The weight of one decision
July 7, 2003
After a quick stop at the liquor store, Shea Fitzgerald, Pat Raleigh and Brad Cieslak were driving back to Fitzgerald’s older brother’s apartment the night of June 28 when they recognized two familiar faces walking down the street.
“We saw Nick Duffy and Rob Lee and their girlfriends,” said Cieslak, talking about his NIU football teammates. “We gave [Duffy] a call on his cell phone and asked what he was doing.”
It would only be natural for two groups of NIU students and teammates of the Huskie football team who ran into each other in Chicago to hook up and hang out. They didn’t commit to doing anything immediately, but the night was still young.
“They ended up calling me and they said, ‘Why don’t you guys come over [to Fitzgerald’s brother’s house]?” said Duffy, an All-MAC linebacker. “I said, ‘Well, listen, we’ll give you a call later.’”
Duffy, Lee, a junior cornerback, and their girlfriends all ended up going to Sai Cafe on N. Sheffield Ave. for a relaxing meal.
With their night pre-planned, the group went to Navy Pier after their meal and figured they’d play the rest of the night by ear.
“We were staying at my sister’s house,” Duffy said. “I was thinking about calling Brad because my girlfriend was going to meet up with some of her old friends and see what they were doing.
“We saw a bunch of ambulances and we didn’t know what was going on, and we knew that it must’ve been pretty big.”
That’s when an inner feeling told Duffy to call it a night and not see what was going on with his fellow Huskies in Chicago.
The next morning Duffy found out the hoard of ambulances he saw cruise by him that Saturday night were in a failed rescue of Fitzgerald and 11 others who died at the party. The third floor porch that Fitzgerald, a 6-foot-8, 283-pound offensive tackle, and others were on collapsed and caved in to the basement, leaving a total of 57 people injured.
Raleigh and Cieslak were a matter of seconds away from standing on the deck.
“I was going to see what they were up to and maybe stop by there,” Duffy said. “If I was there, it would’ve been hard because I was thinking about my parents and if they had to get that phone call. You just feel for [Fitzgerald’s] family.”
At both the wake and funeral services for Fitzgerald, a large contingent of the NIU football team showed its faces in respect. Now, ideas of the players wearing patches on their jerseys, a pre-game ceremony against Maryland and other ideas in Fitzgerald’s memory are being tossed around.
One thing is for sure. “It’s a tragic loss for the team and he’s a great person that is going to be missed,” Duffy said.