The story behind Longhorns football safety Michael Taaffe’s tie honoring flood victims

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Certain images define the weeks after deadly flooding in Central Texas. Debris scattered in flood waters. Bracelets worn in honor of summer camp victims. Images from happier times of girls, boys, men and women who died. And — a photo of a tie.

Michael Taaffe’s tie. Burnt orange with 27 initials, it caught many people’s eyes when the Longhorns safety wore it during SEC media days, just weeks after the Kerr County floods killed more than 100 people, including 27 children and camp director from Camp Mystic.

“I want them to know that their girls will be remembered for a long, long time,” Taaffe said.

Taaffe and his mother Diane called a local shop in Westlake to create the tie to honor the lives of the children from Camp Mystic who are no longer with us. It became a very personal project for the creator.

“My husband and I still struggle to look at our 7-year-old and not see Mary Stevens or Linnie or you know, Eloise,” said Anderson Parker co-owner Michael McCollum Adams, referring to some of the girls from Camp Mystic. “These names are embedded in our brains.”  

With only a 36-hour window, Anderson Parker delivered the tie to Taaffe, who debuted it during SEC media days in Atlanta, Georgia.

“Being successful is important — being significant is more important to me,” Taaffe said.

Those words from the Westlake high school graduate have been heard and felt throughout the Texas community.

It’s a simple piece of fabric, forever hosting the names of innocent children put on display, not just by a football player for the University of Texas, but by someone who cares for his community.

“It hits home when you know it’s people that grew up around you that are witnessing and experiencing this type of pain,” Taaffe said.

McCollum Adams said she couldn’t help but think that “it could have been anybody” who went through this tragedy.

“My daughter was at Camp Waldemar the session before the floods and there was a really bad storm one night, and I never thought twice about it,” McCollum Adams said. “It was just a lot of rain, and I was bummed that she didn’t get to go to her activities. And you fast forward 10 days later, and everyone’s life has changed.”

As a remembrance to the family, Taaffe said he plans to give the ties out to the parents and families of the victims.

“Grief — there’s no playbook for it,” Taaffe said. “People grieve way different, and so I just want to give those families space, but I want them to know we at Texas football, and Texas athletics, and the 40 are supporting them.”