Owen High School tradition honors pledge to ‘Never Forget’
Sixth Annual Stampede on the Stairs Commemorates 25th anniversary of 9/11
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
September 11, 2026
The lights above Warhorse Stadium pierced the darkness, Sept. 11, as Owen High School students and faculty greeted local veterans, first responders, Buncombe County Schools representatives and members of the community.
At 6:30 a.m., nearly 50 participants began ascending the steps in the bleachers, marking the beginning of the Sixth Annual Stampede on the Stairs and commemorating the 25th anniversary of a national tragedy.
The event included 12 teams, representing Owen JROTC and athletic programs, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, Buncombe County Board of Education, the Swannanoa Fire Department and local veterans. Each four-person team competed to ascend assigned rows 45 times, for a combined total of 2,208 steps, honoring the 110-story climb by first responders who rushed into the World Trade Center towers in 2001.
Owen JROTC instructor and retired U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Jeff Garland organized the competition, which was established by previous staff in 2021. Participation in the gathering, which combines friendly competition and solemn reflection, has increased each year. While the attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Somerset County, Pennsylvania remain a vivid memory for many who were living at the time, current high school students recognize the date as a historical event.
“This climb and ceremony is one of the most important events I think we can do when it comes to teaching this younger generation about 9/11,” Garland said. “They weren’t alive when it happened, so doing this is a way to help them understand how we feel about it, and the very real impact it had on the people who experienced it.”
Several firefighters were dressed in full gear, including oxygen tanks, as they competed in the climb.
“When these kids see stuff like that, or meet these veterans who come out and do this every year, it reinforces the significance,” he continued. “It’s also a community gathering. This is one way the Swannanoa Valley can honor the losses and sacrifices of that day.”
Many participants carried American flags up and down the bleacher steps, as the first rays of sunlight began to slip through the surrounding mountains.
“You see kids coming out at 5:30 a.m. for this, which already says a lot about them,” said Garland, a Swannanoa Valley native who served 22 years in the military. “But, they’re also learning about one of the most impactful events in the history of the country, through this symbolic experience.”
A team representing the school’s varsity volleyball program, less than 12 hours after a victory, was the first to complete the race. Swannanoa Fire Chief Anthony Penland presented each of them with challenge coins and patches from the department.
“I remember what I was doing on that day, 25 years ago,” Penland said. “I was on shift and one of our volunteer firefighters called and said a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. We saw the second plane crash, and we recognized instantly it was not an accident.”
The phrase “Never Forget” became a familiar refrain, he added.
“It’s your generation that’s going to have to make sure we keep that going,” Penland said, following the competition. “Nearly 3,000 innocent lives, on that day, went to work, kissed their husbands and wives goodbye, and never came home. Three hundred forty-three firefighters went into those buildings knowing something could happen.”
Those first responders, according to Garland, were among the heroes who placed the lives of others before their own.
“Let us honor those memories of the brave passengers of Flight 93, the firefighters who rushed towards danger as people ran away for their lives and the neighbors who helped neighbors through unthinkable tragedy,” he said. “Let us remember how we stood united.”
Owen senior, a member of the Warhorse Battalion and the Black Mountain Police Department Cadet Corps, sang the national anthem, as an American flag flew at half-staff, framed by sun rising over the hazy peaks.
“It really is such an important part of American history,” said Creasman, who participated in the Stampede for the second year. “It destroyed so many lives, so for us who weren’t alive when it happened, we are going to be responsible for keeping those memories alive.”
Growing interest in the annual gathering is an encouraging indicator, according to Garland, in his seventh year at Owen.
“As someone who grew up here, came back here and is part of this amazing team of faculty, this makes me proud of the Swannanoa Valley,” he said. “Kids get criticized all the time; people say all kinds of things about this generation. Coming out here at 6 a.m., climbing these stairs, speaks volumes about these young people. The future is really bright.”
Photos of the Sixth Annual Stampede on the Stairs can be viewed in the gallery at the top of the page.