Family members and other loved ones are paying solemn tribute to Martin “Tiger” Bech, a former Princeton Tigers football player who was among the 14 people killed in the deadly New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans.

Bech, 27, was pronounced dead Wednesday at a New Orleans hospital, according to local media. The Louisiana native worked as a trader at Seaport Global, a Wall Street brokerage firm, and had been scheduled to return to New York City later that afternoon after visiting his home state for the holidays.

Bech, a 2021 graduate of Princeton University, played football at the Ivy League school from 2016 to 2019. His younger brother, Jack Bech, is currently a member of Texas Christian University’s Horned Frogs football team and was among the first to honor his sibling on social media Wednesday.

“Love you always brother ! You inspired me everyday now you get to be with me in every moment,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I got this family T, don’t worry. This is for us.”

In an emotional interview with the U.K.’s Sky News that aired Thursday, the younger Bech recalled the last time he spoke with his sibling.

“The last thing we ever said to each other … he told me he loved me,” he explained. “I told him I love him, he told me he loved me even more, hung up the phone ― and those were the last words I ever spoke to him.”

Tiger Bech, left, number 7, played football at Princeton University from 2016 to 2019.

Also honoring Bech were Princeton Tigers coach Bob Surace and Marty Cannon, the principal and former football coach at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette, Louisiana, from which Bech graduated in 2015.

“He might be the first Tiger to ever play for us, and that nickname kind of described him as a competitor,” Surace told ESPN. “He was somebody that somehow, like in the key moments, just excelled and was full of energy, full of life.”

Speaking to CBS affiliate KLFY-TV in Lafayette, Cannon echoed those sentiments.

“Between the athlete and the depth and the character, [and] just the way he held himself, he was a special guy,” he said. “Tiger left a huge mark on a lot of us. We could go on and on about how great of an athlete he was, but he was way more than that. He was a complete guy, and he was a stand-up guy that we really respected and honored and we really liked.”

At least 14 people were killed and dozens were left injured Wednesday after a man drove a truck into a crowd of New Year’s Day revelers on Bourbon Street, in the heart of New Orleans’ historic French Quarter.

The driver has been identified by the FBI as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran from Texas. The 42-year-old died after exchanging gunfire with police.

Watch a CBS News report on Martin “Tiger” Bech below.

New Orleansprinceton universitymass killingfootball player