Spring Break
9/11 survivor speaks
Comedian presents 'last man out'
Nicole Strittmater
Issue date: 4/23/07 Section: Campus News
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Rodriguez, a janitor of 20 years at the World Trade Center and believed to be the last man out of the North Tower alive, used to travel off-Broadway playing the famous comedic "I Love Lucy" character Ricky Ricardo.
Now, he is traveling for a different reason - to tell a serious story of Sept. 11, 2001, and to honor the victims of that tragic day.
His presentation, "Last Man Out: A 9/11 Hero's Story," sponsored by University Activities Commission, described his account, during which he personally rescued 15 people and saved hundreds more by using his master key to open doors - an account that inspired a standing ovation before he even started speaking.
"His story was … very believable in a very unbelievable kind of way," freshman Jeff Jacks said.
Rodriguez said he was running late to work on Sept. 11, 2001. He said he wasn't going to show up at all, but no one else wanted to do his job.
"Have you ever tried to clean 110 floors?" he said. "Your knees will be shaking so hard by the end of the day!"
So he showed up at 8:30 a.m. and went to the basement, instead of going to the top.
Minutes later: "Boom!, an explosion so loud and so hard it pushed us upwards," he said. "Everybody's screaming in pure horror."
When he got outside he looked up at the building.
"I saw the hole. I saw the fire. I saw debris come down. I saw the smoke," he said. "I started screaming 'Oh my God! The people from Windows!' "
He was referring to the restaurant Windows of the World towards the top of the building, where he always received a free breakfast each morning.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Mark Guadarrama
posted 11/01/07 @ 11:13 AM CST
Minutes later: "Boom!, an explosion so loud and so hard it pushed us upwards," he said. "Everybody's screaming in pure horror."
You forgot to write what hes said next and that would be something along the lines of, "as I was about to say 'explosion' I was cut off by another loud noise that turned out to be flight 11 impacting the 90th floorof WTC 1. (Continued…)
D.K. Murphy
posted 11/05/07 @ 2:54 AM CST
The reporter is obviously in on the government conspiracy of 9/11.
Oh, nice job digging up a seven month old article.
petgoat
posted 12/30/07 @ 1:46 PM CST
I have been trying for ten weeks to get substantiation
for the claims Mr. Rodriguez makes on his website that
he rescued 15 people and that his efforts aided in the
evacuation of hundreds. (Continued…)
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