Remembering 9/11: St. Leo University Hosts “In Their Honor” Event

All photos courtesy of St. Leo University

Retired New York Fire Department emergency medical technician Stephen Spelman can’t forget 9/11 or the colleagues he lost that day, and he has continued to do everything he can to not let local residents forget it, either, since moving to Wesley Chapel in 2010. Spelman received a piece of the Ladder 18 fire truck destroyed that day from a former fire captain friend of his who also was part of Motts Military Museum in Groveport, OH, where Spelman was scheduled to speak at a 9/11 event in 2017, when Hurricane Irma hit Florida, so he couldn’t make the trip. Spelman arrived at the World Trade Center in his vehicle as the North Tower was getting ready to fall on September 11, 2001. The truck itself was destroyed by falling debris, but the lives of the firefighters from Ladder 18 were saved by jumping under the ladder. “Ironically, I was about 30 yards from that (fire) truck when the North Tower collapsed,” Spelman said. A few weeks after he had to cancel his speaking engagement in Ohio in 2017,  Spelman received the piece of the ladder truck in his mailbox. 

Spelman was one of the featured speakers at St. Leo’s event on Sept. 8, which also featured Lt. Col. Perry Blackburn from the movie “12 Strong,” as well as Craig Gross, a Gold Star Family member whose son, Cpl. Frank Gross, was killed in Afghanistan, retired NYFD/EMS lieutenant Dominick Maggiori, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman, new St. Leo president Jim Burkee, Bob Hatfield from Congressman Gus Bilirakis’ office and Spelman’s son Matthew. 

Simpson said, “Memory fades if it is not told. Thus, the history of September 11 and its heroes must be shared and told.” 

Maggiori shared his 9/11 story and of working “on the pile” – the rubble of the World Trade Center towers. “We heard a jet, and the work stopped,” he said. “Then we saw it was a [U.S.] fighter jet and there was a sigh of relief. Somebody has got our back.”

And it was more than just the U.S. military. “People came from all over,” Maggiori said, bringing water, food, and volunteering in any way they could to assist those involved in rescue and recovery. “Everyone pulled together.”

As a Green Beret, Blackburn was one of the first Americans on the ground in Afghanistan after 9/11. “I was the leader of the greatest fighting force on the ground,” he told the audience at Saint Leo. 

They rode on horseback with Afghans, “hunting those responsible, and I was proud be help to defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaida,” he said. “The American soldier is not an individual. 9/11 brought out the best in all Americans. We stood together. We prayed together. That’s the part I carry with me every day. Show up for one another.”

For Spelman, the event at Saint Leo as well as the memorial featuring the piece of the ladder truck, is about carrying on the legacy – the legacy of those lost, of those who battle cancer and other illnesses from their time working in the dust and debris, and those who suffer mental anguish, alcoholism, and drug addiction following that horrific day.  “I wasn’t prepared for what I saw,” Spelman said. “It was the horror of war. I’m not military, but it seemed like a battlefield.”

He was teaching at the NY fire academy when the first terrorist struck, grabbed what gear he could find, headed to his duty station, and then toward the towers, going the wrong way on the street. 

“We could see people jumping from the building, and we weren’t even close [yet],” he said. “We could see the towers engulfed in flames about midway up.” 

A NYFD lieutenant sent him and his team to look inside police and other vehicles parked nearby to see if anyone was alive. The lieutenant ran the opposite direction toward the towers. “I’m alive,” Spelman said. “He saved my life.” 

He told the Neighborhood News after the event, “There were like 180 people there. It was an amazing event.”

Never Forget

The In Their Honor 5K kicked off the events at 7:30 a.m. today (September 8) and the route through Saint Leo’s campus featured more than 300 photos of firefighters who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Funds raised through the event will support the sponsoring organizations and charities, including the creation of the Children of Heroes Scholarship at Saint Leo University. Representing the shared mission between the Pasco Patriots Association and Saint Leo University, this fund will provide tuition assistance for first responders and the children of fallen and catastrophically injured first responders. Tom DeLuca, executive director of the Pasco Patriots Association and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, served as the emcee for the memorial program. 

Coming across the 5K finish line first was Kevin Perez, a University of South Florida student and a member of the Suncoast Battalion of Army ROTC. Right behind him was Austin Curtis, also a USF student and ROTC member. 

All eyes were on the sky following the 5K as parachutists Rian Kanouff, Keith Hanley, and Patrick Fortune of Fortune’s Flags in the Air and Skydive First Project, glided to the ground with Fortune carrying a billowing U.S. flag.

