One thing's for sure about players on the men's lacrosse team: They refuse to admit defeat.
That description certainly applies to Keat Crown, a captain of the 2000 men's lacrosse team, who successfully made his way down from high atop the World Trade Center on Tuesday before its tragic collapse. Despite broken bones and deep lacerations sustained on the way down, Crown emerged from the building alive and was moved several times before ending up in a Manhattan hospital.
Crown was working on the 106th floor of the South tower, the second building to be struck in Tuesday's attacks, for AON Risk Management, an insurance company. His office was only four floors from the top of the tower, around 1300 feet above the ground. When he and his colleagues saw and heard the impact of American Airlines Flight 11 on the North tower, they immediately headed for the stairs.
When they arrived on the 78th floor, an area where employees would normally switch from one elevator bank to another, they were told to return to their offices. Crown, however, continued to descend the stairs, but was still above the impact point of the second plane when it hit.
When Crown reached a point in the stairwell that had been demolished by an elevator, he jumped down an unknown distance and was able to land with only minor injuries where the stairwell was still useable. At that point, he made his way to the bottom of the building and emerged only minutes before the structure came crashing down.
"He's in a cloud of smoke and soot," head coach Mike Pressler explained to the Durham Herald-Sun after having spoken to Crown. "He's
Fortunately, Crown refused to quit. Pressler said this type of resolve was typical of his former player's character.
"If you knew Captain Crown like we knew him at Duke, you would not be surprised by this," Pressler said. "His resiliency, determination--there was nobody tougher than this guy."
Keat's mother, Nancy Crown, explained Crown's condition to Pressler over the phone. Her son broke one of his legs, one of his wrists and several ribs, and sustained serious lacerations to his face. He went through a series of successful surgeries, however, and seems to be getting better quickly.
"He's doing better," said Pressler. "From what we hear, he's on his way to recovery and he'll be 100-percent. Besides broken bones, lacerations... none of those things won't heal."
Pressler explained that many of the current lacrosse players have passed their condolences on to Crown. He added that each time he has called the hospital, the phone has been answered by other former Duke lacrosse players in the New York area who have stayed with Crown during his recovery.
Chase Stock, a teammate of Crown's for three seasons who now works in New York, described him as a leader and a survivor. "He was probably one of the best captains we had that year," he said. "Keat had a tough senior year. He finally earned a starting spot and tore his ACL in the first game of the season. He still found a way to remain an active contributor to the team. He helped the coaches as well as he could."
Although most of the current players on the lacrosse team only played with Keat for a year or two at most, they still remember him as a popular captain. "If we were meeting at the dressing room before a road trip he would bring Bojangles to the dressing room for the team," said junior Taylor Wray. "He was a really giving person."
Stock estimated the number of Duke lacrosse graduates living and working in New York at around 15 in the last three years alone. He explained that as soon as they heard about the disaster they began tracking their friends down as best they could. "By about 11:30 we had everyone accounted for but Keat. [Around noon] a doctor called [Crown's parents] and said OYour son's alive, your son's alive.'"
According to Stock, the hospital released Crown on Wednesday, soon after which Stock was able to visit him at a family friend's home. "He didn't look so good," said Stock. "[He sustained a] fractured fibia, and a big cut ear to ear across the back. One right down the side of his face, right in front of his left ear."
Nonetheless, Crown apparently knows just how close he came to being much worse off. "When we were there," explained Stock, "he was on a conference call to his company. His group lost seven people, and his company between 220 and 400. He feels very lucky, and I think he said he was looking forward to starting work again."
Crown is from Winnetka, Ill., near Chicago, where his immediate family still resides, according to the Herald-Sun.
Neither Crown nor his mother could be reached for comment.
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