Mark Bingham
Mark Kendall Bingham (
May 22,
1970 â€"
September 11,
2001) was an
American public relations executive who founded his own company, the Bingham Group. 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 attempted 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." Hoglan, a flight attendant with United Airlines, instructed Bingham to reclaim the aircraft after it became apparent that Flight 93 was to be used in a suicide mission.
Bingham is survived by his former boyfriend of eight years,
Paul Holm, who says this was not 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.
Bingham attended
Los Gatos High School. He was a graduate of the
University of California, Berkeley, where he was also president of his
fraternity,
Chi Psi. In college, he played for the UC Berkeley rugby team and helped them win a string of national championships.
A large athlete at 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) and 225 pounds (102 kg), he also played for the
San Francisco Fog, a
gay rugby team.
*
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.
*The
Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament (
Bingham Cup), an annual international rugby competition predominantly for gay and bisexual men, was established in 2002 in his memory.
*Singer
Melissa Etheridge dedicated the song "
Tuesday Morning" in 2004 to his memory.
* Jon Barrett.
Hero of Flight 93: Mark Bingham, Advocate Books, 2002. Biography. ISBN 1555837808.
* UNITED FLIGHT 93: On Doomed Flight, Passengers Vowed to Perish Fighting,
New York Times, 9/13/2001.
*
Mark Bingham: a Tribute to a Wonderful Man, a Great Friend, a Loving Brother, and an American Hero.
*
SFFOG.ORG Mark's rugby team, the S.F. Fog (Mark's Memorial page).
*
msnbc.com story on what probably happened on the plane.
