Tiger Bech’s best friend is returning to New Orleans to cheer on their Eagles in the Super Bowl — and ‘not let the evil act win’

When Ryan Quigley woke up in a New Orleans hospital on Jan. 1, he had one thought in his mind: “I never want to come back here.” He couldn’t move. His ACL was torn, his meniscus flipped, his fibula broken. There were large lacerations all over his body.

Barely conscious and heavily sedated, Quigley opened his phone. He flipped his camera to take a selfie and began to cry. His face was unrecognizable: Bloodied and bruised, with a long gash across his forehead. He could see his skull.

The 26-year-old broker had played football since he was 5, but had never felt pain like this. It wasn’t just physical pain; it was trauma. Hours earlier, he and his best friend, Tiger Bech, had been walking to their hotel on Bourbon Street.

Now, his bones were shattered, with Bech nowhere to be found. Quigley called Bech’s sister, Ginnie. He could barely speak.

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“Where’s Tiger?” he whispered. “Is he OK?”

“We’re going to find him, buddy,” Ginnie said. “He’s going to be OK. You’re going to be OK.”

Ginnie and her father, Martin, spent the morning calling local hospitals with a description: 5-foot-8, 180 pounds, short blond hair. A nurse called them back with a potential match.

Martin drove to Ochsner Medical Center and asked if this patient had a watch. They brought out his son’s Rolex. He had suffered a traumatic brain injury and was on life support. Doctors told the Bech family that Tiger would not survive.

Ginnie, her siblings, and her mother got on FaceTime to say goodbye. Bech died at 11:43 a.m. He was 27.

Quigley had no memory of what happened that night. He later found out that he and Tiger had been the victims of what authorities said was an act of terrorism.

At 3:15 a.m., on Jan. 1, a man named Shamsud-Din Jabbar plowed his truck through a crowd on Bourbon Street, according to the FBI. Police said he was trying to “run over as many people as he possibly could.” Jabbar killed 14 and injured 57.

For weeks, Quigley had made Bech a promise. They were both diehard Eagles fans, but Bech, a native of Lafayette, La., had never been to a playoff game.

“If they make it, we’re going,” he told Bech. “I’m taking you.”

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, that seemed impossible. “I thought it would be my first and last night in that city,” Quigley said. But as the days went on, he began to change his mind. The Eagles invited him to a divisional-round playoff game against the Rams on Jan. 19. Last Wednesday, they offered Quigley and the Bech family Super Bowl tickets.

“We know it’s in New Orleans, we understand,” said Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham. “But if you’re up for it, be there.”

Quigley said yes.

“It’s a way to rewrite this story,” he said, “And not let the evil act win.”

Bech and Quigley met in December 2015. They were on their official visits to Princeton University. Quigley was a running back from Lansdale. Bech was listed as a wide receiver, but could do a little bit of everything.

After graduating from high school in Lafayette in 2015, Bech attended Loomis Chaffee school in Windsor, Conn. In their first drive of their first game of the season, Chaffee’s quarterback broke his scapula.

Bech stepped in. He had never played the position before.

“Tiger just said, ‘I’ll do it,’” Quigley said. “And he went on to have an unbelievable year.”

He was just as versatile at Princeton. Bech was used as a punt returner, kick returner, and slot receiver. He was small, but he could bench 365 pounds. He was stocky, but he could run a 4.4-second 40-yard dash.

Tiger’s legal name was Martin, but no one called him that. He was given his nickname by his family — “We were massive LSU fans,” Ginnie said — and it fit him in more ways than one.

Bech was unlike anyone Quigley had ever met. He had a magnetic personality paired with an empathetic spirit. He was friends with just about everyone, but made sure to take care of those who felt insecure, or left out. Ginnie compared him to a sheep dog.

“He protected people that weren’t the coolest kids at school, or weren’t in the in-crowd, or had special needs,” she said. “Those were the people that Tiger lifted up.”

Bech’s uncle, Brett Bech, was a coach for the Dallas Cowboys when Tiger arrived at Princeton. Quigley was determined to make his friend an Eagles fan, but Tiger would not budge.

That changed in 2020, when Brett Bech left Dallas. Quigley and Tiger began to watch games together.

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After graduating from Princeton in 2021, they both moved to New York. Quigley, who worked at a brokerage firm called Seaport Global, helped Bech get a job. They became roommates in 2023, and would travel to Philadelphia every other weekend, for Eagles home games.

“We didn’t miss one game that year,” Quigley said while lying on a couch in Ginnie’s apartment on Thursday afternoon. “Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, Uber — however we could get down there.”

As he did with everything, Bech dove into his Eagles fandom headfirst. “Go Birds” became a part of his lexicon. He and Quigley frequently tailgated in the lots outside Lincoln Financial Field.

