RELATED: Personal Reflections of 9/11
It's hard to believe 25 years have passed since 9/11, the day terrorists attacks in New York and Washington D.C. (one of them was thwarted by passengers aboard a jet that crashed into a field in Pennsylvania) shocked the United States. America was severely stung, but the horrific events of that day galvanized the country and served as a unifying force.
We cannot forget the 2,977 people killed directly as a result of the attacks on American soil. Because so many people who visit or website daily or are young basketball fans who weren't even born then, we have to remind them of the scope of the tragedy. It claimed the lives of people from 90 countries and 441 first responders. According to various reports, reps of more than 9,000 people who have since passed have filed claims with the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and more than 6,000 have received some type of compensation, so far.
According to USA Today, more than 130,000 responders and survivors connected to the World Trade Center and related sites are now enrolled in the federally funded World Trade Center Health Program, which monitors and treats illnesses linked to the exposure during and after 9/11.
Considering the scope and magnitude of the day, and that approximately one-third of the population is too young or weren't alive to remember what happened, it's important for people to learn the stories of that day and how that day will affect Americans for generations to come.
We offer some personal anecdotes and talk a quick look at what was happening in basketball around the time of 9/11.
NBA
September 11 was obviously the NBA off-season, so the actual season went on as planed. However, as fate would have it, the biggest sports story of the day, and arguably the biggest news story leading off that early morning, involved the game's greatest player ever. Reports leaked Michael Jordan was set to return as an active player with the Washington Wizards. He last appeared in a game in June 1998, when he led the Chicago Bulls to its sixth NBA title in eight seasons.
Obviously, by 8:40 am ET, that MJ news was completely overshadowed. MJ responded like he usually does when things get tough. MJ decided to donate his entire 2001-02 Washington Wizards' salary - approximately 900,000 to 9/11 relief efforts and 100,000 directly to the children who lost their parents in the Pentagon attack. His Airness also met with families to offer support and hope, perhaps the most famous being 11-year old Corbin Mayo, whose father passed away at The WTC.
NCAA Basketball
There is always two things that come to mind when it comes to college hoops at this time. Each July, college coaches would descend on Las Vegas to watch an endless amount of live period evaluation events in Sin City. There were no Ubers, no phone GPS systems (only MapQuest) and there were games from 8 am to midnight. As the years pass by, we're just glad there wasn't anything too crazy that happened to college coaches in terms of a big accident or tragedy. Things are different now in terms of travel, amount of events in Vegas and times have changed, and sometimes we wonder just how did we survived those days of gym hopping to watch prospects. (Head coaches often had an entry level assistant drive them around town).
In September of 2001, college coaches were busy flying across the country making in-home visits and watching players work in their high school and junior college settings. As one can expect, hundreds were stranded all over the nation that night. A vast majority of them had to drive back to campus. None that we are aware of were on any of the four flights that were taken over by terrorists.
Back then, websites and message boards carried the day as far as breaking commitments and recruiting information being disseminated was concerned. People still relied on magazines and word of mouth to learn about top recruits from various parts of the country, and the occasional televised game.
The single greatest thing ESPN has ever produced #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/dnBo6Y0GlU
— BuckeyeNation (@buckeyefbnation) September 11, 2026
The rumor mill was big then, and now that sort of info has turned into "Fake News" and AI information, where false information is easily spread on social media platforms. Back then recruiting rumors and gossip ran wild and stories had to be confirmed through telephone calls and follow ups.
Word spread Boston College head coach Al Skinner and one of his assistants was scheduled to fly to the West Coast on September 11 to visit 6-foot-7 2002 (rising senior) Bobby Jones of Poly (Long Beach, Calif.). The tale is Jones called the Boston College coaching staff on Sept. 10 to re-schedule the visit and that Skinner and one of his assistants was supposed to be on one of the two fights that ultimately crashed into the WTC. Some of the elements of this recruiting tale were true, but the overall story turned out to be false.
The real story was Skinner and assistant Bill Coen were in Seattle on Sept. 9 on an in-home visit with 6-foot-6 2002 Brandon Roy of Garfield (Seattle). On Sept. 10, the coaches flew from Seattle to Houston to meet with 6-foot-2 2002 point guard Dwight Jones Jr. of Klein (Houston), the son of legendary college big man Dwight Jones. BC's hard-working staff was originally scheduled to meet with 6-foot-6 2002 Brandon Bowman of Westchester (Los Angeles) on Sept. 10, but he cancelled the in-home visit the week prior after making a commitment to Georgetown. As for Jones, he had a visit with B.C. scheduled for Friday Sept. 14.
These are the types of stories that came out of 9/11 and there were other stories of coaches stranded all across the country and how grateful they were to get back home to their families (mostly via rental car).
High School Hoops
Obviously high school hoops was not in-season during 9/11, but the talk of the sport at the time was the high school players that just dominated the top of the 2001 NBA Draft and which wave of the next high school stars were going to make the jump to the pros. Insiders, and others heavily involved in the grassroots scene, already knew by this time rising junior LeBron James of St. Vincent-St Mary (Akron, Ohio) was already the best player in the country after a show-stopping performance at the 2001 ABCD Camp. In fact, he was probably already the best player in the country halfway through his sophomore season. Yes, even over future Cavaliers teammate DaJuan Wagner (who spent one season at Memphis) and the rest of the top players who entered the 2001 NBA Draft.
At the time, James was playing wide receiver for SV-SM and like the rest of the high school football world, had to sit back and see if and when high school football games across the country would resume. School administrators had some difficult decisions to make in the days following 9/11. After the first few days of initial shock began to wane, many football games were scheduled to be played Sept. 14. A few schools did play, but most did not. Many took the lead of the NFL, which eventually decided not to have games on the Sunday following the Tuesday attacks.
I played 3rd base and pitcher. You put me in that moment and ask me 100 times to throw that perfect strike and I couldn’t do it once. Legendary moment in American history. A nation’s resolve captured through its pasttime. Breathtaking. #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/eKVppJYhqU
— Quoth the Raven (@QTRResearch) September 11, 2026
Suddenly, the pre-game playing of the National Anthem instantly had more meaning and when play resumed many high school events were used as platforms to honor those whose lives were lost.
There was supposed to be a press conference on Sept. 11 to announce that 6-foot-10 2002 Sheldon Williams from Midwest City (Okla.) was committing to Duke, but obviously that never took place. Williams actually committed to Duke on Monday night on Greg Swaim's radio show days before his Big Time Shootout was scheduled to take place in Oklahoma City that weekend.
Untimely, that fall event and others around the country were cancelled. It felt like the country just froze for a week or so.
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