Michigan student-athletes climb the steps of Michigan Stadium during the annual 9/11 stair climb on Sept. 11, 2026.
Never Forget
Kearns' 9/11 Big House Stair Climb Grows into Michigan Tradition
Editor's Note: As Michigan Football prepares to recognize Military Appreciation Day on Nov. 7, MGoBlue.com looks back at a Sept. 11 event that brought hundreds of Michigan student-athletes together at the Big House to honor those who lost their lives on 9/11 and ensure their stories are never forgotten.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Before sunrise on Sept. 11, 2026, hundreds of Michigan student-athletes gathered at Michigan Stadium for the annual 9/11 stair climb.
Kevin Kearns walked with his men's lacrosse teammates at the front. At one point, he turned around.
Behind him was a crowd of student-athletes from across Michigan Athletics, all there for the same reason.
Soon, they stood together with their arms around one another as a video from FDNY firehouses across New York's five boroughs played on the Michigan Stadium scoreboard. Lacrosse players stood beside wrestlers, gymnasts and dancers. Many had never met before that morning.
For Kearns, the scene represented how far an idea that began with seven teammates had come.
"It was one of the best moments of my life," Kearns said. "It was one of the coolest things ever. And it really tied everything together."
2026 | 9/11 Stair Climb
60+
Teams Participating Nationwide
3,500
Student-Athletes Around the Country
300+
Michigan Student-Athletes at the Big House
$290K
Approximately Raised
The annual 9/11 stair climb has become a tradition for Kearns and Michigan men's lacrosse, but its roots stretch back long before he arrived in Ann Arbor.
Kearns grew up in New York in a family where service was part of everyday life. His father spent 30 years as a New York City firefighter and, according to Kearns, arrived at the World Trade Center site after the towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, returning throughout the cleanup. His father lost several close friends that day.
As a child, Kearns heard their names and stories. His family visited memorials, and his father would point out people he knew in documentaries and tell his son about their lives.
"To me, like as a little kid, I never really understood it," Kearns said. "It kind of just seemed like a movie to me."
That changed as Kearns grew older and began to understand what those losses meant to his father and family.
One story remained especially close: Michael J. Cawley, his father's best friend and a fellow firefighter who lost his life on 9/11.
Kearns never met Cawley, but he grew up hearing about him from his father and Cawley's family. He became close with Cawley's younger brother, Brendan, who runs the Firefighter Michael J. Cawley Memorial Foundation.
"I've been told Michael's stories since I was a little kid, and I've never even got to meet Michael," Kearns said. "But growing up, I feel like I've met him before."
Before coming to Michigan, Kearns had already made stair climbing part of how he observed 9/11. Beginning around middle school or high school, he would go to the gym and climb 2,071 steps, or 110 flights, wearing one of his father's firefighter shirts.
Then came his freshman year at Michigan.
On Sept. 10, Kearns realized the following day was 9/11. While heading to lunch with friends, he asked if they wanted to join him. They encouraged him to send the idea to the team's group chat.
About seven players showed up at the Michigan Lacrosse Stadium.
Kearns wore a shirt commemorating Cawley. When the group finished, the reaction from his teammates changed the way he saw the tradition.
"I was just crying my eyes out," Kearns said. "It was like the coolest thing ever."
His teammates came from across the country, and Kearns saw how something he had grown up doing could resonate with people who did not share his personal connection to 9/11.
After a coach posted a photo from the climb and messages began reaching Kearns, he texted his father.
"Dad, like, we've got to do something for this," Kearns recalled. "These kids love it. We could bring so much attention. We could do so many great things for a foundation."
The following year, Kearns partnered the climb with the Firefighter Michael J. Cawley Memorial Foundation and expanded participation to the full Michigan men's lacrosse team. The event continued growing from there.
This year, Kearns said more than 60 teams and 3,500 student-athletes around the country participated. At Michigan, more than 300 student-athletes representing approximately 10 to 12 varsity teams gathered at the Big House. Kearns said the fundraiser had reached approximately $290,000.
Watch
Kevin Kearns Addresses Michigan Student-Athletes Before 9/11 Stair Climb
Kearns speaks to Michigan student-athletes inside Michigan Stadium before the 2026 9/11 stair climb.
For the first time, the Michigan event had grown well beyond the lacrosse program.
Kearns credited women's lacrosse player Stella Nolan and Brian Townsend, director of Michigan Athletics' Leadership Development Program, for helping expand the climb across Michigan Athletics.
The scale of that work became real when Kearns entered the Big House and saw hundreds of people behind him.
You'll never really get it until you're standing in the Big House in a circle, everyone together with their arms around each other.
"You'll never really get it until you're standing in the Big House in a circle, everyone together with their arms around each other," Kearns said.
Once the climb began, there was no music.
Participants climbed 2,071 steps, equivalent to 110 flights, which Kearns said represents the number of stairs in the World Trade Center. He remembers hearing feet hitting the steps, participants encouraging one another and high-fives being exchanged throughout the stadium.
"We don't play music, we don't make it a workout," Kearns said. "It's just people together cheering each other on, giving each other high fives."
Kearns encouraged athletes to mix with people outside their own teams. Lacrosse players climbed alongside athletes from other programs, turning the morning into something larger than any one sport.
At the top, participants watched the sunrise, hugged and congratulated one another.
"This isn't a workout to make yourself better, to get you stronger," Kearns said. "It's just solely about remembering the people that lost their lives and honoring the families that still have to deal with these memories from that day."
The climb also supports the Firefighter Michael J. Cawley Memorial Foundation. Kearns said its work had included scholarships, assistance for firefighters dealing with 9/11-related illness and support for firefighter families with children facing disabilities or illness.
But for Kearns, the impact goes beyond fundraising.
He was not alive on Sept. 11, 2001. Neither were the student-athletes now joining him. He knows his generation cannot fully understand what his father and others experienced that day.
What they can do, he believes, is continue telling their stories.
That responsibility has reshaped what the phrase "never forget" means to him.
Kearns describes the mission behind the fundraiser as "honoring the fallen, supporting the living and reminding the future generations to never forget."
It's our generation's responsibility. We're going to carry on these people's stories, their legacies. We're going to support their families.
"It's our generation's responsibility," Kearns said. "We're going to carry on these people's stories, their legacies. We're going to support their families."
There are already signs that the tradition is moving beyond him.
Kearns said former Michigan lacrosse players who participated in previous years sent him photos this year from New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Without access to the Big House, they found their own stairs and kept climbing.
He hopes the same thing happens at Michigan long after he graduates.
Kearns can imagine returning years from now and seeing another generation of Michigan student-athletes climbing the stairs, carrying Cawley's name and continuing to tell stories that began before they were born.
"It's something that I'm going to run for the rest of my life," Kearns said.
What began with seven Michigan lacrosse players has become something Kearns hopes will outlast his time in Ann Arbor.
For a student-athlete who grew up hearing the words "never forget," the stair climb has given him a way to define them for his own generation.
