A young boy invoked the New York Knicks’ recent championship run to bring about a moment of levity on a somber day.
New York City and the rest of the country observed the 25th anniversary of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, on Friday.
The lives of nearly 3,000 Americans were lost in a coordinated attack by the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, many of them in New York when two hijacked planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
Family members of the deceased gathered in Lower Manhattan to remember their loved ones. The grandson of one of the deceased, Andrew Ira Rosenblum, commemorated the elder he never met not only by taking on his name but also by carrying on his love of the Knicks.
The younger Rosenblum thanked his grandfather for the metropolitan rooting rite in recalling his memory, recalling the rallying cry that Knicks fans put forth in their 4-1 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in June’s NBA Finals that produced Manhattan’s first NBA championship since 1973.
“Grandpa Andrew, me and my brothers Matty and Teddy hear so much about you,” young Andrew said in his commemoration. “You blessed us with the Knicks, and this year we got our first championship. Knicks in five.”
“We never got to meet you, but we’ll always remember you. We love you, God bless America.”
In a comment that drew subdued yet warm laughter from those gathered, Andrew also noted that his grandfather “cursed” his family by passing on his love of the NFL’s New York Jets, who have remained championship-free since their historic Super Bowl III victory in 1969.
Andrew Ira Rosenberg was a former attorney who later became an executive at the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald. The firm lost over two-thirds of its employees when the North Tower was attacked at 8:46 a.m. ET. A native of Rockville Center on Long Island, Rosenblum often took his sons Jordan and Kyle to New York Islander hockey games at Nassau Coliseum, per his obituary on Legacy.com