Bagpipers Gemma Riggs and Thomas Fritz played as everyone entered Saint Leo’s Wellness Center for the memorial program, which featured a prayer by Mike D’Ambrosio, mayor of the town of St. Leo, and the national anthem performed by Marlee Michael. 

Sponsors
The sponsors for the event were the town of St. Leo, Chick-fil-A Zephyrhills, Totally Blu Pools, and Campus Gear and Trade Mark Sales. 

Beneficiaries
Funds raised support the following nonprofit organizations: Saint Leo University – Scholarship, Pasco Patriots Association, 18 Series Coffee Co., AFG Free, Cryoeeze22, Krewe De Forti, PCRetiredK-9 (Pasco County Retired K9), Tunnel to Towers Foundation, and Warrior Wellness.

Remembering 9-11

On Saturday, the Zephyrhills Museum of Military History hosted an event in remembrance of 9-11 where Wesley Chapel resident and retired New York City EMT Stephen Spelman, Dist. 2 Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman, Lt. Col. Perry Blackburn (from the movie “12 Strong”), FDNY Lt. Michael Basignato and Zephyrhills Mayor Melonie Bahr Monson were among the many guest speakers. There also was a Pasco Sheriff’s Office fly-by and multiple sky divers who landed in a nearby field as part of the event.

Read the full story of this 911 event and others in the Oct. 3 edition of Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News! 

News Briefs — BayCare Seeking YMCA Approval, Home Sense Opens & A 911 Event

Former New York City EMT Stephen Spelman is bringing the framed Ladder 18 fire truck artifact from 911 to the Zephyrhills Museum of Military History for its 911 Remembrance Event on Sept. 9. (Photo by Charmaine George)
BayCare Health’s proposed YMCA (two black outlines at center left) and medical office building (top rectangle close to BBD).

As reported by Kelly Gilroy on her outstanding “Pasco County Development and Growth Updates” Facebook page on Aug. 24 — after no updates since representatives from the YMCA first started attending local meetings a couple of years ago — BayCare Health Systems is having a pre-application meeting with Pasco County staff to propose  52,391-sq.-ft. YMCA and a 100,000-sq.-ft., two-story medical office building. The plan includes parking lots, a “New Drive” roadway and a curb-cut connection at the southwest corner of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and Eagleston Blvd., next to the new BayCare Wesley Chapel hospital. We’ll update this story once we have additional information.

Home Sense Opens Next To Bealls
BayCare Health’s proposed YMCA (two black outlines at center left) and medical office building (top rectangle close to BBD).

On Aug. 10, a new Homesense store opened in the Shoppes at New Tampa of Wesley Chapel, between the also-still-new Bealls Outlet and Flip Flop Shops stores in the plaza on BBD Blvd. south of S.R. 56.

Homesense — the off-price home store featuring high-quality furniture and accessories that is the newest retail banner of The TJX Companies, Inc. — now operates 50 stores in the U.S. TJX is the leading off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions in the U.S. and worldwide. The company operates nearly 5,000 total stores in nine countries,  including 1,304 T.J. Maxx, 1,189 Marshalls, 901 HomeGoods, 81 Sierra, and now 50 Homesense stores.

I visited the new store the day it opened and it was packed with not only people, but as-advertised great prices on everything from couches to wall art to Halloween knickknacks (photo above). For more information, visit us.homesense.com or call (813) 991-0249.

9/11 Remembrance In Zephyrhills 

On Saturday, September 9, at 8 a.m., the Zephyrhills Museum of Military History near the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport (at 39444 South Ave.) will host a 911 Memorial Remembrance Day event.

Former New York City emergency medical technician Stephen Spelman, who arrived at World Trade Center in his vehicle as the North Tower was getting ready to fall on September 11, 2001, will be bringing the piece of the Ladder 18 fire truck that he had been given to the event.

Spelman had previously loaned the ladder truck artifact to the Tampa Premium Outlets Rotary Club for the mall’s 911 exhibit, but decided to bring it to the military museum for an event that also will feature guest speakers — Lt. Col. Perry Blackburn from the movie “12 Strong,” as well as Craig Gross, a Gold Star Family member whose son, Cpl. Frank Gross was killed in Afghanistan and Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman. 

“We’re also going to have a plane full of parachuters dropping in at 8:46 a.m., the time that the first plane hit the North Tower,” Spelman says. “My son is going to ring a bell in remembrance of that time.”    

Spelman received the piece of the ladder from a former fire captain friend of his who also was part of Motts Military Museum in Groveport, OH, where Spelman was scheduled to speak at a 911 event in 2017 when Hurricane Irma hit Florida, so he couldn’t make the trip. 

