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Mark Bingham Honored San Francisco Names Gym After 9-11 Hero (Note: Photo gallery below)
By
Chuck Martin SAN FRANCISCO--Bay Area native and 9-11 hero Mark Bingham was honored here Saturday when the city dedicated a Castro gymnasium to him. The court in the Eureka Valley Recreation Center where Bingham used to play basketball will now be known as the Mark Bingham Gymnasium. Basketball was just one of the sports Bingham played. He helped the University of California-Berkeley to multiple rugby national championships, founded the San Francisco Fog, the Bay Area's gay rugby team, and competed with San Francisco's gay basketball and flag football groups. In competing in these sports, Bingham used many different San Francisco Park and Recreation facilities, including this gym. After 9-11, Park and Rec officials worked with Bingham's family, friends, teammates, and city officials to find an appropriate way to honor his heroism and his life. While not a basketball player as often as football and rugby, he was both a fierce and talented competitor in the sport. That competitive spirit was memorialized following the dedication with a basketball game played by some of the people Bingham competed with. Bingham was one of the passengers of Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, and is widely recognized as one of the passengers on that hijacked flight who foiled the terrorists' plans, believed to be targeting the White House or Capitol. The plane instead crashed in a Pennsylvania field, killing all on board, but no one on the ground. Among the speakers at the gym dedication were San Francisco treasurer and mayoral candidate Susan Leal, Bingham's mother, Alice Hoglan, Bingham's former partner, Paul Holm, and members of the Fog. The ceremony culminated with Hoglan and Holm unveiling the permanent plague above the gymnasium entrance. "Today is a day of joy, "Hoglan said, "for coming together and celebrating the life of Mark." Leal agreed, adding that this was "a wonderful day for San Francisco." Hoglan was presented with a California State Assembly Proclamation authored by San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno. The Fog also presented Hoglan with a $1,500 check for the Mark Bingham Leadership Fund. While perhaps a minor distinction, it it the gymnasium only, not the entire building that was dedicated to Bingham. More about the Mark Bingham Foundation is at http://www.markbingham.org.
Aug.20, 2003 |
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