Former Buffalo Bills reserve reflects on his 9/11 miracle

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Doug Goodwin was still groggy from his heart transplant surgery. And as he gazed at the horrific scenes unfolding on his television in the recovery room at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in upper Manhattan that fateful September day, he thought for sure he was watching a sci-fi horror flick. It wasn’t until a few hours into his recovery that the reserve fullback from the Buffalo Bills’ American Football League title teams learned that the smoke billowing from the World Trade Center and the terrified people stampeding down the streets away from the collapsing skyscrapers was the work of terrorists, not some master of special effects.

“One of the doctors sat down by my bed and explained to me that this wasn’t some Godzilla movie,” Goodwin said. “He told me what had happened, and I was stunned. I couldn’t believe that all this had occurred while they were operating on me.”

Fourteen years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Goodwin still has a tough time believing and processing the surreal nature of that day. He continues to wonder why his life was saved at the same moment nearly 3,000 lives were lost at Ground Zero, a scant five miles south of Columbia Presbyterian. “I definitely experienced a miracle,’’ said Goodwin, who turned 73 in March. “It’s like God sent some angels to get that heart to me in the nick of time. If it arrived just a little later, I wouldn’t be talking to you now. I’d be dead.”

A review of the timeline from that day reveals just how close Goodwin came to being one more victim of 9/11.

At 8:35 that morning, a private jet from Boston that was carrying the donor’s heart landed in Teterboro, N.J., just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Ten minutes later, hijacked American Airlines Flight 11, out of Boston’s Logan International Airport, crashed into the North Tower of the WTC. At 9:03 a.m., a second hijacked jet from Logan—United Airlines Flight 175 —crashed into the south tower. Seventeen minutes later, the ambulance carrying Goodwin’s new heart became the last civilian vehicle allowed to cross the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan before the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ordered all bridges and tunnels into the Big Apple closed.

At 9:35, doctors began surgery to replace Goodwin’s enlarged heart, which had deteriorated so badly that the former Bill wound up being hospitalized for seven straight months. “With heart transplants, time is of the essence,’’ said Ulrich Jorde M.D., Goodwin’s cardiologist. “In Mr. Goodwin’s case, every minute counted. It’s really remarkable when you think about the timeline from that day. What would have happened, say, if we found the donor an hour later? What if the plane carrying it was in the air an hour or two later when they ordered every plane in the United States grounded? So many things had to go right for Mr. Goodwin every step of the way, and they did.”

What also went right was the moral and financial support Goodwin received from his big-hearted cardiologist and former team. Jorde, late Bills quarterback Jack Kemp and late owner Ralph Wilson dug deep into their pockets to help Goodwin pay the exorbitant, post-operation medical and prescription drug bills his insurance company wouldn’t cover. “They all stepped up big time, especially Mr. Wilson,’’ Goodwin said. “Those bills would have wiped me out, but my old team was there for me in a time of need. I’ll always be grateful to them.”

Goodwin’s new heart gave him a new lease on life. Several weeks after surgery he was able to resume coaching football and track at Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville, Long Island, and travel to Boston College to watch his son, Doug Jr., play football for the Golden Eagles. The time with his only child was particularly poignant for Doug Sr., because his days with his own father had been cut short by the fatal heart attack suffered during Goodwin’s junior year at Maryland State back in 1963. “I felt kind of cheated that my dad didn’t get to see me play pro ball,” he said. “I feel blessed that I got to see my boy play college ball.”

Goodwin said he recently had a checkup and his heart continues to function well. “I feel good,” he said. “I get my walking in and hang with my friends.”

The North Charleston, S.C., apartment he shares with his loving wife, Gwendolyn, boasts photos and mementos from his brief Bills career—his most precious possession being the 1965 Bills AFL championship ring he wears every day.

“The Bills will always be my team,” said Goodwin, who, through the years, stayed in touch with several former teammates, including Booker Edgerson and Charley Ferguson. “How could they not be my team? I mean I won a championship with them in my rookie year of pro football. And they treated me like family all those years later when I needed help following my heart transplant.”

He’s encouraged by what he’s seen from them during the preseason. “They got some talented players, especially on defense,” he said. “And I like their coach. Rex (Ryan) reminds me a little bit of Lou Saban. You know who the boss is.”

Goodwin is sorry he won’t be able to make it back to Ralph Wilson Stadium this Sunday for the ceremony honoring the Bills’ back-to-back AFL championship teams before the regular season opener against Indianapolis. “Would have loved to have made the trip,” he said. “I’ll be there in spirit.”

Another 9/11 anniversary will be remembered this Friday morning with ceremonies at the memorial and museum near where the Twin Towers once stood. At his apartment roughly 750 miles to the south, Goodwin will pause to reflect. And he will do so with mixed emotions because on a date which will live in infamy, he experienced a miracle.

“It’s always a bittersweet day for me,” he said. “I feel sorry for the families of the victims of the terrorists. But I also feel gratitude to God and to my wife and my donor and his family, and the doctors and nurses, and the Buffalo Bills. They gave me this opportunity. I am truly blessed.”

Author, sports columnist, radio talk show host and television correspondent Scott Pitoniak is in his 43rd year of journalism.

9/11/15 (c) 2015 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or email [email protected].