Co-host of “Len Berman & Michael Riedel In The Morning” on WOR Radio, Len Berman, was a sportscaster for Channel 4, WNBC, NYC, on September 11th. He actually had the day off and was planning to play a charity golf tournament at the acclaimed Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, Long Island.
It was his son, living in Lower Manhattan, who was the first to alert him with a phone call, simply saying, “Turn on the TV.” But Len and his wife only had to walk a couple hundred yards on the beach outside their Long Island house to get a clear view of The Twin Towers in flames, 30 miles away.
Like so many others, both donated blood, but with so few survivors, it was never needed. With no pro New York City teams playing sports, Len didn’t return to TV until that Friday, September 14th. He vividly remembers his words, saying pro baseball and pro football should never make up the games that weren’t played in the days following September 11th.
Berman said those games should be left as “canceled” and not made up, as a tribute to the poor souls who lost their lives on 9/11. He said, “To do anything else is equating a terrorist attack with a rainout.” No one listened. The MLB and NFL made up the lost games.