Copyright 2003 Daily News, L.P.  
Daily News (New York)
September 24, 2003, Wednesday SPORTS FINAL EDITION
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 60

LENGTH: 732 words

HEADLINE: Creature comfort can't hide pain

BYLINE: BY FILIP BONDY - additional reporting by Brian Kates

BODY:
Donald Simpson doesn't know yet what he will do with the money, but he figures he'll start with a folding minichair, featuring the Yankee logo. The chair will support the herniated disks in his neck and back, and it will have to fit on top of his seat bench in Section 39. And then, maybe, the millionaire Bleacher Creature will finally relax again while he's watching his favorite baseball team in the playoffs.

Simpson officially became a rich man on Sept. 10, when a letter arrived from Kenneth Feinberg, representing the Sept. 11th Victim Compensation Fund and U.S. Department of Justice. Because of the injuries he'd suffered two years earlier on 9/11, Simpson was awarded $1.292 million - thanks, in large part, to the free legal work by attorneys David Kownacki and Brad Roskin with Trial Lawyers Care.

Simpson, 43, says he'll take the payment in a lump sum, hand it to his father and former union leader, Donald Sr., to manage. He will not use a single penny of it to purchase box seats. He will simply renew his season tickets in the right-field bleachers.

"That was always the one thing keeping me breathing," Simpson, aka Big D, said. "My second family in the bleachers."

That family rallied around Simpson after the awful day that changed and wrecked the lives of thousands. He was working on line installations with Verizon then, and had just finished attending an early morning safety meeting inside 2 World Trade Center.

He was heading up Liberty St. toward Broadway when the first plane hit. He was walking back to the stricken building with a coworker when the second plane slammed into the other tower, propelling Simpson into the air.

"Suddenly, I'm on the ground, on top of this lady," Simpson said. "Somebody is yelling, 'Run, they're shooting into the building.' "

Because he is always a Creature at heart, Simpson stumbled toward the South Street Seaport to Jeremy's Ale House, a hangout spot. He hooked up with some friends, drank away his shock and sorrow. He drank some more with a fellow Creature on the West Side. By the time he showed up at a hospital, Simpson was told to go home and get sober. That indiscretion nearly cost him any award, because the Victims' Fund has a rule that medical problems from 9/11 needed to be documented within 72 hours.

Simpson, a Harlem resident, lost friends and coworkers in the tragedy. He felt the need to return to Ground Zero. Instead of checking into a hospital again, he and his brother, Danny, worked alongside rescue teams the whole next week.

It wasn't until afterward that Simpson realized he was severely traumatized and significantly injured. Those who knew Simpson before 9/11, and then afterward, could tell the difference immediately. He was obviously confused and hurting. He soon lost his job, his bearings.

"I had a thousand calls from the Creatures, saying, 'At least come to the games so we can see you're okay,' " Simpson said.

He started going again, back up to about 60 games a year. The Yankees were a salve for his wounds. He underwent psychiatric counseling, was prescribed pain pills and was found eligible for workers compensation as a 9/11 victim. He discovered Trial Lawyers Care, which began the long, successful legal process.

"We were concerned that he might not be eligible to be compensated," Kownacki said. "But we presented to the fund that he had two herniated discs, post-traumatic stress and minor injuries - and they accepted it."

In addition to the award, the special master estimated that Simpson would probably be able to collect more than $500,000 from Social Security disability awards and workers compensation. He will surely have medical expenses. Simpson's doctors want to shave and fuse the vertebrae in his neck region, a procedure Simpson is reluctant to undergo.

There may be other millionaires lurking in the bleachers, but nobody knows of them. The rich guys are usually sitting on the other side of the concrete gap that separates the box seats from the proud rabble in the $8 seats. Simpson says the money can't hurt, the Yankees' October run will surely help, but that nothing will completely cure the pain that ails him.

"The money is great, but I want the people back, the buildings back, my great job back," Simpson said. "I feel sometimes like I'm getting the money off the blood of other people."

E-mail:

fjbondy@netscape.net



GRAPHIC: DAILY NEWS JUST THE TICKET Donald Simpson is on top of World in 2000 but faces tragedy a year later as victim in 9/11 disaster. Award in case makes him a millionaire in Bombers' bleachers.

LOAD-DATE: September 24, 2003