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FIELD & FATHOM | No. 061
FIELD REPORT | The Stair Climb
Each of the Twin Towers stood 110 floors tall.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, firefighters from the FDNY climbed roughly 2,071 steps in full gear — moving up through smoke and heat and structural uncertainty as thousands of people came past them going the other way. The number is almost beside the point. What matters is the direction.
Up. Toward the danger. Toward the people who needed them.
343 of them did not come back down.
One of those 343 was Michael Joseph Cawley.
The night before September 11th, Michael had been covering a shift for a fellow firefighter at Engine Company 292. He was relieved of duty early on the morning of the 11th. When the report came in from the World Trade Center, he did not go home. He jumped aboard the truck and rode into Manhattan with Rescue Company 4 — determined to help save lives.
Ironically, Michael spent his last day as a firefighter working with the same fire trucks he used to play on as a boy.
A friend once summed up Michael this way: "To him, it wasn't the years in his life but the life in his years."
He lived and died with a passion for helping people. He carried his growth with him into each succeeding day. He responded on September 11th not because he was ordered to but because that was simply who he was — a person who ran toward the thing that needed someone to run toward it.
This Friday, on September 11, 2026, college lacrosse programs from across the country will honor Michael and every life lost that morning in a way that only athletes can.
Student-athletes will run the stairs of their respective stadiums — 2,071 steps, to be precise, matching the exact step count inside the World Trade Center — to raise awareness of the tragedy and compete to raise the most funds for the Michael J. Cawley Memorial Foundation. In 2025 alone the College Lacrosse Stair Climb raised $80,000. Teams. Families. Alumni. Supporters. All of it coming together for a shared purpose that is bigger than any single program.
That is what this Friday is.
This Friday I will be running stairs in Raleigh, North Carolina — representing Atticus Lacrosse Company, the Ravenscroft Boys Lacrosse Program, and Mad Dog Lacrosse. 2,977 steps in total. The first 2,071 match the exact step count those firefighters climbed inside the World Trade Center that morning. The final 906 close the distance to 2,977 — one step for every innocent life lost that day. Every one of them for Michael. Every one of them for the 343 FDNY firefighters, the 37 Port Authority police officers, the 23 NYPD officers, and every person who did not come home.
However you count it the goal is the same. To carry, in some small way, the weight of what they climbed.
The firefighters who went up those stairs were not thinking about their stats or their ranking or whether anyone was watching. They were thinking about the people above them. About the job. About the mission that mattered more than the discomfort.
That is the standard worth carrying.
Climb 2,071 steps. Climb 110 flights. Climb 2,977 reps — one for every life lost. Do it alone or do it together. Do it on a stadium, a stairwell, a building, whatever you have access to. And while you climb — think about the direction. Up. Toward the hard thing. Toward the person who needs you. Away from the comfortable and toward the necessary.
HOW TO SUPPORT
Every dollar raised goes directly to the Michael J. Cawley Memorial Foundation — supporting families and causes connected to the 9/11 community. No overhead. Just honoring the people who went up.
If climbing is not possible — find your equivalent. The hard thing you have been avoiding. The conversation you need to have. The rep you have been skipping. Do it in his name.
That counts too.
Post your climb with #FieldAndFathom so we can see it and honor it together.
ON ROTATION | What's Playing
About the Author
Kyle Smedley is the founder of Harbor Lane Holdings, building at the intersection of sport, people, and capital.
Career stops include Events.com, Tourmaline Builders, Lombardi Contracting Corporation, and DPR Construction. Today he leads Atticus Lacrosse Company, working alongside Mad Dog Lacrosse and Ravenscroft School, and Harbor Lane Company, operating across real estate, private equity, and talent placement.
Reach out directly: [email protected]
Harbor Lane Holdings
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