Touching story,Good job by Hoops on this one. Riches was a great guy and could shoot the rock(PMG911 would concur)
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/weiss/2008/08/college-to-honor-911-hero.htmlAugust 29, 2008
College to honor 9/11 hero
We’d like to thank column contributor Pat Plunkett and Al Dowd from the NYPD, who were kind enough to pass along word of a planned tribute to Jimmy Riches, a former CHSAA star and member of the NYFD who epitomized the word “hero†on 9/11.
Belmont Abbey College will honor Riches Oct. 5 by placing him on its Wall of Fame. Riches was a former member of the Abbey’s basketball team and was serving in the FDNY at Ladder 114 when he was killed on 9/11 one day short of his 30th birthday in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Jimmy grew up in Brooklyn and was an all-CHSAA performer at Xavier HS in Manhattan. His 39 points helped Joe Burpoe’s Knights defeat a talented Gary DeCesare St. Ray’s team, which featured then sophomores Orlando Antigua and Terrence Rencher, for the Class B championship in 1989.
While at Belmont Abbey, Riches played for current Celtics assistant Kevin Eastman, Gardner-Webb head coach Rick Scruggs and Philadelphia 76ers’ scout Joe Gallagher. His backcourt partner, Brett Walters, remembers Jimmy as not only a special person, but a great shooter with a sweet stroke from long range. Jimmy left the Abbey for the NYPD, where he worked in the 84th Precinct and Narcotics Division while playing for the NYPD basketball team before following in his father’s footsteps and joining the FDNY. Jim Sr. played basketball at Xaverian HS as well as for Jim McDermott at Iona College.
Dowd, who I met at the Boost 24 game at Rucker and was a friend of Jimmy, shares this story:
Jimmy was last seen running out of the WTC and as he reached the lobby a woman fell behind him. He put the woman on his shoulder and was never seen again.
It took Dowd some time to validate this story but when they recovered Jimmy’s body on March 25th, 2002, there was a a different bone coming out of his shoulder blade. Now Dowd knew that Jimmy died as he lived, and anyone who knew Jimmy wouldn’t expect any different from him.
Dowd says that there was a confidence and a swagger about Jimmy, who lived with a great deal of energy and compassion for others. “He competed in everything he did,†Dowd said. “He would rip your heart out on the courts trying to win, chase an armed gunman for blocks and blocks and stop to help a woman in the middle of the towers coming down.â€