A young boy honored his grandfather, a 9/11 victim he never met, by thanking him for the Knicks’ NBA championship during Thursday’s memorial ceremony at Ground Zero.
The child, named for his grandfather Andrew Ira Rosenblum, 45, stood before the crowd gathered at the hallowed site where nearly 3,000 people were killed 25 years ago. Rosenblum worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial firm that lost 658 employees when American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower.
“You blessed us with the Knicks and this year we got our first championship,” the youngster said during the annual reading of victims’ names.
The sports reference offered a rare moment of levity amid the solemn proceedings. The boy continued with a playful nod to another of the family’s teams:
“Knicks in five,” he said, jokingly adding, “You also cursed us with the Jets. We’re still waiting on that one.”
The affectionate ribbing drew laughs from the assembled mourners at the Lower Manhattan site. The Knicks had indeed captured their first NBA title, ending a championship drought that stretched back to 1973.
The boy was not alone in connecting the Knicks’ victory to the memory of those lost on September 11, 2001. The son of Glenn Davis Kirwin also referenced the championship while honoring his father at the same ceremony. He said he knew Kirwin was “smiling down as the Knicks won in five.”
Rosenblum’s grandson carried on the family’s fandom despite never having met the man he was named for. The Cantor Fitzgerald bond trader was among the hundreds from his firm who perished that Tuesday morning when hijacked planes struck the Twin Towers.
The annual commemoration at Ground Zero marks each victim by name, with family members taking turns at the microphone in a ritual that has continued for a quarter century. The readings typically blend grief, remembrance, and personal touches that capture the individuality of those who died.
The Knicks’ championship had provided New York sports fans with a long-awaited celebration after decades of near-misses and disappointments. For this family, it became a bridge across generations — something the youngest member could share with a grandfather who had been gone for 25 years.
The Jets reference landed with the knowing sympathy of a native New Yorker. The football franchise has not won a Super Bowl since 1969, a drought that has become a running joke among its long-suffering supporters.
The ceremony continued through the morning as families gathered at the reflecting pools built on the footprints of the fallen towers, carrying photographs and mementos of their lost relatives.