A Bend in the Road
Eamon James McEneaney was born on December 23, 1954. While attending the high school in Elmont, New York, he developed into the talented lacrosse player. He led Cornell University to NCAA lacrosse championships in 1976 and 1977 and was named First Team All-American 1975-1977. He was also NCAA Division I Player of the Year in 1977 and Ivy League Player of the Year in 1975 and 1977, and he was a member of the U.S. World Team in 1978. In 1993 he was inducted into the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame.Upon graduating from Cornell, McEneaney coached lacrosse at Syracuse before going to work on Wall Street. He eventually rose to the position of vice president of Cantor Fitzgerald, a bond trading firm. He began writing poetry in high school and continued working with words throughout college and his Wall Street career. When the World Trade Center was bombed on February 26, 1993, McEneaney led 60 panicked coworkers from the 105th floor down the dark and smoke-filled stairwell to safety.  McEneaney lost his life in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 while at work on the 105th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.Joseph Harris is the Francis Lee Higginson Professor of English Literature and Professor of Folklore at Harvard University. Susan E. Deskis is Associate Professor of English at Northern Illinois University. Thomas D. Hill is Professor of English and Medieval Studies at Cornell University.