“I’ll never forget John Ballein and I walking through campus, which we did every day, but particularly during that time. I just thought people needed to see someone they recognized, and put some normal situation back into this. But there was a girl, a sweet little girl over there, a student,” Beamer recalled, pointing to his right as if she were still sitting next to him, “and you could just tell she was deep in thought. When we walked over to her she was crying. We sat down and talked with her for a few minutes, and she needed that. She needed to be able to talk to someone that hopefully made her feel better and made her feel like things are going to be okay. And we are. We are going to get through this and we’re not going to let that sick guy defeat Virginia Tech.”

Sports, particularly the start of football season, brought a sense of normalcy back to campus. It served as a positive unifying event in a point in time where most unification took place in conjunction with solace.

“When we’re in that stadium — Lane Stadium over there — everyone’s going in the same direction: Our alumni, our students, our band, our hightechs, we all have the same purpose. We all have the same goal. We all want the same thing at the end of the day. Having said that, we all needed to be going in the same direction on this, and for the most part, I think we did as a university, and there’s no question about that,” Beamer said. “But I thought that was a time that people could come, have a cause and make sure we were all together working with each other for our common goal that particular day. I remember taking the field through the stadium and everybody jumping and I never — maybe I just imagined this — but I never felt like that before and it was something different than I had ever experienced.”

The sports world outside of Blacksburg took notice as well, sending an outpouring of support. With the Hokies canceling their spring game, colleges around the country including Penn State and Ohio State showed support at their own spring games, with the Buckeyes wearing VT helmets. Angels pitcher Joe Saunders, along with other MLB players, received special permission from the league to wear Virginia Tech hats and patches. Even NBA legend Allen Iverson, who is a Virginia Native, wore a patch with Tech’s logo on his arm sleeve for the remainder of the 2007 season.