Before he became a five-time Louisiana state champion at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette, Louisiana, and long before the Las Vegas Raiders came calling, Jack Bech was a soccer kid.

He was about 5 years old at the time, just starting to play. His mother, Michelle Bech, remembers sitting on the side of the field at one of his early games, watching her youngest child chase the ball with boundless energy. 

From the soccer pitch to the Little League baseball diamond, Jack Bech dominated youth sports growing up in Lafayette, La. Courtesy of the Bech family

“I will never, ever, ever forget,” she said. “He was driving the ball down the middle of the field. … All of a sudden, he leaves the ball and starts running towards me at an angle. I’m wondering, ‘What is he doing?’

“He’s running off the field towards me. He jumped in my lap, planted a big ol’ kiss on my lips, gave me a big hug and told me how much he loved me. Then he jumped off my lap, ran onto the field, took the ball away from whoever else was slowly trying to get it down the field and triumphantly scored the goal, detour and all.” 

That moment, Michelle said, still sums him up: a mix of tenderness and tenacity, affection and fire. Even then, his athleticism stood out, but so did his instinct to connect. “He’s always been so full of love, so full of joy,” she said. “And really, ultimately, he has been the rock of our family.” 

Football in the Blood

Two of Jack’s uncles played football at LSU, and uncle Brett Bech was a New Orleans Saints receiver in the late ’90s. Jack grew up attending LSU football games and playing the sport with his older brother, Tiger, from the moment he could run.

Tiger, nearly six years his senior, often roped Jack into pickup football games in the yard, where an alley of live oaks framed the makeshift playing field. Wearing nothing but a diaper, Jack would run into the fray, taking hits from older kids and often coming inside with tears streaking his face. No matter how many times Jack was knocked down, he always returned for more.

Those early battles with Tiger and the neighborhood boys taught toughness. Jack still carries a straight scar down the back of his head from the staples he needed after splitting his scalp during a wrestling match with Tiger.

Lance Strother, director of adult ministry and outreach and longtime wide receivers coach at St. Thomas More, met the Bech brothers while Tiger was a student there.

Though the Bech brothers never took the varsity field together, younger brother Jack, right, followed in his elder brother Tiger’s footsteps as one of the most dynamic receivers in St. Thomas More High School history. Courtesy of the Bech family

Tiger mentored his younger brother directly. The two argued from time to time, as siblings do, Strother said, “But they loved each other like best friends, too.”

“Tiger was not passive in coaching up Jack and telling Jack what he’s capable of,” Strother continued. “So Jack heard from his own mind and heart, and he heard from his older brother, who he looked up to, ‘Hey, you’re gonna play in the NFL. Nobody can stop you.’ ”

Tiger became a two-time All-Ivy League return specialist and member of Princeton’s 10-0 team in 2018.

The Call Comes

Jack grew into a varsity regular by his sophomore season of high school.  

“He and Tiger were both uniquely strong in the weight room,” Strother said. In his final two seasons at St. Thomas More, Jack hauled in 150 passes for 2,827 yards and 34 touchdowns. He contributed to three Louisiana state titles in basketball and two more in football, winning MVP of that championship game his senior year. 

Attention from recruiters, anywhere from Louisiana Tech to Vanderbilt, trickled in. 

He held out hope for an LSU offer.

“He knew that something great was coming from somewhere, whether it was LSU or another school,” said Michelle, who, like her husband, Martin, is a graduate of the university.

A week before Halloween 2020, then LSU head coach Ed Orgeron and his staff extended Jack an official offer.

Bayou Bengal Becomes a Fort Worth Frog

Jack had done what generations of Louisiana kids dreamed of by pulling on the purple and gold. But the story didn’t end there.

He spent two seasons with the Tigers, appearing in 25 games and starting 11. As a first-year target under offensive coordinator Jake Peetz, now of the Seattle Seahawks, he earned significant playing time and led the team with 43 catches. 

His sophomore season, under new head coach Brian Kelly, Jack’s role diminished amid injuries and scheme changes. 

Jack Bech announced his decision to transfer to TCU in December 2022. In 2024, he became just the fifth Horned Frog to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a season. Courtesy of TCU Athletics | Amanda Transou

“He just called us up one day and said, ‘Hey, mom and dad. I’ve decided to leave LSU,’ ” Michelle remembers Jack saying after the season, “ ‘And I really want to go to TCU.’ ” 

Jack said he adapted the vision he’d had since childhood: to play big-time college football and one day reach the NFL. “That’s one of your dreams, being able to play at Death Valley. Being able to go there was a true blessing and gift,” he said. “My mom always said that God put me there to live out one of my dreams but eventually had a greater plan for me to be somewhere else. And that plan was to bring me to TCU.” 

