 as a fifth-grade student but eventually he “understood what was behind it, and you really start to feel for the people that were hurt by it – the families.”
West Virginia players and coaches shared similar stories, including the loss of former Mountaineer quarterback Christopher Gray. Gray was a member of the WVA football team from 1988-91 and died after coming to work on the morning of 9/11, according to West Virginia’s MetroNews.
The Pinstripe Bowl kicks off at 3:15 pm today.
-Anthony Guido, Communications Manager