By Jessica Camerato
CSNNE.comFollow @JCameratoNBA
Hakeem Olajuwon was the first overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. Michael Jordan followed shortly thereafter at third, and Charles Barkley was drafted fifth.
The final selection that year belonged to the Boston Celtics. With the 228th pick, they chose Dan Trant, a native of Ireland who graduated from Westfield High School and Clark University in Massachusetts.
Trant never suited up for the Celtics. He never won an NBA championship or achieved a Hall of Fame career like others in his draft class. But on September 11, Trant will be recognized for another reason -- he was one of thousands killed in the World Trade Center attacks.
The Irish Times commemorated the 10-year anniversary with a feature on Trant's life.
In truth, Trants selection by the Boston side was a gesture to a local talent more than a cold-headed recruitment: Trant was never going to break into a team that had just won the NBA championship.
But still, he spent a summer playing ball with Bird and company which is, I think, more magical than if he had hung around the fringes of the squad for a season. That autumn, he was in Ireland.
In the years after he returned home, the charmed life seemed to continue: he worked his way up in the Cantor Fitzgerald firm as a trader and by August 2000, he was making good money and had moved his wife Kathy and young family to Long Island. He spent the evening of September 10th with his sons at a Red Sox-Yankees baseball game and life was glorious.
Boston Celtics
So Dan Trants name will be among the thousands of names called aloud at tomorrows 10th anniversary service in New York. His is just one life, one story among the thousands of rich lives that met such sorrowful ends.
Trant and other victims were honored on Friday at the Western Mass 911 Tribute Golf Tournament in Southwick. Former Celtics Dave Cowens, Tom "Satch" Sanders, M.L. Carr, and Greg Kite were in attendance.
"There is no question about this occasion," Sanders told MassLive.com. "It is about men and women who lost their lives. They will not be forgotten.
Jessica Camerato is on Twitter at http:twitter.comJCameratoNBA