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,” he 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,” he 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.”
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.
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. It kind of helped us get through what we were going through by bringing the community together and the state and the country. It just showed the love and support we have for each other as a state.”
Bech 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,” 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 they 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 night for very brief stops.
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,” Bech said. “I thought that was a really good quote for him to give me for this week and for the game. Obviously, I told him there was going to be a little more in me than usual, but to just go out there and stay composed and stay in control and take it one snap at a time.”
Bech’s advocacy doesn’t end with reminding people how special of a brother he had in Tiger. He has also 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, including bollards that were not functional on the night of the attack.
“Whenever something like this happens, it opens your eyes,” 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,” he said. “This was something that didn’t just happen to us. There were many people and many families affected by this. Not only in Louisiana, but around the country and all over the world. For everyone to be able to have a voice and remember what happened and to be able to speak out on this and make sure everyone is heard and acknowledged so there are continued prayers for everyone who passed away that night or who got hurt and might be paralyzed or affected. We’re just blessed to have the support of the community we had to really help us get through.”
It’s part of why 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. Bech 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,” Bech said. “Everybody in Louisiana comes together through all the different tragedies. People of all different races and ethnicities helping each other out just the whole community and whole state coming together and supporting one another, loving one another,” he said. “The people of Louisiana as a whole, we fight for each other and love each other. That’s what makes it such a special place.”
He hopes he can get some of those warm feelings back about New Orleans on Sunday.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
