KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN-COM
New York firefighter Tom Narducci, who plays with the
Fire Department of New York football team, tosses a ball
during practice of the Hawaiian Warriors at Beretania
Community Park. The Warriors will play in a charity
game this weekend for the families of 20 of Tom's
teammates who were lost Sept. 11.

Charity football
has a deeper meaning

The isle exhibition game will
benefit the families of fallen
New York firefighters

---

By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com

Two New York City firefighters are in Honolulu to thank local semipro football players who are putting on a exhibition game tomorrow to raise money for the families of 20 fallen New York City firefighters.

Before the Sept. 11 tragedy, the Oahu-based Hawaiian Warriors had been scheduled to play "The Bravest Football Club," which is made up of New York City firefighters who played other teams of emergency workers in other states.

But that game is never to be after the New York team lost 20 players in the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Instead, the exhibition game at 7 p.m. Saturday at the University of Hawaii's Cooke Field will pit the Hawaiian Warriors against the Island All-Stars, a team comprised of 40 players from teams from Maui, Oahu and Kauai. It will be free admission, but donations will be accepted for families of the fallen firefighters.

"It's just our little team doing something for the wives and children of the 20 players who gave up their lives for others," said Father John Fredericks, organizer of the event and coach for the Hawaiian Warriors.

New York City firefighters Tom Narducci, who plays fullback on the New York team, and Kevin Seaman were at Beretania Community Park last night to watch the Hawaii players practice.

"We owe Father John a lot, and we really do appreciate this and his team and all the people of Hawaii," said Narducci.

"It still hasn't set in," Narducci said. "I've been to so many wakes and funerals and memorial services with closed caskets or no caskets."

Seaman said the firefighters are such a close family.

"Your life depends upon each other," Seaman said. "The camaraderie -- you can't find it elsewhere. You spend entire days cooking, working, learning the job, teaching," he said.

He lost 15 of his fellow firefighters with whom he worked. Seaman serves with Ladder 4, which is housed near Times Square with Engine 54 and Battalion 9, the firehouse that lost the most firefighters during the Sept. 11 attacks.

"At our house it's the wake that never ends," he said referring to his firehouse.

"Where we used to go to a funeral, now we're trying to make sure we can get to as many as we can," Seaman said.

At ground zero, Seaman helped dig out a firefighter from the rubble. He survived. But firefighters are also called upon to help one another even in death.

If a firefighter is identified, his unit is called to remove the body, Seaman said.

Seaman said at first he was angry, feeling cheated, losing his lieutenant, captain and battalion chief to whom he looked up and all the rest.

For those who cannot make the game, donations may be made to Bravest Football Club, P.O. Box 1049, Boulevard Station, Bronx, NY 10459.