Oakley to Aid FDNY Families

Oakley

Oct. 5, 2001 -- Chicago Bulls' forward and former New York Knick, Charles Oakley has announced he will donate one-hundred (100) tickets to the families of the New York City Fire Department who were killed in the tragedy on September 11th, when the Bulls play the Knicks at the Garden on Saturday afternoon, November 24th.

Oakley, who played for the New York Knicks for ten (10) years and still resides in the New York City suburbs in the off-season, was very upset about the tragic events of September 11th and wants to pay tribute to those men and women of the FDNY who lost their lives in the line of duty.

"That could've easily been me who was killed as an innocent victim on the ground or in air, just like the average person. One of my financial advisers has an office in the World Financial Center and I could've been 20 feet away from the explosion. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing on television . It looked like someone dropped a bomb on the entire city. The Firemen who risked their lives and died trying to save other people are heroes! They're the real role models. These men and women risk their lives every single day helping save the lives of strangers."

After it happened, I told my business manager Billy Diamond, who lives and works 15 miles away in Springfield, New Jersey, that I wanted to do something for the families of the NY Firemen who died and this is what I felt would help pay tribute to these brave people."

Ed Oliva, the Knicks' Director of Franchise Operations will assist the former Knick crowd favorite in arranging for the families to attend a pre-game meal in the Garden's Play By Play Club, and meet with Oakley after the game.

The Cleveland native and graduate of John Hey high school, the owner of several car washes in the NYC metro area and in Cleveland, will also donate his Delta airline frequent flyer miles via a new promotion where Delta will donate one dollar to the Red Cross Relief Fund for every one frequent flyer mile a Delta Skymiles member donates.

"Most of Charles' career, he's done numerous charitable acts which he never even wanted publicized," said Diamond, Oakley's friend and business manager since his rookie season. "However, he's making this announcement public in an effort to spur on his fellow NBA players to give something to the families of the FDNY to show their appreciation."