For Szott, Tragedy Hits Home

For 12 years, Dave Szott has looked forward to suiting up on every Sunday in the fall and getting into the trenches with the rest of his offensive line mates to get down and dirty.

But, as the NFL is taking its first regular-season Sunday off for reasons other than labor disputes, Szott, the Washington Redskins’ starting right guard, will look forward to some down time to reflect on what has been a tumultuous week for himself and his family.

In addition to watching the destruction of the World Trade Center from his Morristown, N.J., home Tuesday, Szott spent two hours panicking over the temporary disappearance of his brother, Kevin, an insurance broker who worked in Building 5 of the World Trade Center.

In other words, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s decision Thursday to halt play for a week is just what Szott needed.

“I think it’s a great decision. It was not an easy one, but it was admirable and the right decision. The more we’ve thought about it, the emotion doesn’t leave,” Szott said.

“In fact, it gets stronger and stronger, as you hear more and more cases, of what has happened. Literally, (thousands of) people are missing. If you think about those families, hundreds of thousands of people are affected, and I can’t see anybody cheering on Sunday for anything.”

Szott, who was signed by Washington Coach Marty Schottenheimer, who coached him in Kansas City for nine years, got the call that many Americans received Tuesday: that two World Trade Center towers had been hit by passenger planes.

But unlike most Americans who watched the scene on television, Szott, a New Jersey native who went home on his day off from football, was able to see the destruction from his front yard.

“I used to be able to see the twin towers from my front lawn, but not any longer,” said Szott, a 6 foot 4, 289-pound Penn State graduate, and the father of a 6-year-old boy with cystic fibrosis.

“I couldn’t believe it. I looked out from the front lawn and saw the first tower and then the second tower smoldering. Then to see that they’re no longer part of the landscape and the skyline of New York is amazing to me. I grew up six miles from New York City, and I was able to see that from where ever I was.”

As gripping as that call was, the next call from his sister-in-law was even more distressing. Szott’s older brother, Kevin, worked on one of the upper floors of Building 5 of the Trade Center complex, and had not yet checked in with his family.

While Kevin Szott’s building was not one of the two that was struck by hijacked planes, debris from the collisions hit his window. Dave Szott and his family placed frantic calls to his brother’s office and to his cell phone, but got no answer.

“We were praying. It was tough there for a couple of hours,” said Dave Szott. “I was as panicked as I’ve been in my life, and I’m a pretty even-keel guy. Not much shakes me, and I think that’s a part of being an offensive lineman. My personality is being even keel. We spent a lot of time praying, and I was really nervous.”

Further complicating matters is the fact that Kevin Szott, an insurance benefits coordinator for the Hartford, who has competed in three of the past four Paralympic Games, is legally blind.

A co-worker, who had worked in the World Trade Center complex eight years ago when a car bomb exploded in one of the towers, guided Kevin Szott out of the building upon feeling the impact of the first explosion.

Dave Szott said his brother and his co-worker left the area and headed toward the Hudson River, where they took a ferry to safety away from Manhattan Island before it was sealed off.

“His friend said, ‘I know you can’t see this, but people are jumping off the building.’ He said the carnage was unreal,” said Dave Szott.

After Tuesday’s drama, the practice field was actually a place of refuge, said David Szott. But lurking in the back of his mind over the past few days has been the horror his brother experienced, as well as the sense of loss to a group of New York City police officers he knows who used to come out to Kansas City once a year to watch him play.

“I think the quicker we get back to normalcy, the better it will be. But at the same time we have to respect our fellow citizens and what has actually happened,” said Dave Szott. “To think: 2,000 people died at Pearl Harbor and then think of how many people lost their lives now. It really puts it in perspective.”