East Islip student athletes rock red bandanas to honor 9/11 hero Welles Crowther

They’re seeing red in East Islip for all the right reasons. The Suffolk County school district put on a heartfelt tribute to one of the most distinguished civilian heroes of the Sept.11th terrorist attacks — World Trade Center finance worker Welles Remy Crowther, best known as “The Man With The Red Bandana.” Rather than fleeing the flame-engulfed South Tower, the 24-year-old sacrificed his own life by helping get nearly 20 people to safety from the 78th-floor sky lobby over multiple trips into peril. “Even at a young age, he was always about knowing what was right,” Crowther’s close lifelong friend Michael Barch told The Post.

“And standing up.” Those Crowther rescued later distinctly recalled the selfless, Upper Nyack man by his iconic red face covering. Student athletes at East Islip all tugged on red bandanas for their games this week while raising money for The Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust, run by his mother, Alison. “We’re playing for him today,” senior Lexi Kneisel of the school’s volleyball team said before a five-set victory over Smithtown West on Wednesday night. “He died helping people.It’s a great story,” added teammate Anna Kohlhoff, “it’s really nice to hear about someone who would risk their life and help others.” President Donald Trump posthumously awarded Crowther, a one-time Boston College lacrosse player and volunteer firefighter turned equities trader, America’s highest civilian honor — the Presidential Medal of Freedom — on Tuesday. “A few weeks after, when they were clearing out his apartment in the West Village, they found an FDNY application that he had already started to fill out,” Barch said.

“In his final hour on Earth, he really kind of was the fireman that it sounded like he was really meant to be.” Crowther’s unwavering bravery and composure in the face of death became part of the East Islip curriculum this week, with short documentary screenings and impactful dis...