24 Years Later – Remembering Ace & Mark, Forever LA Kings

September 11 is a day that all Americans remember. It’s an important day in the history of the country. And it’s an important day for those within the LA Kings family.

24 years ago today, Garnet “Ace” Bailey and Mark Bavis were heading back to Los Angeles, to their jobs with the Los Angeles Kings. They did not make it back. Both Bailey and Bavis were on United Airlines Flight 175 out of Boston, a flight that we know was hijacked and deliberately crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, killing all passengers including the pair of Kings scouts. It’s a tragic and terrible day for so many and that includes people with the Kings organization, both past and present, who knew Bailey and Bavis personally and lost two friends, two family members, two work colleagues.

It’s important to do this post every year. Next year will be 25 years since it happened. It’s important not to forget two members of the Kings organization who lost their lives on that day. It’s important. And it will always continue here on this site because it’s important.

On this day, we remember the lives lost, and the bravery of those who responded to crisis on 9/11.

Their legacy of resiliency, unity, and strength will forever be engrained in our history. Never forget.

On this day, we especially remember Garnet “Ace” Bailey and Mark Bavis.… pic.twitter.com/2yMLg2U7RW

— NHL Alumni (@NHLAlumni) September 11, 2024

Bailey, who was 53 at the time of his death, had been the Director of Professional Scouting for the Kings for seven seasons, entering his eighth in the 2001-22 NHL season. Throughout a distinguished career in hockey, Bailey was a part of seven teams that won the Stanley Cup, including two as a player and five more as a scout. In total, Bailey spent 33 seasons working at the NHL level, between his playing and scouting careers, spending time with six different NHL organizations at the time of his death, including the Kings.

Bavis, who was 31 at the time of his death, had been with the Kings for just one season as a professional scout, entering Year 2. The Kings were Bavis’ first NHL organization, after he had spent time as a coach at the NCAA level with Harvard University and Brown University, as well as the NAHL’s Chicago Freeze. Prior to his coaching/scouting careers, Bavis played three seasons of professional hockey in the AHL and ECHL following a four-season career at Boston University and was selected in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers.

In honor of Ace and Mark’s respective legacies, providing links to the Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation (LINK HERE) or Ace’s Place (LINK HERE), located at the Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

The Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation was established by family and friends of Mark Bavis to preserve his memory and to perpetuate the principles by which he lived every day, through which he touched many lives. The foundation provides selected recipients with annual grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to be used as specifically requested for school tuition, summer programs and other appropriate extracurricular activities. The Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation raised more than $400,000 since its inception and awarded nine scholarships in 2023.

Known as Ace’s Place, the playroom in the Pediatric Emergency Department at Tufts Medical Center has been renovated thanks to the generosity of the Ace Bailey Children’s Foundation. KPTI accepts gifts of toys, hospital dolls, blankets, CDs and DVDs for the children to use in the playroom. For those who are not well enough to go to Ace’s Place, child life specialists bring toys and diversions to the patient’s bedside.

We will #NeverForget Ace Bailey, Mark Bavis, and all of the other victims and heroes of 9/11. pic.twitter.com/7z2zFRZJn1

— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) September 11, 2024