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The Daily Tar Heel

`It was the Scariest Thing I'd Ever Seen'

And former North Carolina basketball walk-on Jim Everett was in the middle of it all.

Shortly after 9 a.m., a woman in Everett's Series 7 stockbroker exam class received a call on her cell phone. She told the class that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center -- only three blocks from their class at 17 Battery Park.

Everett, a first-year analyst at Lehman Brothers, ran outside with the rest of his class. Smoke and paper filled the air, making it impossible to see the towers.

"No one really knew what was going on, so we just went back into class and the guy continued teaching," Everett said.

Less than 10 minutes later, Everett heard a huge crash, and the entire building shook. Everyone ran into the lobby and saw the aftermath of the second plane crash, this one into the north tower.

"Everyone grabbed their stuff and started running," Everett said. "It was the scariest thing I'd ever seen.

"There were huge gaping holes in the tower. It was like a movie."

Everett's first thought was how to get out of the city. He and some of his classmates thought about taking the subway or hailing a cab, but when neither option seemed possible, they ran for the ferry.

While trying to get out of the city, Everett frantically dialed his father's office on his cell phone to tell him that he was all right. He couldn't get a signal.

"No one could get through on their phones," Everett said. "There were 20, 30 people in line at every single pay phone."

Everett finally was able to get through to his father's secretary and told her to tell his parents that he was OK.

Everett saw John Doherty, the brother of UNC coach Matt Doherty, while on his way to catch the ferry. Everett quickly stopped to say hello and shake hands.

Only 15 minutes after the second crash, thousands of people were piled onto the docks waiting for a boat. Everett climbed aboard one of the last outbound ferries.

As they got farther away from Manhattan, the ferry passengers watched in horror as the south tower collapsed a little after 10 a.m.

"You couldn't see anything," Everett said. "The sky was black and filled with smoke. Everything just kept getting worse."

Everett made it to his home in Hoboken, N.J., before the North Tower fell and he immediately picked up the phone. One call he made put Matt Doherty's mind at ease. Doherty was traveling to Dallas during the terrorist attacks, and his plane was grounded in Houston. Everett called his former coach to let him know that his brother was all right.

After Everett called his loved ones, he tried to figure out how to get back to Chapel Hill, a place he considers home.

By that afternoon, he was en route to UNC. He went to the train station, where no tickets were sold -- people were just packed into the trains.

"One lady had a face mask on, the ones they passed out so people could breathe after the buildings collapsed," Everett said. "Another lady was soaking wet because she was covered with debris, and the firefighters hosed her off. They told her to throw away her clothes.

"No one on the train was saying anything. Everyone was in shock. I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. I wanted to get back and be with the people I love."

Everett's younger brothers, Charlie and Joe, attend UNC. Charlie was in class when he first heard the news of the terrorist attack. He watched the TVs in Carroll Hall as the events unfolded.

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"(Charlie) checked his voice mail when he got back to his room and kind of freaked out when there was a message waiting," Everett said. "When he listened to the message from my brother Joe, telling him I was all right, he fell onto his bed and started to cry. It's unbelievable.

"Everyone thought I was dead."

Earlier on Tuesday, around 7 a.m., all Everett could think about was studying for his exam. He rode the train into the World Trade Center and studied before class. Passing this test had been the most important thing going on in his life, he said.

"But everything is different now," he said. "Things that seemed so important before, aren't.

"One of my classmates told me that our class was supposed to be held in the World Trade Center that day. I could've made a million different decisions that morning that would've put me there. I was there a half an hour before the first plane hit. Anything can happen. You can't take things for granted."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.