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Wednesday, September 11, 2002

By Robert Dvorchak, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

The day that affected us all has heightened meaning for Keith Osik.

Having attended to some personal matters at his Long Island home, Osik was on a plane that was about to push back from the gate at New York's LaGuardia Airport for a flight to Pittsburgh when word trickled in that the towers of the World Trade Center had been struck by hijacked jets.

	Keith Osik: Aboard airliner at LaGuardia when news came of the attacks on the World Trade Center.

He asked to get off the plane even before all air traffic was grounded Sept. 11. Driving back home with his father-in-law, Osik looked back at "the blackest smoke you've ever seen" billowing from the towers.

In the ensuing days, Osik's eyewitness experience became even more personal. A man from his hometown of Shoreham, who had gone to the same high school and played shortstop on the Shoreham-Wading High School team, was on the 101st floor of one of the towers. Kevin Williams was among those killed.

Six days later, traffic patterns eased enough to allow Osik to drive the long hours from Long Island to Pittsburgh so he could rejoin his Pirates teammates and, heavy heart aside, resume the interrupted baseball season. The first part of that drive took him past the lower tip of Manhattan, where the smoking rubble at Ground Zero stood as mute testimony to the wounds of a nation.

Osik felt compelled to do something for Williams and his hometown, where everybody, it seemed, knew someone who was killed or knew the firefighters and police consumed by the recovery efforts.

He and his wife, Sherry Ann, hastily organized a charity golf tournament for Williams. In Chicago, he purchased a Sammy Sosa jersey and had the slugger sign it. Jason Kendall donated an autographed jersey. Bats and autographed balls were gathered as prizes.

The Osiks raised $15,000.

Just last week, the father of Kevin Williams was driving his daughter to school in Ohio. They stopped in Pittsburgh and came to PNC Park to visit with Osik. They shared the information that the high school had named the baseball field after Williams, just one of the many memorials that honor him and all those who perished. And it reinforced how the events of a year had brought people together.

"It takes a community to heal one person," Osik said. "Kevin used to go the stadium with his girlfriend, to sit and talk and think. That was his spot. He was a big baseball fan."

Thousands of people in those towers and in the Pentagon and aboard Flight 93, which plowed into a Somerset County field because of the actions of its passengers, have been denied the pleasure of spending time with loved ones in their favorite spots.

"In my mind, all of those people were heroes. It wasn't just an attack on New York. It was an attack on America," Osik said. "Mentally, I was fried for a couple of weeks. Every time we'd be at a ballpark and a plane went over, I was pretty gun shy. It was tough. I was pretty much a basket case."

Today will be a day to remember and reflect, to mourn and grieve and sift through pain and uncertainty.

"I think the day should be a holiday," Osik said. "I know it's a common phrase that people use, but it puts everything into perspective. It reinforces how special it is to have family. You appreciate what it is to be an American, how much we have to cherish."

Baseball will join with the country to remember the events with special ceremonies today. For a day game in Cincinnati, Keith Osik's thoughts will be of Kevin Williams.

"I remember what Jason Kendall said when we started playing games again, about how insignificant it seemed to be worrying about a third strike when people were still buried in the rubble," Osik said. "But baseball is what we do. If it's entertaining for just one person, and it takes things of peoples minds for a little while, it's worth it. In the back of our minds, it'll always be there."