By ALIN HETT
Hays Post
Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, people of all ages climbed the steps of Lewis Field Stadium Saturday morning to remember those who lost their lives and honor the first responders who ran toward danger.
The annual 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at Fort Hays State University challenged participants to climb the equivalent of 110 stories, representing the 110 floors of each of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers.
Almost 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes, crashing two into the World Trade Center in New York City and another into the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew members fought back against the hijackers.
At Lewis Field Stadium, participants had different ways to complete the challenge. One side of the stadium was designated for those walking the stairs, while participants looking for a faster pace could run up and down the stairs on the other side.
Completing the full challenge required 42 laps around the stadium stairs, totaling roughly two miles and the equivalent of the 110-story climb.
At the end, participants rang a bell to commemorate completing the climb.
For Hays firefighter Brandon Woods, seeing those younger participants was evidence that the promise to never forget has carried into a generation with no firsthand memory of the attacks.
“There’s people that are here climbing, running that weren’t even born at 9/11,” Woods said. “They learned about this in the books, so this proves to me a promise was kept.”
“Twenty-five years later, and we still stand united,” Woods added. “You know, do a hard task just to remember those that fell. It’s pretty huge.”
That history was also on display at the stadium, where an original copy of The New York Times published following the attacks in September 2001 was available for participants to see.
Signs giving a timeline of events of what happened that Tuesday morning ringed Lewis Field.
For Army Reserve veteran Roger Agnew, who was in second grade when the attacks happened, the climb was also an opportunity to remember the civilians whose ordinary workday suddenly placed them in unimaginable circumstances.
“I signed a blank check up to and including my life, but the civilians who lost their lives that day, they were just normal old citizens working, and they should have never had to put their lives at risk or in danger, but they did,” Agnew said.
Agnew said Sept. 11 was his first real exposure to terrorism as a child and ultimately helped spark his interest in joining the military.
“Today, this is a lot about just remembering those people who did write that same check at the end of the day," Agnew said.
Drew Gannon, assistant professor in FHSU's Department of Health and Human Performance and one of the event's organizers, said the climb has continued to grow since it began in 2021.
“When we started in 2021, we had a really good number,” Gannon said. “You’re starting to see more families and kids out here."
Gannon said this year's climb carried additional meaning for a Hays community member who have seen firsthand the sacrifices made by its first responders.
“This year, on our bracelets, we put ‘service over self,’ and so maybe we can look and say, 'What’s the greater good for our community?'” Gannon said.
He said the event also provides an opportunity to teach FHSU students who were not yet born in 2001 about the sacrifices made by first responders and civilians that day.
For Gannon, remembering Sept. 11 also means remembering what happened the following day.
“One of the things that I’ve said for the last several years is that I wish we could go back to Sept. 12 and the unity that was in our country and the unity within our nation,” Gannon said.
“Even though we might stand for different things, we might have different beliefs, we might be on the opposite ends of the political aspect of things, we stand united together as a country,” he said. “Maybe this is a moment where we can stop and pause and say, ‘Hey, let’s go back to 9/12 and let’s stand united together.’”
