Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Jack Bech will return this weekend to New Orleans, a place he once loved to visit with his family from two hours down the road in Lafayette, Louisiana.
He will be joined by a huge group of friends and family hoping to create new positive memories in what is now the site of the worst moment of his life.
“It will be a little homecoming to rewrite a wrong and put a good taste in our mouth from New Orleans,” Bech said in front of his locker this week. “Because right now we remember it as the place my brother got killed by a terrorist on New Year’s Eve.”
Bech and the Raiders will play the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. It’s a game he has had circled on his schedule since the day it was announced.
“The Superdome was a place I grew up going to watch the Saints, so to go in there and play against them is definitely a dream come true,” one he discussed with his brother growing up, Bech said. “But obviously New Orleans is a place I have some thoughts about with what happened to my brother, so there’s a sour taste in a sense when we think about it.”
Celebration turns tragic
Tiger Bech was a former standout football player at Princeton who was working in finance when he went back home to celebrate New Year’s Eve, a day that started with a duck hunt in Mississippi and was to conclude with revelry on Bourbon Street.
It ended when a man drove a truck down the crowded roadway and targeted pedestrians before he was killed in a shootout with police. The carnage left 14 people dead and more than 60 injured.
Jack Bech’s brother, who was 27, was one of the fatalities. He died New Year’s Day in 2025, just months before Jack was drafted by the Raiders and realized his NFL dream. A Cybertruck filled with explosives blew up in front of the Trump International hotel in Las Vegas later that day, but investigators found no link between the attacks.
Jack Bech vowed to live every day for his brother and has used his platform to make sure his memory is never forgotten. In the process, he has also become something of an unofficial spokesperson for everyone who was affected by the tragedy.
“It was such a public event,” he said. “It was national news, so there really wasn’t a choice about saying something or not saying something, which in my opinion was a good thing.”
Remembering Tiger
Jack Bech, 23, always wears something on game day to symbolize his brother and is quick to share memories about him anytime he is questioned about the meaning. This week, he will sport a jersey with Tiger’s name and some other remembrances.
“Each and every day I thank God for giving me the platform to be able to glorify my brother and carry on his legacy and tell everyone about the way he lived and the way he put smiles on people’s faces,” Jack Bech said.
“His spirit, the way he loved. The way he always fought for the people who didn’t have a voice. He was always the person who lit up the room. Always the person who put a smile on people’s faces. Super smart and witty. Just the best big brother you could ask for. The best son to my parents. The best friend anyone could ask for. He’s the guy who may have had five best friends, but probably had a hundred people who said, ‘I’m his best friend.’ ”
The Superdome is less than a mile from the spot where Tiger Bech was killed.
His little brother, Jack, has thought about what it would be like to score a touchdown, but believes a victory would be the best way to start creating positive memories in a city he has returned to twice since that morning for brief errands.
Jack Bech, who said he has forgiven the perpetrator even though he will never forget what he did, said the best advice he has received about managing what could be a jarring weekend mentally came from Raiders wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni.
“He told me to play with the emotions but don’t be emotional,” Jack Bech said. “I thought that was a really good quote for him to give me for this week and for the game.”
‘We’re one’
Jack Bech’s advocacy doesn’t end with reminding people how special of a brother he had in Tiger. He also has tried to serve as a voice for other victims and is assisting in lobbying efforts to have more safety protocols in place for major events in New Orleans. On the morning of the attack, bollards that had been installed to restrict vehicle access to Bourbon Street were in the process of being replaced in time for the following month’s Super Bowl.
“Whenever something like this happens, it opens your eyes,” Jack Bech said. “So we’re trying to push it to make sure nobody else in the state has to feel not only what we felt, but all the other families who lost loved ones and all the people whose lives were changed that night.”
It’s part of why Jack Bech still loves his home state.
Tragedy has brought out the best in its people. He was an infant when Hurricane Katrina devastated the region and spent his childhood watching the rebuild. He was a student at St. Thomas More Catholic High School when a mass shooting rocked his hometown. Then his family was left devastated by the New Year’s attack.
“We’re one. We’re a family,” Jack Bech said. “Everybody in Louisiana comes together through all the different tragedies.”
He hopes he can get some of those warm feelings back about New Orleans on Sunday.
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