Southern Connecticut State University football alumnus and three-time Super Bowl champion Joe Andruzzi ’19 and his family were featured Tuesday night in ABC’s 9/11: United We Stand – 25 Years Later, reflecting on their family’s experience during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Andruzzi’s three brothers — Billy, Jimmy, and Marc — served with the New York City Fire Department and were working on 9/11. During the ABC special, Andruzzi recalled the uncertainty his family faced as they waited to learn whether all three had survived.
“My brother, