@sunnyskies7777: He tried calling his wife four times from hijacked Flight 175. He was k*lled before any of the calls went through. His name was Garnet "Ace" Bailey. He was 53. He'd played 11 seasons in the NHL, winning two Stanley Cups. He'd spent the next 22 years scouting, winning five more as a talent evaluator, most recently as director of professional scouting for the Los Angeles Kings. He'd been Wayne Gretzky's very first roommate in professional hockey, and his mentor. On September 11, 2001, Bailey boarded United Airlines Flight 175 in Boston, heading home to Los Angeles for training camp. Beside him was Mark Bavis, 31, a younger Kings scout and former college hockey player. The two men had just finished visiting the team's minor-league affiliate in Manchester, New Hampshire. At 8:14 a.m., the flight took off. Somewhere over the next 49 minutes, hijackers seized the cockpit. Airphone records show Bailey tried to reach his wife, Kathy, four separate times during the flight. None of the calls connected. At 9:03 a.m., Flight 175 was flown into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Bailey and Bavis were k*lled instantly, along with everyone else aboard. Neither man's remains were ever recovered. Wayne Gretzky learned the news from the Kings' general manager, Dave Taylor, over the phone. "There's no way Ace was alive," Gretzky said, "if he had any inkling of what was going on there." He meant it as a kind of comfort. Bailey, in his mind, was the type of man who wouldn't have gone quietly. The Kings later named their team mascot "Bailey" in his memory, and created annual awards in both men's names: the Ace Bailey Memorial Award and the Mark Bavis Memorial Award. Twenty-five years later, the organization still marks the anniversary every September. Ace Bailey spent 33 years in professional hockey, admired across six different organizations. He tried four times to tell his wife he loved her from 30,000 feet. He never got the chance. Rest easy, Ace.

Sheila Blackmon

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Saturday 12 September 2026 02:58:56 GMT