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Joe's relief: Daughter was just a witness

By JAMAL THALJI

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 18, 2001

Like many, Florida A&M coach Billy Joe has a personal tale to tell from last week.

His daughter, Candace, works in New York City in a building that faced the World Trade Center. During Tuesday's terrorist attacks, Joe fretted, waiting for her to return his messages so he would know she was safe.

She was safe, and blocks away when the twin towers collapsed.

In his weekly question-and-answer session Sunday with the Tallahassee Democrat, Joe recounted his thoughts during those frantic moments.

"Of course the moment I heard that there was an attack on the Trade Center, the first thing I thought of immediately was to call her," he said. "I couldn't get through, so I left a message. She returned it 10-15 minutes later. I was devastated during those 10-15 minutes. I was in excruciating pain and anxiety not knowing what her condition was. The first thing she said was, "I'm all right.'

"Her office window faces the World Trade Center. She actually witnessed people jumping out of the building. She actually saw that with her own eyes."

Joe reflected on other tragic milestones in his life, such as the assassinations of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Kennedy.

"I would say they all are on the same level in reference to pain," he said. "We were on the practice field during my rookie year with the Denver Broncos when we got word that Kennedy was shot. When King was assassinated, I was on my way home from an offseason job while playing for the New York Jets.

"You don't have any quick answers or solutions for why any of this had to happen. It all hurts."

CASHED OUT: So much for that $400,000 payday.

But Florida A&M probably wouldn't have earned close to that anyway for playing Grambling at Saturday's canceled Riverfront Classic at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.

"That's what the organizers boasted," said Alvin Hollins, assistant athletic director for communications. "That's approaching Florida Classic territory, and that's saying a whole lot."

It would have been a meeting of the nation's top historically black college football teams. Grambling is ranked No. 1 in the Sheridan Historically Black College Football poll,FAMU No. 2.

"It was basically a one-shot deal, unfortunately," Hollins said.

ANOTHER CANCELLATION: After falling 31-28 to Florida Atlantic in the Owls' first-ever victory Sept. 8, Bethune-Cookman coach Alvin Wyatt will spend another week enduring the taste of what he has called his worst loss.

Saturday's South Florida Classic, which would have pitted B-CC against Savannah State at Fort Lauderdale's Lockhart Stadium, was postponed and is near cancellation. It was a non-conference game, and as the schools enter their conference schedules, neither school is motivated to reschedule it.

"It's almost, for lack of a better term, a throwaway game for us," said Charles Jackson, B-CC assistant athletic director for media relations. "It's not a conference game and we play 11 games this season. If we can reschedule it, we will, but currently it's very difficult.

"Savannah State has an open date this week, and we don't. When we're open, they aren't. It will be very difficult to reschedule this game."

STILL ON: Central Florida and Louisiana-Lafayette will meet. Saturday's postponed Citrus Bowl meeting has been moved to Nov. 24 at 6 p.m.

That means that the Golden Knights will have to wait until Oct. 6, the sixth game of the season, to play their home opener. UCF visits Tulane this week, then plays at Virginia Tech before returning to Orlando to face Alabama-Birmingham. UCF's season finale was to be Nov. 10 at Arkansas.

Tickets for Saturday's game will be honored in November.

- Information from Times wires was used in this report.

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