Guide Dog Led Owner Down Stairs on 9/11
Man tells story to persuade people to raise guide puppies
Excerpted from Ventura County Star, April 25, 2003
By David Montero
Just before Michael Hingson reached the denouement of his Sept. 11 World Trade Center escape story, a few in the audience of 70 were already dabbing at their eyes.
Then, Hingson delivered the clincher: a brief stairwell exchange between firefighters rushing upward to the burning inferno in Tower One and his guide dog, Roselle, heading down to safety. They patted her head and she licked their hands.
"It was the last act of unconditional love those firefighters got," Hingson said.
He paused. There were some muffled sobs, and standing in the corner of the room, Bob Phillips kept his fingers crossed.
Phillips, president and chief executive officer of Guide Dogs for the Blind, had lured Hingson from his lucrative six-figure salary as a computer software salesman to deliver this kind of speech for the San Rafael-based group that provides service dogs to the blind.
He was hoping Hingson's talk would result in some large donations for the nonprofit group, or maybe some would feel compelled to begin raising guide dog puppies. Either way, Phillips figured Hingson's story was a great catalyst.
When terrorists flew plans into the World Trade Center Sept. 11, Hingson was working on the 78th floor of the North Tower. He was forced to navigate his way down the stairs with Roselle.
Through the stench of jet fuel and the chaos of others scrambling down the stairs, both he and his guide dog made it to the street, only to have to outrun the collapsing tower.
Hingson's speech ended to sustained applause. Kay and Ted Stern, who hosted the fund-raiser in their Montecito home Tuesday afternoon, shook his hand and were thanked by Phillips for hosting.
The Sterns, who raised Roselle as a young puppy for a year, befriended Hingson when they turned her over to him. Now, after seeing what impact the yellow Labrador had, they are thinking about raising puppied again.
There are currently 1,500 puppy-raising families who socialize the dogs before turning them over to a blind person. Phillips said there are currently more than 1,950 working dogs.
"It's a log of work and a huge time commitment," Ted Stern said, "but, yes, we are considering it."
Hingson hopes so. His new career depends on it, and he's already thinking about his next lecture in front of about 150 in Akron, Ohio, for the Society of the Blind. In the next few months, the speaking circuit will take him to Ireland, England and New Zealand, all places he's never been.
"I think it went pretty well today," he said after the speech. "We'll see."
Born in Chicago ("the Southside," he proclaimed), Hingson has been blind since birth, the result of his retina never fully developing. His family moved to Palmdale when he was 5, and one of his earliest memories is riding a bicycle around town.
"It wasn't too crowded back then, and I knew my way around," he said. "There's probably some places today I could still do that."
Hingson said it's an example of how he always focused on not letting blindness hamstring him. He decided to get his first guide dog in 1964 as a 14-year-old because he thought it gave him even more mobility. The dog, a golden retriever named Squire, stayed with him through college. He eventually earned two degrees from the University of California, Irvine.
A second guide dog walked down the wedding aisle with him and his wife, Karen, in 1982, and he then began focusing on a career in business and sales.
In 1997, he joined Quantum ATL, an Irvine-based company that develops backup software, and eventually helped open the firm's office in August 2001 on the 78th floor of the North Tower. By then, he had acquired his fifth guide dog, Roselle.
Hingson admitted if Sept. 11 hadn't happened, he'd likely still be in sales accumulating a healthy salary and living a quiet life, but once the story of the tandem's flight from the World Trade Center got out, the media interview requests came in waves.
It also got him rethinking his priorities.
"I know people who are still running from the memory of 9/11 and don't want to talk about it," he said. "I decided to talk about it, and by doing that it helped me move past it. I also knew I wanted to do something for Guide Dogs."
The story of his survival became so big, Hingson found himself running in different social circles. Queen Noor of Jordan, Larry King and Bryant Gumbel all jockeyed for a bit of his time.
"It was all a little weird," Karen Hingson said. "We thought it would be a little story and that would be the end of it. Wow, we really didn't predict that right."
He said in the 19 months since the tragedy, he's amazed at how his World Trade Center story has morphed into near-mythic status. One of the most outrageous versions, he said, is that Roselle went down without him, felt bad about it and then scampered all the way back up to rescue him.
"It's funny how those stories take a life of their own," Hingson said. "I have to remind people that Roselle and I are a team, but she's not the brains of the operation."
In February 2002, the Hingsons moved to Northern California and he joined Guide Dogs for the Blind.
Phillips said he is the group's biggest speaker on the lecture circuit. He makes $3,000 to $12,000 for each speech, and the proceeds go to Guide Dogs for the Blind. Hingson draws a salary.
"Michael brings us two things that reflect our mission. One is he's on his fifth dog and typifies the lifelong partnership," Phillips said of Hingson. "Second, his story is as compelling as they come, and it shows the incredible power of the animal-human bond."
Vickie Sullivan, president of the Tempe, Ariz.-based Sullivan Speaker Services -- a firm that helps speakers set appropriate fees -- said the cost for Hingson seems about right.
"Sept. 11 speakers are the hottest on the market. The reason why is people are drawn to them," Sullivan said. "People see the person who lived through the experience, and it's a way for them to connect with it. In Michael's case, people are also in love with happy endings, and he's a very happy ending."
For Michael McCaleb, a project engineer for the City of Santa Barbara, Hingson's talk in Montecito moved him enough to consider socializing puppies for Guide Dogs.
"How many times in life can you provide a service that may eventually save a life?" McCaleb asked. "What a great gift."
Check out http://www.insidevc.com/ for more news and articles from Ventura County
Since 1987, Vickie K. Sullivan, President of Sullivan Speaker Services, has generated millions of dollars in speaking fees, book advances and ancilliary income for her clients. Sign up for her free market intelligence at http://www.SullivanSpeaker.com
|
