Most citizens of the United States never will forget where they were  and what they were doing  at 7:46 a.m. Central time last Sept. 11.

Kansas University athletes and athletic department staffers are no exception.

“It was Tuesday morning. I was getting ready for our staff meeting and Audrey (Novotny, secretary) came up to me and said, ‘Hey, something has happened,”’ Kansas University athletic director Al Bohl said.

That was the day terrorists dive-bombed two commercial planes into the World Trade Center in New York and one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a final hijacked plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

“We turned the TV on. I remember the networks showing it,” Bohl said of the first plane hitting the North Tower at the World Trade Center. “My first thought was a pilot must have had a heart attack and hit the building. From that point on it was learning more and more about the situation. I felt just so sad … the bad things that happened to so many innocent people.”

“Sad” wasn’t the only emotion to overcome people at KU and across the world as the day progressed.

“I don’t know the right word  ‘furious’ doesn’t sound too bad,” said Bohl, who served in the Air Force, receiving “Airman of the Year” honors in 1972. “To think of all the people in the planes, the buildings, that rage, furious is as good a word as any.”

Emotions fluctuated throughout the KU campus on 9-11.

“It was a crazy day,” senior basketball forward Nick Collison said. “I remember I was sleeping. Actually my roommate woke me up. He saw the news and told me about it. I didn’t believe him. It’d been 10 or so years since a plane had been hijacked. Now there were four in one day. It was obviously a terrible situation. I watched TV all day wondering just what was going on.”

“I was walking to class when it happened. In class teachers were talking about it,” senior guard Kirk Hinrich said. “They (professors) basically sent us home to watch TV. It’s hard to imagine how real it is being in Kansas and the Midwest. It seemed fake like a movie. It was depressing. You had to feel for all the people who went to work like any other day (at the Trade Center and Pentagon) and all the families.”

Families all across the country were affected.

“You immediately are concerned about your family members. My son, Brett, was supposed to fly to Boston or New York that morning on business,” Bohl said of his son who lives in Ohio. “He ended up not going. It makes you think of all the people that were in the air that day or supposed to be traveling that day.”

No KU players or coaches lost family members in the attacks. However, football coach Mark Mangino, who worked at the University of Oklahoma last year, lost a buddy.

“I’ve got a friend, a childhood friend who got killed. It’ll be a tough day (today),” Mangino said, his voice cracking. “I talked to him about eight weeks before he died. He had planned to possibly come see a game at Oklahoma. A childhood friend … it’s one of those deals where you kind of lost contact. In the last two or three years we’d been back on the phone talking, planning to meet and things like that. I feel badly for people he left behind, his family. It’s just the way it goes. You believe he’s in a better place.”

Stranded on the road

Several of KU’s men’s and women’s basketball coaches  who were out of town recruiting  were stranded outside of Lawrence on 9-11 because airports were closed until late Thursday or early Friday.

Women’s coaches Marian Washington and Lynette Woodard were in Houston recruiting forward Nichelle Roberts the day of the attacks. On Wednesday, Sept. 12, they rented a car and drove to Shreveport, La., to meet with forward Alicia Rhymes. After that in-home visit, the two coaches made the long drive home. Coincidentally, both players signed with KU.

Head men’s coach Roy Williams and assistant Neil Dougherty were in Los Angeles on Sept. 11, a day after their in-home recruiting visit with L.A. prep forward Hassan Adams. They canceled an in-home visit with another West Coast player on the 11th and one with Texas forward Brad Buckman on the 13th.

Because of travel problems, KU’s coaches wouldn’t be able to fly back to Lawrence for three days after 9-11. Coincidentally, Adams signed with Arizona and Buckman with Texas. And one other player, Montreal prep Bernard Cote, eventually inked with Kentucky after canceling a Sept. 14-15 weekend visit to KU because of travel concerns.

“I had no idea the magnitude of it early on,” Williams said of the attacks, which he learned of in his L.A. hotel. “As the day goes along you get more reports, more reports  the second plane, third plane, fourth and all that. It did cross my mind … I wondered what those people felt like when it happened in Pearl Harbor. The worst part is you have no control over things whatsoever.

“The people who lost their lives particularly in New York and Washington  people on that plane, the courage of some of those people who stormed the cockpit (in Pennsylvania). To have that plane still crash but not take hundreds of other lives with it is something I think we should always remember.”

Counseling KU players

KU assistant men’s basketball coach Joe Holladay, who was not on the road recruiting, assembled KU’s basketball players on Sept. 11 and again the next day to discuss the proceedings.

“Coach Williams called back and asked me to meet with them,” Holladay said. “Sometimes when you are 18, 19 years old you may not have realized the seriousness of something immediately, in the long term how it’d change everything. I know one thing. They (players) listened intently and they had sadness in their eyes.

“Everybody pitched in together and we had a chance to visit with some of our kids individually,” Holladay said. “Some needed a little more attention maybe. Some of our kids used resources on campus that were available. There wasn’t anybody not impacted in some way.”

Holladay’s son Mathew is in the Army, stationed in Italy.

“I think most people, if you have somebody involved in the service, I think you are a little more attentive to what’s going on, you are a little more worried as a parent. But this affected everybody,” he said.

Including KU’s football players, who assembled in a team meeting during the late morning hours of Sept. 11.

“I remember coach (Terry) Allen came in and talked to us about what was going on, told us it was probably a good time to talk to our families and stuff like that,” former KU receiver Harrison Hill said. “Everybody was real upset.”

A decision was made by the Big 12 on Thursday to postpone all weekend football games. KU had been scheduled to play a home game on Saturday, Sept. 15, against Wyoming.

“At that time the last thing anybody was thinking about was football,” Hill said. “Even today I don’t think anybody is over it. It’s a horrible thing. It’s terrible especially when it comes around time (for anniversary) you keep seeing the things on TV.”

Practical impact of 9-11

As far as the physical impact of last Sept. 11, airline travel has become more difficult with longer lines at security checkpoints. But mentally …

“I’d say it’s made me actually pay attention more to world issues, and also makes you realize we are not, I guess, untouchable,” Collison said. “There was a time I never really worried about what was going on in the world. I felt it’d never affect me. Now I’m a little more aware of what’s going on.”

It’s made people reflect, that’s for sure.

“It’s far beyond football. There’s a lot of lessons you can learn or things you can learn about your country and patriotism,” KU sophomore defensive lineman Travis Watkins said.

“It makes me realize how valuable life is and how shortly it can be taken from you,” senior wide receiver Marcellus Jones said. “It makes us just be really grateful for what we have every single day. Just waking up is definitely a blessing, let alone that we’re living childhood dreams playing football and going to school  getting a great education here at KU.”

“For myself and maybe I can speak for others, it doesn’t really change too much,” KU sophomore free safety Johnny McCoy said. “It makes you more aware of what happens in America and what can happen.

“As an athlete we’re here to entertain and work hard and show American pride. To me that’s really all we can do.”

KU’s athletic department  which along with KU’s entire student body helped raise money for New York relief last year  will show pride in the U.S. before Saturday’s home football game against SW Missouri State when a huge flag will be draped across the field. It’ll be carried by more than 100 volunteers, including firefighters, police officers and ROTC members.

“Whatever we can do to honor firefighters, police, emergency workers, all the heroes,” Bohl said. “The spirit they showed is the spirit of America.

“What we do in America,” Bohl said, “is get back up and try to make the best of any situation. It did rally us. It’s a reflection of how strong our country is. We will move forward despite some terrible acts.”