Remembering 9/11 22 Years Later: Brightening Corners Where We Are

Today is the 22nd anniversary of a tragic day in American history. We pause to remember those we lost that day, including Cal rugby alum Mark Bingham and Cal football and baseball alum Brent Woodall. On campus at Cal, the Brent Woodall Memorial Scholarship is currently held by tight end J.T. Byrne, a redshirt sophomore from Carmel, California.

The Mark Bingham Rugby Back Row Endowment and Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement are equally notable and important. The latter award honors a young alumnus within the last 10 years who has made a significant contribution to their community, country or the world at large. The most recent (2023) Bingham awardees are Alvaro Silberstein M.B.A '17 and Lavanya Jawaharlal '16. Past recipients include Alex Morgan, Nnamdi Asomugha and Natalie Coughlin.

We also pause to acknowledge those who responsibly seek to serve and protect our communities, including Cal alums working dutifully in fire and police departments. Within Cal Athletics are individuals who have made sacrifices through their service in the armed forces. For that, we say thank you. For those who lost someone on 9/11, we are thinking of you. While many of our current student-athletes were not yet born in 2001, each of us are impacted by the collective and individual histories that predate our current realities.

For most Cal staff members and coaches, we remember where we were on that sad Tuesday morning 22 years ago.

Twenty two years ago today, I woke up on my couch in Huntsville, Alabama, to a call from a friend alerting me to what was happening in New York and across the country. I was in my last semester of graduate school at the time and in the early stages of my teaching career. Life seemed to go to another level of chaotic that day and ever since.

And it wasn't just about what I was watching unfold on the television. I was dealing with personal "Towers," like news that a close family member had been diagnosed with terminal cancer; he would pass away two years later.

Since 2001, life, for me, has never been the same. I suspect that this is true for many others as well. Our ways of being in our world shifted 22 years ago. For example, though now normalized, how I will experience the airport today is different because of 22 years ago.

With change comes opportunity. Despite moments of darkness, there is light.

And whether or not we had a connection to Cal in 2001, our proximity to each other as members of the human family and Cal Athletics gives us an opportunity to remember and reflect—not just on what was but hopefully also on what we can continue to do to brighten the corners where we are.

Brightening corners for me today will look like giving a lecture at Loyola Marymount University this evening. Brightening corners includes how I will steward my time, presence and influence at Cal Athletics today. But it also includes how I choose to show up on my commute on the BART, how I will treat folks on the flight to LA, and the time I have already spent with my family and DEIBJ team.

What will brightening corners look like for you today? No matter the disappointments and pain of our past or the challenges of our weekend, we can choose to brighten corners today and this week.

For me, this is a way I will remember 9/11 and honor those we've lost.

Dr. Ty-Ron Douglas
Associate AD for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging & Justice (DEIBJ)

California Golden Bears Athletics

Remembering 9/11 22 Years Later: Brightening Corners Where We Are

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