Jack had visited TCU as a high schooler. “He liked the energy of the coaches and the school,” Michelle said. “He loved that it was a faith-based college.” 

TCU offered Jack around the same time LSU did and made his original short list. When it came time for a change, the Frogs were a natural fit. 

“It took a lot of courage to do what he did, to leave a place that knew him so well, that loved him,” Michelle said of Jack’s decision to transfer. “He always bets on himself, no matter what anyone else says.” 

Soon, Jack was loading up his truck with belongings and his dog, Zion, and pulling out of the family’s driveway for the six-hour drive to Fort Worth.

Heart of the Team

Jack’s easygoing nature helped him settle quickly in Fort Worth.

Luke Lingard, a senior linebacker and son of two Horned Frog alums, got to know Jack as his roommate on team road trips during the 2023 season.

“He would make time for anybody,” Lingard said. “He could talk to anybody, it didn’t matter who it was: equipment guy, trainers.”

Though injuries hampered Jack’s 2023 season, Lingard saw the work behind the scenes and knew what was coming. 

“People didn’t really understand how good he was,” Lingard said, “but I kind of always knew because of how he attacked every day.” 

Jack would routinely stay after practice, Lingard said, to catch a “freakish amount” of machine-tossed balls. Back at the house (the two roomed together full-time during the 2024-25 school year) Jack refused to miss his nightly stretch routine. “Nothing could get in the way,” Lingard said.

In 2024, Jack became only the fifth TCU player to top 1,000 yards receiving, joining Josh Doctson ’15, Quentin Johnston, Jalen Reagor and Reggie Harrell ’04.

“It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my whole life,” Bech said of his decision to transfer to TCU. “It taught me how to become comfortable being uncomfortable, going out in a new place, not knowing anybody, going and having to make new friends … so many people who are my best friends and who are going to be my best friends for the rest of my life. Sometimes you gotta do hard stuff to get to where you’re going.”

No. 7

Bech and fellow NFL prospect Savion Williams ’24, now a Green Bay Packer, sat out the New Mexico Bowl following their senior season, a game the Frogs won against Louisiana to finish 9-4. 

Less than a week later, the Bech family’s new year turned tragically dark. On the morning of January 1, 2025, Tiger was killed in a truck attack on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street that left 14 people dead and dozens more injured. His close friend and former Princeton teammate, Ryan Quigley, survived but sustained serious injuries. In the aftermath, one report suggested Tiger might have pushed a young woman out of the truck’s path, a possibility a paramedic later said aligned with what they observed at the scene. 

In the days that followed, the Lafayette community rallied around the Bech family.

The Mass of Christian Burial, held the following week at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Lafayette, reflected the immense affection that family, friends and community members held for Tiger. The pews and side aisles overflowed with mourners, and an additional space was set up with televisions for those unable to fit inside.

During the service, Tiger’s love for life and for those around him was on full display.

“I imagine the church is this full because a lot of people feel the same way about this guy,” said Reverend Andrew Schumacher, before noting that Tiger called his grandmother twice on New Year’s Eve, mere hours before the attack. “Do you know how many grandchildren are calling their grandmothers on New Year’s Eve? … Tiger was. Because he loved big.” 

The Bech siblings, from left: Tiger, Ginnie, Jack and Sophie. Courtesy of the Bech family

When Tiger’s siblings took the pulpit together, they began by honoring every life lost that day. 

“Tiger is each one of you,” his sister Ginnie said. “He’s the love that y’all have shown our family.” 

“These last few days, I have seen some of you who may be shy and reserved, meeting new friends and laughing endlessly in corners of my home,” sister Sophie said. “I have seen some of you swarming us and picking up every last piece that you can think of. I have seen and heard new facets of Tiger I did not know existed. I realized Tiger has orchestrated all of this from heaven. He has brought us all together.” 

Finally, Jack stepped to the microphone. He opened his remarks with a series of questions: “If Tiger was your best friend, please stand up. If anyone in this room has ever had somebody try to crack them up and bring forth so much laughter every single time you saw them, please stand up. If anyone in this room has ever had someone do something kind for them and lifted them up in a time of need, please stand up. If anyone in this room has ever had someone reach out and check on them, someone they hadn’t seen or heard from in years, please stand up. If anyone in this room has ever had someone stand up for them or protect them, please stand up. If anyone in this room has ever known someone who electrified a room with their presence and unrivaled enthusiasm for life, please stand up. If anyone in this room has ever had a moment in their life when someone made you feel like you were the most important person on Earth, please stand up.

