The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Gilmour coach honors first responders on 9-11
Gilmour volleyball coach Danny Coughlin trudged out to the stands at Gilmour’s Weber Stadium and climbed 1,980 steps to honor the first responders who saved lives 18 years ago.
Danny Coughlin walked out of Gilmour’s weight room at approximately 9 a.m. the morning of Sept. 11 wearing his turnout coat — filled with extra weight — and a 55-pound fire hose draped over his shoulders.
“Aren’t you going to take water with you?” someone working out asked.
“They didn’t have water,” Coughlin replied. “I’m not taking water.”
By “they,” Coughlin referred to the firefighters, paramedics, police officers and other personnel who responded to the scene at the World Trade Center 18 years ago when a pair of planes crashed into the North and South towers in Lower Manhattan.
Coughlin, who served as a flight medic for more than a decade, trudged out to the stands at Gilmour’s Weber Stadium and climbed 1,980 steps to honor the first responders who saved lives 18 years ago.
“I touched every step because it wasn’t comfortable for them,” Coughlin said. “There was rubble, there was people, there was lack of vision, lack of quality air. I made myself uncomfortable and did it.”
The sum of 1,980 steps is equivalent to the 110 stories climbed in the Twin Towers by first responders. Across the nation, many departments and individuals annually participate in a commemorative stair climb.
“It was rough,” Coughlin said. “It was tiring, but I felt good after it, I feel good about what I did. Every year, this kind of rests in my brain all day long.”
Coughlin remembers watching coverage of the attacks in Manhattan, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa., while he worked a newly opened recreation center in Strongsville.
The day brings a poignant reminder of his experience as a first responder working in Ravenna Township, North Randall and Highland Heights.
“What gets me after working in the fire service for so long,” Coughlin said, “it’s such a brotherhood. It’s such a family, it’s such a community, I don’t think there’s a single firefighter out there that doesn’t wish they could’ve done more. I probably, selfishly, wish I was there in some aspects of it.”
Currently Gilmour’s volleyball and strength coach, Coughlin still maintains active certifications.
“I miss it from time to time,” Coughlin said. “Sometimes I want to just go out and work it again, go out and work part-time somewhere just to pick up a shift here and there. I do miss the camaraderie in the house, I do miss the challenging calls, I’ve always kind of been — I don’t want to say an adrenaline junkie — but I like the thrill of the job.”