Remembering Mark Bavis

On the 8th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, we remember former Terrier Mark Bavis, twin brother of BU associate head coach Mike Bavis, who was on United Airlines flight that crashed into the South tower of the World Trade Center. Bavis, then an L.A. Kings scout, was traveling with former Bruin Garnet “Ace” Bailey, the Kings’ director of pro scouting.

Bavis was a hard-nosed forward who played on three final four Terrier teams, and twice shared the Bennett McInnis Memorial Award for Team Spirit with his brother. A Rangers draft choice, he later was an assistant coach at Harvard.

The Bavis family founded The Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation was created "to perpetuate the principles by which Bavis lived every day, and through which he touched the lives of many. The foundation will provide selected young men and women with annual grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to be used for school tuition, summer programs and other appropriate extracurricular activities. "

For more information: Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation, c/o Merilyn Sullivan, 90 Cambridge Road, Woburn, MA 01801.

►NHL.com feature on Bavis and Bailey

Two days after that tragedy, U.S. Hockey Report related the narrow escape of former BU defenseman Mark Krys, a teammate of the Bavis brothers, who was in the World Trade Center when the planes hit it.

An Eerie Coincidence
Mark Krys, a defenseman for Boston University from 1987-91, was on the 44th floor of the World Trade Center's south tower when it was hit by highjacked United Airlines Flight 175, the same plane that carried Mark Bavis, a former Terrier teammate, to his death. Krys, a 32-year-old native of Timmins, Ontario, spoke to the Canadian Press shortly afterward, saying that when the tower was hit, he had gone downstairs from his 60th floor office, where he worked as a trader, to get a cup of coffee on the 44th floor.

"It was a coincidence," he said. "I was that much closer to the ground."

"When the plane hit," said Krys, "it was really scary. I was just thinking, 'Let's get out of the building.' Krys bolted for the elevator.

"I don't know if it was a smart thing," he said, "but I took it."

When Krys, a 1988 8th round draft pick of the Boston Bruins who played ten years of minor league and European pro hockey, reached street level, he ran, his thoughts turning to his wife and three-year- old child. Eventually, he reached the ferry that would take him to New Jersey, where he lived.