“I just asked seven questions, and everyone in this church is standing up. This is the perfection and completion of the No. 7, which is God’s number.” 

A Catch for Tiger

In the weeks that followed, football became both refuge and reminder. Arriving in Mobile, Alabama, for the Reese’s (now Panini) Senior Bowl, Jack wore the same No. 7 his brother once wore. 

With precisely seven seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, his team trailing and facing fourth-and-goal, Bech slipped through traffic near the goal line and hauled in a short pass from Memphis quarterback Seth Henigan. The catch sealed a 22-19 win for the American squad, a walk-off finish that felt scripted for the moment. 

“Of course he performed in that game and it ended magically, and he won the MVP,” said Jack’s father, Martin. “What more can you say? It was just a very special event for him and our family.” 

Standing on the field amidst cameras and postgame commotion, Bech pointed skyward. 

“Man, it’s simple, my brother has some wings on me. He gave them to me and he let that all take place,” Jack told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. “Our lord and savior Jesus Christ, Tiger, nothing else but them. They’re the reason I did what I did today.”

Triple Sevens

About three months after the Senior Bowl, Strother led what he called “the single most distracted worship session I’ve ever led,” deep in the mountains of Puerto Rico. His phone buzzed relentlessly. Friends and neighbors were messaging nonstop about the NFL Draft, and about Jack Bech.

Back in Lafayette, a different gathering was underway: a prayer service for Tiger in a chapel on St. Thomas More’s campus, just before the draft party in the school’s new athletic building. Lingard attended, as did former TCU wide receiver JP Richardson, now with the Chicago Bears.

“Nobody was more deserving for something like that than Jack,” Lingard said of his friend being drafted. 

Michelle reflected on the moment. “Jack wanted to start that night off in remembrance of Tiger and praying for him. … And that’s exactly what we did.” 

After the service, the congregation moved across the parking lot for the draft party. High school coaches, friends from TCU and family gathered around tables heavy with Lebanese and Greek food, Jack’s favorites. 

“We would have never guessed it would be Las Vegas,” Michelle said, recalling their surprise when Raiders general manager John Spytek and head coach Pete Carroll called with the news in Round 2. 

“Jack and Tiger both wore No. 7 in high school. Tiger was No. 7 at Princeton,” she continued. “And so when we realized the symbol for Las Vegas was ‘777’ Jackpot, we were like, ‘Oh my, it was always going to be Vegas.’ ” 

That night, the world saw what Jack and his family have always known: Beautiful things can happen, even after the worst of times.

Grinding for Greatness 

As Jack nears the end of his rookie campaign with Las Vegas, he continues to emulate the habits of those who have found success at the highest level of the sport, including his teammate and four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby. The work is already starting to show up on Sundays. Jack has appeared in all 14 games of the Raiders’ games to date, catching 18 of 24 targets for 181 yards and posting a season-best performance against Denver on Dec. 7, when he hauled in all six passes thrown his way. 

While adapting to learning the X, Z and A receiver positions — “It’s like reading Greek,” Martin Bech said of the average NFL playbook — Jack is leaning on the same work ethic that helped him reach the NFL.

“Not only does he get there early and stay late,” Martin said, “He also reads his iPad at night and continues to learn and make sure he knows the plays inside and out. … Because if you’re in the wrong spot, that can mean an interception. It could mean literally losing the game.” 

Jack Bech brings the relentless work ethic that earned him an NFL spot to his rookie season with the Raiders. Courtesy of the Las Vegas Raiders

Beyond the technical grind, there’s a legacy Jack carries that drives him every day. 

“Every person who had ever encountered Tiger, from Connecticut to Princeton to New York, all knew that he had a brother named Jack Bech who played football at LSU and TCU, and he was going to the league,” Michelle said. 

Jack said Tiger, along with the rest of his family, have always been his greatest supporters, and that his big brother believed in him from the very beginning, seeing potential in Jack that he hadn’t yet recognized in himself. 

“I think he’d say, ‘Keep going,’ ” Jack said of the advice his 5-year-old self would give him today. “Keep trusting in God, keep your faith first and your family right there,” Jack said. “I want to glorify the lord and glorify my brother through everything I do. This has been my dream since I was a baby. So, to be able to live this out, I couldn’t be more thankful and grateful for the opportunity.”