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Honoring 'The Ten' that lost their lives STILLWATER — The symbol of an orange ribbon, still to this day, memorializes 'The Ten' — Kendall Durfey, Bjorn Fahlstrom, Nate Fleming, Will Hancock, Daniel Lawson, Brian Luinstra, Denver Mills, Pat Noyes, Bille Teegins and Jared Weiberg — who lost their lives in a plane crash in Colorado on Jan. 27, 2001. But that ribbon means so much more for former Oklahoma State president Jim Halligan, who now serves in the Oklahoma State Senate. "If you see me any time with a jacket on, you'll see me with one of those orange ribbons," Halligan said. "And I've actually indicated that I want one on my coat when I'm in my casket. Because we said we would never forget." While the orange ribbon is something Halligan and others are able to keep close to them, the former OSU president made a decision in the following days that a statue would also be commissioned to remember those whose lives were cut short. And thus today, in the southwest corner of Gallagher-Iba, there's a kneeling bronze cowboy surrounded by images of The Ten, along with a brief message from the families of each victim. "When we interacted with the families, right away they brought to our attention — which I thought was a great idea — that they would like to have a bronze sculpture of some kind," Halligan said. "So we commissioned an artist and honored them with that. I had known, but not really reflected upon, that a cowboy never lets his hat touch the ground." That memorial is also used as a teaching tool for players new to the program — as a way to understand the adversity the Cowboys have overcome. "On my (recruiting) visit, I walked by it and I asked them what that means and they explained it all to me," OSU senior Marshall Moses said. "And just over the years of being here, I've actually gotten to talk to Eddie Sutton about it — he may not remember talking to me, but that's something I'll always remember, getting to ask him about it. ... It's definitely a touchy subject, but it's something I've always been interested in knowing about." The moments following the crash were hectic for Halligan, who recalls meeting with members of his emergency staff for over five hours after making phone calls to family's of those involved in the crash. "We had a group of individuals who we would call together whenever there was a significant event occurring on the campus and that involved all the people you would anticipate," Halligan said. "So we all assembled and we met until about 3 a.m. ... We decided when the memorial would take place and where it would be because we knew there were going to be funerals and we wanted to get ahead of that so people could schedule their funerals around our memorial service for the university." But quite possibly the longest lasting tribute OSU set up for the family members was a free scholarship to all the children associated with those who had been lost in the plane crash.