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FATHER RECEIVES SPECIAL SURPRISE FOR DONATED TICKETS
posted 12/01/01
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| Pepper Burruss |
For all Americans the tragedy of Sept. 11 was hard to bear, but it was especially trying for Robert Sutcliff, Sr. of New York. The 72-year old suffered the pain of losing his son, Robert Jr., a 39-year-old stockbroker at the firm of Harvey, Young, Yurman Inc. in the attacks on the World Trade Center.
The younger Sutcliff was having his weekly breakfast meeting at Windows on the World, the restaurant on the 107th floor of the Tower One, when the terrorist attack toppled the buildings.
On Sept. 30, less than three weeks after the attacks, both father and son were to attend the Packers vs. Panthers game in Charlotte. Each year the younger Sutcliff had paid for a trip to take his father to a Packers game. In 1998 and 1999 the destination was Lambeau Field and in 2000 they went to cheer on the Packers in Miami. This year a visit to Carolina was scheduled to be the trip.
The day that Green Bay defeated Carolina 28-7, Charlotte Observer columnist Scott Fowler chronicled the story of the Sutcliff family. Fowler detailed the bond between father and son and their love of football. He unveiled a family, expecting twins, dealing with the loss of a good father and husband.
The story also told of how after the attacks Sutcliff had called the newspaper and was eventually put in touch with Fowler. The Long Island native did not want the tickets to go unused so he was looking to find them a good home.
With the columnist's help, Ron and Jamie Arnette used the tickets. Jamie is a seventh-grader who loves the Panthers. He also has a brain tumor that has forced him to undergo years of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The tickets that Sutcliff donated helped another father and son to experience the bond of spending time together at an NFL game.
Folwer shared the generosity showed by Sutcliff under such tragic circumstances to the readers of the Observer that Sunday. The story caught the eye of the Packers' head trainer Pepper Burruss who is a native of Long Island. In a bond between New Yorkers that the entire nation now understands, Burruss felt the need to connect with Sutcliff.
The surprise from Burruss was documented in a New York Newsday story from November 16th. It arrived in a plain brown package on a Tuesday afternoon at the Stony Brook house of the elder Sutcliff.
"To Robert," it read, "A Great Packers fan." It was a football signed by Packers quarterback Brett Favre.
"I read the news story," Burruss said, "and could relate with him being from my home state, living on Long Island where I lived for 16 years while working with the New York Jets and being life-long Packer fan. What moved me to 'do something' was the incomprehensible pain of his loss of a son to such a monumental tragedy. Dwarfed by comparison was him missing a Packers game. Sending a 'we're thinking of you memento' from the Packers was a 'no-brainer'."
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