Early in the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, Doug Woolard drove to work, expecting just another day at the office as Saint Louis University’s director of athletics.

The day’s agenda was filled with meetings. One was scheduled with senior staff members. Another included a potential donor.

But things didn’t go as planned.

Woolard watched in shock with the rest of the country as our freedom was challenged, our character was tested and our nation was threatened.

He knew immediately that his agenda had been changed.

“First off, I asked if we had any teams traveling,” said Woolard. “Next I asked if there were any coaches out recruiting. Then I tried to find our student athletes who are either from the New York or D.C. areas, to see if their families were all right.”

Luckily, only one SLU team was traveling. The men’s golf team was en route from Cape Girardeau by van.

All the coaches were safe, but men’s basketball coach Lorenzo Romar escaped what might have been a close call.

Romar had taken a red-eye flight from Los Angeles and had just gotten back to St. Louis earlier that morning. Had he waited one more day to return from recruiting, his trip might have been prolonged another week.

As for SLU’s student athletes, however, Tuesday’s attacks hit too close to home for one soccer player. Senior goalkeeper John Politis grew up in Rosalyn, N.Y, 25 minutes from the World Trade Center towers.

“It’s been hectic ever since,” said Politis. “My cousins and best friend’s sister were in there. A lot of my buddies are also in the fire department, and they are volunteering right now. They said that it was just utter chaos and that there are no words to describe what’s going on.”

Fortunately, all of Politis’ relatives and friends got out safely. While Politis has had to deal with the tragedy back home, Woolard and the athletic department have given support here at SLU.

“Mr. Woolard has been really sympathetic and professional in the way that he has handled the tragedy,” Poitis said.

As Tuesday progressed, Woolard canceled that night’s woman’s home volleyball game against Indiana. This signaled the first of many cancellations in the days to come.

On Wednesday, Woolard met first thing in the morning with the Student Athletic Advisory Board (SAAB), which consists of a student athlete from each SLU team.

Woolard and the student athletes talked briefly about the previous day’s events and whether or not they had concerns about traveling.

He also assured them that student health would provide counseling to them and to the entire university community.

Immediately after meeting with SAAB, Woolard took a conference call with the other athletic directors from Conference USA.

Woolard stated that it was a fact-finding call that dealt with how the NCAA might respond and whether scheduled events for the weekend should go on.

Woolard met with the entire athletic department staff at 10 a.m. so they could plan the next course of action.

Two more afternoon conference calls with officials from C-USA determined that events through the remainder of the week would be postponed and rescheduled later.

Women’s volleyball had been set to play in a tournament at South Florida, and the men’s soccer team was scheduled to compete in a tournament at Southern Methodist.

Men’s golf was supposed to play at Illinois State, and the women’s tennis team had planned to host the Billiken Classic. All events were canceled.

“This is not a total bus league,” Woolard said. “There’s not a lot of options when you have to play schools in Tampa and Dallas.”

But with a tragedy of this magnitude, Wollard noted that competing would not be beneficial to SLU’s student athletes.

On Thursday, Sept. 13, the National Football League suspended play for that weekend’s games. The sports world stepped back and realized that this was a time to pause and reflect, rather than compete. Life goes on, but not with the enthusiasm previously seen.

And that’s OK.

“Things aren’t back to normal yet because I’m not sure what normal is anymore,” Woolard said. “But our team’s are competing again.”

Before contests in the upcoming year, there will be a moment of silence for all those who perished, as well as recognition for those who have volunteered in the rebuilding process.