Michael Taaffe, a defensive back for the Texas Longhorns at the University of Texas, showed up to media day wearing a tribute to the victims of the Texas Floods, and specifically to the little girls and workers at Camp Mystic.
The rapid flooding of the Guadalupe River earlier this month has become a statewide tragedy, claiming the lives of dozens and dozens of innocent Texans, including many young children who attend summer camps near its shores. Since then, many prominent people across the state have come forward to offer condolences and donate towards the relief effort, one of those people being Michael Taaffe.
In an interview with CBS Sports, Taaffe is pictured wearing a grey suit with a burnt orange tie to represent his team. On the tie are the embroidered initials of twenty-seven victims that had their lives taken by this disaster. All the twenty-seven initials belonged to campers at Camp Mystic.
@cbssportscfbTexas safety Michael Taaffe wore a tie to honor the victims of the Texas floods 🧡♬ snowfall (Slowed + Reverb) – Øneheart & reidenshi
Camp Mystic is a private Christian all-girl’s summer camp located right on the bank of the Guadalupe River. Due to this, many of the young campers fell victim to the rising waters when the flooding began. According to Taaffe, wearing this tie is in the effort to shed light on the situation, and honor the girls who didn’t make it.
“I just wanted to do something to remember them and shed light on what’s going on in Texas.”
Michael says how it’s important to him to remember these girls as more than just victims, but heroes as well. He reflects on how sometimes, it’s easy for people to turn a blind eye to these things but reminds viewers that honoring these victims is what matters.
“Everybody thinks things are important in their lives, but this is way more important than a game of football or the media or anything that’s going on in my life. These people are heroes, and they should be remembered that way.”
In an interview with ESPN, Taaffe goes into more detail, touching on two camp counselors that died acting as saviors for the younger campers. Those two counselors were both eighteen years old and were on track to attend the University of Texas in the Fall.
“Two of the initials on the tie are counselors that were eighteen years old that were going to attend the University of Texas next year. They had to turn from counselors that were eighteen years old into saviors for eight-year-old girls.”
During this interview, Michael reiterates how much honoring the victims of this community tragedy matters. He talks about how his coach inspired him to take community matters like this seriously, and advocate for those who can’t.
“Coach Sark really inspired me to try to make a difference for these victims and community that was impacted because instead of talking about what we had on the agenda that day, the very next day, he took a second to tell us what was going on, and to provide counselors if anyone was affected. Everything that Coach Sark preaches is about life, it’s not just about being successful on the grass.”
What a wonderful sentiment. The initials featured on Taaffe’s tie are included below:
DE
LB
CC
KF
MS
RS
LL
AP
JH
EP
EG
WD
MD
MGB
MB
LM
SM
LD
HL
RL
MS
GT
BM
HH
CS
KAL
MKJ
Our hearts and prayers go out to the friends and families of every one who was lost in this terrible tragedy.
