In the face of horrific tragedy, postponing action was the only way to go
I’m supposed to be enjoying a well-earned vacation, spending two weeks on the safe haven known as Martha’s Vineyard. It was going to be 14 glorious days of fun with friends and family, 14 days of rest and relaxation on the prettiest site known to man, a two-week respite from the rest of the world, while, of course, keeping up with the daily activities back home.
Whether it’s via e-mail, or through news over the Internet, or phone calls, Hudson County news always seems to make its way to my annual vacation spot. Word travels fast, even some 400 miles away.
However, this time, I wish I could have tuned all the news out and made it go away. This time, it wasn’t a wedding proposal or a great high school football performance. It wasn’t a theater company preparing for its latest show or a parish planning for his annual feast.
Last Tuesday morning, vicious, insane individuals drove two planes into the Twin Towers across the river and rearranged each and every one of our lives forever.
Let’s face it. By now, we’ve all been touched by the heart-ripping stories about people who have perished in the unthinkable tragedy. Many of us have personal acquaintances with someone who has been lost in the terrorist attack. Some have lost family members. Some families have lost more than one member.
The stories rip at the inner soul, tear the heart to shreds and makes us all cry and hit our knees in prayer.
And the sad stories never seem to end. Every day, there’s someone else added to the list of the missing. Your next door neighbor. Your high school friend. The father of your son’s friend. It’s yet another one of us, gone for no reason, other than appease the sick beliefs of a madman.
It won’t go away. The pain lingers and will continue to do so for quite some time.
Incredibly, the majority of the names on the list are my peers – young professionals, ages 30 through 40, with families, wives, small children left in the wake. They are people who left their homes without caution, without care last Tuesday morning to their jobs in lower Manhattan and never came home.
Experts have called it the "worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor." You can’t even begin to compare the two. Pearl Harbor was an attack by Japanese military personnel on American military personnel. This was a cowardly annihilation of some 5,000 innocent people.
This isn’t simply a tragedy. This is an emotional, physical, irrational disaster.
So why did the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association sit on their collective hands last weekend and allow high school sports contests to be played in New Jersey? Why in the world did the NJSIAA permit athletic events to continue in the face of such a horrific disaster, never before seen in any American’s lifetime?
Beats the hell out of me.
The powers-that-be at the NJSIAA in Robbinsville – who couldn’t see the destruction from their office windows like the rest of New Jersey could – decided to leave the decisions up to the respective schools.
They believed that most of New Jersey wasn’t directly affected by the attack, that the schools in the southern and central parts of the state didn’t have family members that were lost in the disaster.
"We’re going to leave the decisions up to the respective school districts, whatever they seem fit," was the generic response from the NJSIAA hierarchy.
The NJSIAA also believed that high school sports could have served as a positive distraction and escape from thinking too much about what took place at the World Trade Center.
Yeah, right.
I can imagine that everyone just felt like springing to their feet and cheering for their local high school teams in their respective sports. You know, as a release, an escape. Rah, rah. Hear the school fight song and everything is just so special.
I’ve read accounts from high school kids in Wisconsin, Idaho, California – thousands of miles away from New York City – who expressed their sorrow about the attack and said how they didn’t feel much like playing in a national time of sorrow.
But kids in New Jersey? Nah, they’re expected to go on, despite losing their former Little League coach, despite experiencing the loss of their uncle, their cousin – in some cases, their parent. Shrug it off. Hit the field. It will do you a world of good. You know, as a release.
St. Peter’s Prep head football coach and athletic director Rich Hansen heard the planes hit the Twin Towers from his downtown Jersey City office, located a little more than a mile from the disaster.
"I heard it, watched it, felt it," Hansen said. "I can’t even begin to tell you what it was like. There were military personnel, ambulances, F-15’s flying overhead. I think everyone wanted to just go home and hug their families. There’s no question athletics were the furthest thing in our minds."
Although there were some Hudson County athletic officials who wanted to play last weekend – for some unknown reason – the HCIAA did the right thing and decided to postpone all activities until Monday, when President Bush declared it should be time for the nation "to get on with our lives."
Hansen said that he awaited some leadership and guidance from the NJSIAA – and got nothing.
"I called the NJSIAA on Wednesday and told them that I anticipated a huge problem in Hudson County," Hansen said. "Schools were being used as rescue centers and triages. Being that we were all so close to the tragedy, there was a lot of pain to deal with here in Hudson County. I told them that I had devised some possibilities. But they told me that they were leaving the decision to play up to each school district."
And that was a decision that angered Hansen.
"I didn’t think it was proper," Hansen said. "I was disappointed by it. No question, this was a national disaster. Playing sports would be difficult for anyone to do. And it was going to be tougher for us that were so close and so affected by it."
Added Hansen, "In my opinion, that’s the NJSIAA’s role, to step up under dire circumstances and dictate a policy that the entire state follows. To make sure that everyone is on the same page. If they made a ruling, it would take the decision out of the hands of athletic directors and principals. In my opinion, playing last weekend would have been playing too soon. Even if the NFL and Major League Baseball decided to play, which they didn’t, not playing would have been still the right thing to do for high school sports. Fortunately, the rest of our league felt that way as well."
So the HCIAA decided to mourn and reflect with the rest of the nation, while the NJSIAA decided to play on, like nothing happened. The HCIAA went back to reality on Monday, with several football games. Two Jersey City public school games were played Tuesday. All were played with a heavy heart, because the smoke still permeates from lower Manhattan. The reminders are still there.
"I think this was a wake-up call for a lot of people," said Hansen, whose team defeated East Orange’s Clifford Scott High School, 34-8, on Monday. "It’s still there, still smoldering. And it’s going to be there for quite a while. It’s only been a few days. It’s too early for things to be back to normal. Those two gigantic pillars aren’t there anymore. So many people are gone. Sure, we’re getting back to business, but there’s still that dark ominous cloud as a reminder."
Hansen said that he was speaking with Memorial athletic director (and Hudson County Freeholder) Sal Vega on Wednesday, working on rescheduling events, like soccer games and cross-country meets, that were postponed due to the tragedy.
"He said that our generation, people in their 30s and 40s, have reaped the benefits of the generation before us," Hansen said. "We were all too young to serve in Vietnam and too old to serve in Desert Storm. Maybe this is our calling to do something and step forward."
Hansen fully well knows that if the nation does go to war, which is expected, then many of his current players will soon turn in football equipment for military gear.
"I’m aware of that, considering that one of those kids is my son (Richie, a linebacker/running back)," Hansen said. "But what can you do? We’ll take it one day at a time. That’s all we can do."
And to the families who have lost loved ones, especially the people who I’ve personally known and have been touched by in some way, like Paul Nimbley, Tommy Swift, Jimmy Walsh, Joe Lovero, John Monahan, Bob Parks, Bernie Petronico, Samantha Egan, Tommy Sullivan…you will never be forgotten.
You’ve left a legacy, with your immediate family and the millions of adopted family members in the brethren known as the American family. We will always remember you and always remember what happened on that fateful day that changed our lives forever.
May God be with you.