A few weeks later, Spelman received the piece of the ladder truck in his mailbox. 

“Ironically, I was about 30 yards from that (fire) truck when the North Tower collapsed,” he says. “I tried to find a place where this piece of history could properly be displayed and the Simon Premium Outlets management agreed to include it as part of the outlet mall’s 911 display.”

For more info, visit ZMMH.org.

Run/Walk To Kick Off 9/11 Memorial Saturday at TPO



A piece of the ladder from FDNY Ladder Truck 18, pictured above being pulled from the rubble of the north tower of the World Trade Center, will be the centerpiece of a 9/11 Memorial being developed by the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel and the Tampa Premium Outlets. (Photo courtesy of Chris Casella)

Every year when the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel is handing out miniature American Flags on the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, current club president Chris Casella is moved to tears.

People who lost a brother, sister, loved one or a friend thank Casella and his fellow Rotarians, and share their heartbreaking stories.

“It never fails,” says Casella, who, due to an injury, was on limited duty as a sworn officer with the New York Police Department (NYPD) when the World Trade Center towers crumbled to the ground.

The latest project hatched by Casella and his fellow Board member Troy Stevenson and the Rotary Club is Pasco County’s first permanent 9/11 Memorial, which will be dedicated at the Tampa Premium Outlets on Saturday, September 7, at 8:46 a.m., the time the north tower was struck in 2001.

Stevenson is a 13-year first responder with the National Disaster Medical System and U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services. Casella and Stevenson have received a lot of help from not only their fellow Board members, but especially from Wesley Chapel resident Stephen Spelman, a retired Fire Department of New York (FDNY) emergency medical technician who was at the foot of the north tower when it collapsed. 

The dedication of the new memorial will follow a one-mile Memorial Run/Walk at TPO — which will begin at 7:30 a.m.. The run/walk is open to all ages and is $10 per person to participate. All net proceeds will go to fund local scholarships for graduating high school students in Pasco County who intend to pursue careers as first responders.

The centerpiece of the 9/11 Memorial will be a 2-foot piece of the ladder from FDNY Ladder Truck 18 (photo), which will be framed and hung on a 25-foot stretch of wall at TPO’s food court. The wall will have a vinyl wrap depicting images from that day, as well as the names of everyone who perished.

According to Casella, FDNY Ladder Truck 18 was destroyed by falling debris, but the firefighters on the truck were all spared.

“Everybody on that truck survived by jumping under the ladder,” Casella says.

The ladder segment belongs to Spelman, who received it for being a scheduled guest speaker at a ceremony on 9/11/17 at the Motts Military Museum in Ohio, which he was unable to attend, due to Hurricane Irma.

For the past two years, Spelman and Casella have discussed what to do with the piece of ladder. Ideas ranged from donating it to a library or local firehouse to building a memorial, which wasn’t financially feasible.

While organizing the Memorial Run/Walk with TPO, one of the mall’s executives mentioned that he had been approached by a guy looking for help with a possible memorial. Casella asked if the guy’s name happened to be Steve…and it was.

Once TPO agreed to host the 9/11 Memorial by donating the space, plans took off and eventually came to fruition.

Casella also has been active in organizing events to benefit first responders, such as having Rotary Club members serve breakfast at all of the Fire Rescue Stations in Wesley Chapel and the Pasco Sheriff’s District 2 office in Dade City each year on 9/11.

The 9/11 Memorial and run/walk, however, may be his proudest achievement. “It’s emotional for me, and I know it is for Steve as well,” Casella says, his voice cracking. “Memorializing it is a big deal for, I think, everybody. It’s something we’ll never forget.”

Casella says the response to the Memorial Run and 9/11 Memorial has already been “incredible.”

Spelman has been in contact with two women who lost their husbands on that terrible day who also will share their stories at the dedication. Surviving first responder John Berrang also recently emailed Casella to applaud the Rotary Club’s efforts and said he’d like to participate in the one-mile run, despite currently undergoing treatment for stage 3 cancer contracted at the World Trade Center site. It was an email that Casella says was both inspiring and difficult to read, but a reminder that Sept. 11 remains a terrible day with a lot of meaning to many people.

“Thanks again,” Berrang wrote to Casella, “for remembering the heroes we lost on 9/11.”

For more information or to sponsor the Walk/Run, visit WCRotary.com/911-Memorial-Mile, or email Casella at Cdcasella@me.com or Stevenson at Troynyc65@aol.com.