Jack Bech became an NFL player when the Las Vegas Raiders selected him in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
After the culmination of achieving his NFL dream, the 22-year-old couldn’t help but think about his late older brother, Tiger Bech, who was one of 14 people killed on New Year’s Day in New Orleans after a 42-year-old American man, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street.
The younger Bech mourned his brother’s loss and credited him for instilling belief the TCU product could become an NFL player in a letter posted to The Players’ Tribune.
‘I miss you so much, Big Bro,’ Bech wrote. ‘And I wish more than anything that I could be talking to you right now. Saying all of this, instead of writing it down. Giving you a big hug, tears streaming down both our faces, as I tell you that this whole thing – getting drafted, making it to the NFL, beginning my journey as a professional football player – it’s all thanks to you. All because of you.’
Bech went on to praise his brother for serving as a quality role model to him and ‘always having his back’ during their youth.
Additionally, he outlined his older brother was ‘his No. 1 fan.’ During his time at TCU, the elder Bech would talk up his younger brother at any opportunity, knowing he was on track to become an NFL player.
‘You were the first one to see greatness in me,’ Jack Bech explained. ‘To tell me that God gifted me with some things he doesn’t give to everybody and that there was no limit to what I could do in this life.’
‘You told me that, straight up. And not just in a rah-rah, hype-me-up kind of way. You really meant it. You believed it.’
‘That made me feel like I could do anything I put my mind to. And that confidence you instilled inside me – the confidence you put there – it’s something I’ll have for as long as I live. It’s a huge part of what got me to this place, and one of the biggest things I want to thank you for right now.’
Bech made it clear he will continue to honor his brother while with the Raiders. He has a tattoo on his left shoulder that reads ‘7 to Heaven,’ an homage to his brother, who wore the No. 7 jersey during his college career at Princeton, but noted it will go beyond that.
‘See, this whole thing is a two for one deal,’ Bech wrote. ‘It’s two people living out this dream, Tiger.’
Bech also shared the final message he shared with Tiger as he laid in the trauma unit of the hospital with injuries that ‘had left him brain dead.’
‘I love you so much, Tiger. You were the best big brother in the entire world. I was so blessed to be your little brother, and you will always be with me wherever I go.’