Ryan Quigley was celebrating the new year with former teammate Martin ‘Tiger’ Bech, one of the 14 victims killed

Among those who were injured but survived the deadly New Year’s Day truck attack on New Orleans’ most famous street was a former Princeton University football player whose ex-teammate was murdered by the assailant.

Ryan Quigley, 26, was in New Orleans with Martin “Tiger” Bech – who grew up about a two-hour drive west of the city in Lafayette, Louisiana – to ring in 2025 after both had forged a friendship while playing for Princeton University’s college football team. They had joined other revelers on Bourbon Street when a former US army veteran inspired by the Islamic State (IS) terror group managed to drive a pickup truck into the crowd that had gathered on one of the world’s most festive thoroughfares.