Ginnie, who works in medical device sales and lives in Philadelphia, said her brother would text the Eagles chant into their family group chat regularly.

“He converted all of us,” she said.

Bech gravitated to the quickest players — running back Saquon Barkley and wide receiver DeVonta Smith — but he also had a fondness for Cooper DeJean. He saw some of himself in the rookie defensive back.

“He was like, ‘That kid is a stud,’” Quigley said. “‘He’s a rookie making a huge impact.’ Not that Cooper is an underdog, but Tiger loved a guy who was outperforming expectations, and Cooper did that.”

Friends joked that Quigley and Bech were twins. They looked identical from behind — a strong build, with blond hair — and wore the same cologne (Thé Noir 29 from Le Labo).

Sometimes they’d show up to dinner only to realize they were wearing matching outfits. Bech began cutting tags out of his shirts so Quigley wouldn’t buy the same brands. Quigley began to mark his clothes “R.Q” with a Sharpie.

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They’d work out together, eat dinner together, and go to work together. Their desks at Seaport Global were directly across from each other. When Bech went home to Lafayette for Christmas in December, he called Quigley. They’d been apart for four days. It was too long.

“Can you come down here?” Bech asked.

“Yeah,” Quigley replied. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”

They went hunting in Louisiana and Mississippi. On the last day of their trip, Dec. 30, they started thinking about where to spend New Year’s Eve: Lafayette or New Orleans.

Quigley thought New Orleans would make more sense, since they could fly direct to New York. So, they drove there on the afternoon of Dec. 31.

That night, Bech’s parents took Quigley and Tiger to a restaurant in the city. On the car ride over, they mentioned a local priest from Lafayette who would be visiting New York soon. They wanted Tiger to see him.

For most of his life, Tiger had considered himself an atheist. But as they were driving to the restaurant, he looked at his parents, and said something they’d never heard before.

“Come on, Mom and Dad,” he said. “You know I believe in God.”

Quigley woke up on Jan. 1 to thousands of text messages. He and Tiger were all over social media. Their faces were on the news. It was overwhelming, even if the response was mostly positive.

He couldn’t process what had happened. There were other things to worry about — above all, his physical well-being. Plastic surgeons gave Quigley stitches to heal the wound on his face. On Jan. 16, he underwent surgery to repair his ACL and meniscus.

Quigley can’t stand on his feet without crutches. He now lives at Ginnie and her fiancé‘s apartment, because of its proximity to his physical therapist. He goes to rehab for two hours a day, four times a week.

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This has been the most trying period of his life, but something beautiful has been borne out of it. Quigley has developed a personal relationship with the team he loves. And that team has given him a platform to share the legacy of his late friend.

It started a few weeks ago, when Quigley was in the hospital. First, he received a video from Graham. Then, he received one from Super Bowl LII hero Nick Foles. Then DeJean and Barkley.

Quigley was grateful, but assumed the gestures would end there.

He was wrong. The Eagles invited him and the Bech family to their divisional-round game against the Rams on Jan. 19. They presented Quigley with a jersey that read “Bech” on the back.

He sat in the tunnel before the game, in his wheelchair, as players walked up to him. Barkley shook his hand.

“How’s your mental?” he asked. “How you sleeping?”

They talked for a few minutes. Graham gave him a hug. Running back Will Shipley, who would go on to score his first NFL touchdown a week later, did too.

“We’re all playing for Tiger,” he told Quigley.

Linebacker Zack Baun, who spent the first four seasons of his career in New Orleans with the Saints, greeted Quigley before warming up, and gave him a handshake before he ran out for the game.

“They were all asking how I was doing,” Quigley said. “They all cared. They didn’t come up and just sign something and leave. They asked me questions and talked to me.”

Added Ginnie: “It’s not like they just did this one thing and checked it off their list. They were over-the-top thoughtful.”

Last week, the team invited Quigley, Ginnie, her fiancé, Jordan, and her friend, Lauren, to the NovaCare Complex. General manager Howie Roseman told Quigley he felt like he had brought the team good luck. Graham said the same thing.

They received a tour of the facility, and at the end, Graham was waiting for them by the door. He presented Quigley with Super Bowl tickets, and Quigley thought about the promise he’d made to his friend.

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In six days, he will make good on that promise. Quigley, Ginnie, and Jordan will fly to New Orleans, a place that has caused them unspeakable pain. The rest of the Bech family will meet them there. They’ll walk into the stadium, dressed in “Bech” jerseys, armed with stories of a 5-8, 180-pound wide receiver who could do a little bit of everything.

And they’ll tell them to anyone who is willing to listen.

“We want to show that evil will not prevail, and it hasn’t,” Ginnie said. “It’s been quite the opposite of what that person was trying to do that night. Love has prevailed through this, so fully, and so beautifully, in a moment where it could have just ended. And we’re going to keep sharing that message.”