Boston College Athletics
Goodwin's 9/11 Story Featured on ESPN
September 10, 2002 | Football
Sept. 10, 2002
The compelling September 11 story of defensive tackle Doug Goodwin's father, Douglas Goodwin Sr., will be featured Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. on a special edition of ESPN's Outside the Lines show, "9/11: One Year Later." The show, hosted by Bob Ley, will present stories related to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
Douglas Goodwin Sr., who resides in the New York City area, received a heart transplant last September 11. The senior Goodwin's amazing story began that morning when a small plane carrying the donor heart left Boston's Logan Airport around 7:50 a.m. - just minutes before the doomed American Airlines Flight 11 taxied for takeoff. The donor heart was flown to the Teterboro, N.J. airport and rushed by ambulance to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in Washington Heights, N.Y., where the elder Goodwin had been prepped for surgery. The ambulance containing the heart crossed the George Washington Bridge en route to the hospital just six minutes before all bridges and tunnels in the New York City area were closed.
Ambulance drivers reported seeing the twin towers of the World Trade Center burning in the distance as they sped to the hospital with the donor heart. Doug Goodwin Jr. spent an anxious day in class and at football practice at BC with no way of communicating with his family, as phone service to the New York City area had been interrupted.
The Goodwins' saga had a happy ending - the heart transplant was successful, and both Douglas Goodwins were in Alumni Stadium for this past Saturday's Stanford game.
