NEW ORLEANS — The Philadelphia Eagles are helping honor Lafayette native Tiger Bech, who was among the 14 people killed in the deadly New Year’s Day terror attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
Ryan Quigley is Tiger’s best friend, and was wounded alongside Tiger in that attack. This week, he received the surprise of a lifetime from his beloved Eagles, who invited him to be their guest for the Super Bowl.
“I had no desire to go back to somewhere that, you know, brought so much … brought the worst thing they could ever imagine into my life, you know, but then, I thought about it, with the Eagles giving me the opportunity to go back and kind of rewrite this story, you know, I, I was like, you know, Tiger would want me to go,” said Quigley. “Tiger would want me to have a good time, and, you know, to be able to rewrite the story, not to let evil win. I mean, we’re kind of taking our power back and saying, like, you know, you’re not, you’re not going to defeat us. And then, so, we’re going back to New Orleans, and hopefully, leave on a positive note, and hopefully, ‘The Birds’ win for sure.”
Quigley and Besh played together on the football team at Princeton University after Besh graduated from St. Thomas More in Lafayette.