By Courtney Baumann
NEW YORK — Not a whole lot of Iowa football players had been to New York City before arriving in preparation for the Pinstripe Bowl. Being that they were 4, 5, 6, or younger, not many remember 9/11, either.
On the afternoon of Dec. 26, they got to experience firsthand the day they can’t quite recall from their own memories.
The Hawkeyes visited the One World Observatory and National September 11 Memorial and Museum as a team, where they traveled up 102 floors to look out over the city followed by a tour of the museum.
The Observatory gives a 360-degree view of New York City and can have visibility of up to 50 miles over the surrounding area and Atlantic Ocean. As the nation’s tallest building, most had never seen a view like that before.
“I think it’s cool they have the 360 and not only see Brooklyn or the Brooklyn Bridge, but you can see the Statue of Liberty, you can see up toward the Bronx,” Keegan Render said. “I think it was cool just looking around and seeing everyone that’s from small-town Iowa. We’re not used to skyscrapers like that.”
After the observatory, the team headed underground to the museum.
Some of the Hawkeyes said it was unreal and really put into perspective how everything unfolded that day at the Twin Towers, even if they have foggy memories of the actual day.
“It was very surreal, especially when you’re there on Ground Zero, where it occurred in 2001. It’s kind of crazy, when you’re a young kid at the time and you’re now visiting the place where it all took place,” Bo Bower said. “It was just surreal. Seeing the names and the faces is just kind of unbelievable. It’s something everyone should see.”
The museum contains thousands of artifacts, from large structural pieces, such as an entire set of stairs, to small things such as sheets of paper, business cards, and jewelry worn by those in the buildings that were blown from the buildings during the explosions and fires.
As guests walk through the exhibit, they are taken through the events of the day. There were newspaper fronts from that morning, mainly focused on the upcoming mayoral election and tickets to the Yankee game that was supposed to take place against the White Sox. From there, people see exactly how the events unfolded almost minute-by-minute with videos, pictures, and artifacts from the day.
“It was pretty cool to see but crazy at the same time knowing what happened, seeing all the people there … and how it affected people’s lives,” Josey Jewell said. “I just tried to soak it all in. It was a lot of stuff coming at you that maybe you never knew about.”
Even for Akrum Wadley, who grew up less than an hour from the site, the experience was a first. The New Jersey native said he plans on going back, and wants to take his family the next time.
“It was an awesome experience. I’d never been there. I’ve been out here plenty of times, but I’ve never been there,” Wadley said. “It was amazing. The building, the atmosphere, it was top-notch. It was big-time. I’m thinking about taking my family there later on down the line.”
The tours were just the first of a lineup of things the Hawkeyes will do during their days leading up to the game. The team will also have the opportunity to attend the Radio City Christmas Spectacular on Dec. 25 evening as well, then open up the New York Stock Exchange and walk through Yankee Stadium on Dec. 26.