Former Princeton Tiger football player among those killed during terror attack in New Orleans

Tiger Bech, an All-Ivy League kick returner who played for Princeton from 2016-18 was killed in the deadly truck attack in New Orleans in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Bech was one of at least 15 fatalities when a vehicle plowed through a group of holiday revelers celebrating New Year’s on the famed boulevard.

He was 27 and about to celebrate his 28th birthday. He was struck by the truck allegedly driven by 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar, the man identified as the suspect. According to Kim Broussard, the athletic director at St. Thomas More Catholic High School where he attended high school he suffered internal bleeding and was taken to a local New Orleans hospital and put on life support until his family could arrive.

During a three-year career at Princeton from 2017 to 2019, Bech was a two-time second team All-Ivy League kick returner and also caught 53 passes for 825 yards with three touchdowns. In his final two seasons, he helped lead the program to a pair of Ivy League championships and was part of the school’s first undefeated season since 1964.

According to ESPN, he was working as a stockbroker in New York and was in New Orleans to celebrate the holidays.

Princeton head coach Bob Surace:

“He was just starting a successful career in the business world. There were two or three times we had career nights, and you could call him with a day’s notice, and he came down and shared his experiences as a young professional with our team.”