updated 5:24 p.m. ET Sept. 11, 2009

ROGERS, Ark. - Paula Creamer showed up for the first round of her LPGA event dressed in barely a trace of pink.

On this day, she had more important colors in mind.

“Red, white and blue, I will take over pink any day,” Creamer said.

Creamer wore a blue shirt, red skirt and red, white and blue earrings Friday on the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. She was 15 that day, in a math class in Florida, and she still has vivid memories.

“My dad works for American Airlines, and he was on a trip,” Creamer said. “I called right away when I found out. He was in the airport, getting ready to go. At the time, I didn’t quite understand what was really going on.”

Known for her love of all things pink, Creamer said she was glad to see plenty of red, white and blue during the first round of the NW Arkansas Championship.

“Never forget. That’s the biggest thing, and to support our troops,” she said. “I’m lucky enough to be out here playing golf for a living while there’s people over there trying to keep our country safe.”

Cristie Kerr, the LPGA Tour’s leading money winner this year, also took time to reflect. She was in Portland, Ore., the day of the attacks.

“It was the Pro-Am day ... and they canceled the tournament. I wasn’t going to get on a plane by any stretch of the imagination then,” Kerr said. “I drove from Portland, Ore., down to Palm Springs where my coach was living at the time. ... It was just something that you’ll never forget.”

“Listening to the story where somebody was descending down the stairwell and the firefighters were going up, and they kind of look at each other and time stopped,” Kerr added. “We owe an amazing debt of gratitude to people who serve the country.”

The flagsticks at Pinnacle Country Club were topped with American flags for the first round.

“I’m very glad they did that,” Kerr said. “We’re in the heartland of America right here, and I think it was fitting.”

At Richmond International Raceway in Virginia, site of a NASCAR Nationwide Series race, skydivers delivered an American flag as a singer finished her rendition of “God Bless America.”

Mickey Kross, a retired New York city firefighter whom the track said escaped from one of the Twin Towers eight years ago and later spent several months helping at Ground Zero, led the crowd in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. During the singing of the National Anthem, police officers unfurled a huge American flag.

In Boston, the Red Sox observed a moment of silence before their game against the Tampa Bay Rays, covering the Green Monster with a giant U.S. flag while members of the Boston Fire Department sang the national anthem.

In Houston, the first 10,000 fans at the Astros’ game with the Pirates received patriotic caps and the first 15,000 fans received miniature American flags. Members of the city’s fire and police departments, and emergency management unit, lined up before the game.

Marine Sgt. David Worswick, who was wounded while serving in Afghanistan, threw out one of three ceremonial first pitches. City fireman Jermaine Wiggins and Houston police officer David Freytag, who were awarded medals of valor, threw the others.

It was the first time the anniversary fell on a Friday, and high school football teams held remembrances.

In the Minneapolis suburb of Blaine, the high school held a lavish pregame ceremony that included the color guards of all four branches of the military, a moment of silence in honor of those who have died in combat and a military flyover.

Veterans were given free admission to the Bengals’ game against Centennial High School and a gigantic American flag was unfolded at the 50-yard line.

“It’s a big deal,” Blaine football coach Shannon Gerrety said. “Any way you can honor our veterans or the people who are over there right now, do it.”

And in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, at the U.S. short track national speedskating championships in Marquette, competitors and fans observed a moment of silence.

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