RYE, NY (October 28, 2025) — Two seniors from Rye High School and Harrison High School received the Christopher Mello Award before the annual Rye-Harrison football game.
Carson Miller from Rye and Marco Marisi from Harrison were selected for best embodying the spirit and character that Mello exhibited in life.
The memorial scholarship award was established by the family of Chris Mello, a Rye High School class of 1994 graduate who died on 9/11. Since 2002, the foundation has given out $240,000 in scholarships to Rye and Harrison football players.
The two winners, their families, and coaches met on the 50th yard line of Harrison’s McGillicuddy Stadium on Saturday to receive their award from J.D. Mello, Chris’s brother.
Photo, left to right: Harrison Head Coach Jay Ciraco, Marco Marisi, Carson Miller, and Rye Head Coach Dino Garr.
Chris Mello: The Rye Athlete Lost on 9/11
Christopher Daniel “Chris” Mello was a 25-year-old financial analyst from Rye, New York, whose promising life was cut short in one of the most devastating acts of terrorism in American history. Born on June 22, 1976, in Greenwich, Connecticut, to Douglas and Ellen Mello, Chris grew up to embody the ideals of scholarship, leadership, and athleticism that would later inspire a lasting memorial in his name.
As a student at Rye High School, Chris excelled both in the classroom and on the field. He graduated in 1994 as vice president of his senior class, a member of the National Honor Society, and recipient of the University of Michigan Book Award for Academic Excellence. A three-sport varsity letterman in football, basketball, and baseball, Chris particularly shone in football as a 195-pound tight end and linebacker. During his senior year, he co-captained the Rye Garnets team to the New York State finals, where he was voted the most valuable defensive player of the tournament. “Chris was the epitome of what high school coaches want in a student-athlete,” recalled his Rye High head coach, Dino Garr. “A great student, a strong and quiet leader, someone who people naturally followed.”
After high school, Chris attended Princeton University, where he majored in psychology and continued his athletic pursuits, playing rugby. He also showed early promise in boxing. Following graduation, he began a career in finance, first as a financial analyst at BT Alex Brown in Baltimore, Maryland. By July 2000, he had joined Alta Communications in Boston as an associate, quickly rising as a talented venture analyst.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Chris boarded American Airlines Flight 11 at Boston’s Logan International Airport, bound for Los Angeles, California. He was traveling for work with his manager, David Retik, a 32-year-old colleague and fellow victim. The Boeing 767, carrying 81 passengers, 11 crew members, and five hijackers, departed at 7:59 a.m. At approximately 8:46 a.m., the hijackers—led by Mohamed Atta—stormed the cockpit, slit the throats of the pilots, and took control. They slashed passengers who tried to intervene, including Daniel Lewin, a former Israeli special forces soldier seated in first class. Retik, seated in row 32, called his wife, Susan, to say the plane had been hijacked before the line went dead.
Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center between the 93rd and 99th floors at 8:46 a.m., igniting massive fires fueled by 10,000 gallons of jet fuel. The impact killed all 92 people aboard instantly. The tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m., bringing the total death toll to 2,606 in and around the complex. Among the victims was Chris, whose remains were later identified by a small fragment of vertebrae—“something no bigger than a silver dollar,” as his father Doug described it.
This fragment was interred at Greenwood Union Cemetery in Rye, under a memorial stone.
The loss reverberated deeply in Rye, a tight-knit suburb north of New York City. Chris, who enjoyed golfing with his family at the Apawamis Country Club and was active at the Rye YMCA, left behind his parents; his brother, John Douglas “J.D.” Mello, a fellow Princeton graduate; and his paternal grandmother, Alice Mello. Visiting hours were held on September 16, 2001, at Graham Funeral Home in Rye, followed by a memorial service the next day at Resurrection Church.
Christopher Mello Scholarship Fund
In the wake of the tragedy, the Mello family, aided by friends and colleagues, channeled their grief into action. They established the Christopher Mello Scholarship Fund, which has awarded $240,000 to scholar-athletes from Rye and Harrison High Schools since 2002. The annual Christopher Mello Award, presented before the storied Rye-Harrison football rivalry game—dating back to 1929—honors one player from each team who best embodies Chris’s spirit of leadership and character. The Rye YMCA Fitness Center was dedicated in his memory, bearing a bronze plaque with his portrait.
Even two decades later, the pain endures for the family. “In my case, it hasn’t healed at all,” Doug Mello told ESPN in 2011. “Even the morning after bin Laden was killed… Chris wasn’t there, and that’s something we’ll have to deal with for the rest of our lives.” Yet through the foundation—now partnered with the Retik family as the Retik Mello Foundation—Chris’s legacy of excellence and quiet strength lives on, supporting the next generation of young athletes in the community he called home.
This article was drafted with the aid of Grok, an AI tool by xAI, under the direction and editing of Robert Cox to ensure accuracy and adherence to journalistic standards.
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