Rutgers To Honor 37 Alumni Who Died In Sept. 11 Terrorist Attacks With Alternate Uniforms

The Rutgers football program will wear alternate uniforms during Saturday’s game at Syracuse (2 p.m. on ACC Network) that pay homage to the 37 alumni who lost their lives during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

We will never forget the 37 Rutgers alumni and all those who lost their lives in the September 11th attacks. #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/1XY2rY65JE
— Rutgers Football (@RFootball) September 9, 2021

The uniforms feature a silver helmet with a scarlet facemask, scarlet Block “R” on the right side and a black No. 37 on the left side, along with the names of some of those 37 alumni printed throughout.

The white jerseys have two silver stripes across the chest, sleeves and back, presumably as a nod to the twin towers of the World Trade Center, while the white pants have those same stripes at the knees. The phrase “Never Forget” can been seen down the sides of the jersey, as well as on the gloves and back helmet bumper.

The program revealed the uniform – which is complete with scarlet cleats, socks and accessories – at the waterfall pools at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City on Thursday.

“I remember like yesterday,” head coach Greg Schiano, who was in his first stint with the Scarlet Knights at the time, said earlier this week. “We had coaches who had family members and wives that were working in the city. We actually had two players whose moms were supposed to be in the towers that day, and thank God they weren’t.

“It was really surreal, and the only thing I knew to do, as a very young head coach in my first year, was rally the guys in here. So we met and got all the players together, and just told them, ‘This is what’s happening. I don’t know any more than you do, but we are just going to stick together here.’ They wanted to be together and that was a good thing.

“I knew we weren’t going to play, so there was no reason, but they wanted to go out and just run around, get ants out of their pants. I’ll never forget. It was eerie that from our practice field you could see the smoke on the horizon. So many people that we all knew who lost their lives on 9/11, so certainly 20 years later, we don’t forget them.”