The Team Player

As a teenage basketball player, Todd Beamer was the kind of guy you wanted on the free-throw line in a tied game. "He kept cool," recalls his friend Keith Franz. On Sept. 11, as hijackers roughly jolted Flight 93 toward Washington--presumably bound for the U.S. Capitol or the White House--Beamer didn't always keep cool. Unable to reach his family, he ended up talking with a GTE operator, who later recalled Beamer's fear--"We're going down!" he yelled at one point--and his prayers--"Jesus, help me," he cried.

But in the end, Beamer held it together long enough to help save countless lives. The last moments of Flight 93 are by now familiar: knowing that other planes had become missiles, the passengers revolted. After Beamer put the phone down, the operator heard him say, "Are you guys ready? O.K. Let's roll." No one is certain what happened next, but we do know two things: Todd Beamer "really didn't do much without a plan," as his wife says, and his plane crashed into rural Pennsylvania, not Pennsylvania Avenue. "Todd didn't take no for an answer in any area of life, whether it was on the athletic field or in some other situation," Lisa Beamer says. "He would say, 'I know we're in a bad situation, but let's do what we can.'"

Many diverse Americans have latched onto his phrase "Let's roll" to symbolize that strength of character. The President used it to end a speech; Neil Young has released a song with that title; there are now "Let's roll" mouse pads, fireworks and backpacks. Many of the businesses producing the memorabilia donate their proceeds to charity, but not all. A lawyer for the new Todd M. Beamer Foundation has to fire off occasional letters asking others not to market "Let's roll." "Unfortunately," says the lawyer, Paul Kennedy of Philadelphia, "the phrase has become instantly famous in light of a national tragedy."

A man of deeds and not words, Beamer would probably find the "Let's roll" sensation a little strange. His widow hopes the tchotchkes don't cheapen the message behind the two words: "It's about standing up for what you believe in and taking action without thought to the personal consequences." How about printing those words on some coffee mugs?

--By Charlotte Faltermayer