The Healing Journey

September 11, 2026

25 years later, an unforgettable tragedy

Jimmy Quinn, 23, loved basketball. He played in high school and managed the team at his alma mater, Manhattan College. He was also a devoted New York Mets fan.

In 2001, Bobby Valentine’s Mets took third place in the National League East and missed the playoffs, but they became a symbol of hope for New York City, when they played the first game after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2, thanks to a two-run homer from Mike Piazza in the eighth inning.

Jimmy never saw that game. He worked at Cantor Fitzgerald and was among the 2977 people killed in the attacks on September 11, when four planes were hijacked and two of them flew into the twin towers. Another crashed into the Pentagon in Washington DC, and a fourth into a Pennsylvania field after the passengers revolted against the hijackers.

Jimmy was a member of Knights Council 126 in Brooklyn and is one of the 46 Knights of Columbus memorialized in an exhibit at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center in New Haven.

In total, 2977 people were killed, thousands were injured, and many more died in the years that followed because of health issues.

Among them was Charles “Chuck” Costello Jr., who was called “the elevator man.” On the morning of September 11, he went from the hotel in SoHo, where he worked as an elevator technician, to the World Trade Center to help in the rescue effort.

He left his truck on the street and ran into the burning North Tower about 9 a.m. and is credited with saving hundreds of lives. On January 6, 2002, his remains were found beneath the South Tower. He was a member of St. Ambrose Knights Council 6424 of Old Bridge, NJ.

Twenty-five years later, we remember them with a grief that endures and a love that will never die.
©J Pisani

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