Mark Bingham

From Free net encyclopedia

(Difference between revisions)

Revision as of 21:47, 6 April 2006
Moncrief (Talk | contribs)
They were not still together at the time of MB's death, and you took out "former". What on earth is wrong with "boyfriend"?
Next diff →

Current revision

Mark Kendall Bingham (May 22, 1970 – September 11, 2001) was an American public relations executive who founded his own company, the Bingham Group. He was a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

He died at age 31 in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack on board United Airlines flight 93.

Bingham is believed to have been among the passengers who attemped to storm the cockpit to try to prevent the hijackers from using the plane to kill hundreds or thousands of additional victims. In a cell phone call to his mother, Alice Hoglan, shortly before the plane went down, he told her, "some of us here are going to try to do something."

Bingham was survived by his former boyfriend of eight years, Paul Holm, who says this wasn't the first time Bingham risked his life to protect the lives of others. In fact, he had twice successfully protected Holm from attempted muggings, one of which was at gunpoint. Holm describes Bingham as a brave, competitive man, saying "He hated to lose — at anything." He was even known to proudly display a scar he received after being gored at the running of the bulls in Pamplona.

He was a large athlete, at 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) and 225 pounds (102 kg), and played for the San Francisco Fog, a gay rugby team. In college, he played for the UC Berkeley rugby team, who won a string of national championships. In his honor, the annual international rugby competition aimed predominantly for gay and bisexual men was named the Bingham Cup. The 2006 Bingham Cup will be held in New York City from May 26-28, 2006.

Bingham attended Los Gatos High School. He was also president of his fraternity, Chi Psi.

John McCain and Barbara Boxer honored him in a ceremony for San Francisco Bay Area victims on September 17, 2001, presenting a folded American flag to Paul Holm.

Singer Melissa Etheridge dedicated the song "Tuesday Morning" to his memory.

The Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament for rugby union (aka the Bingham Cup) has been established in Bingham's memory.

[edit]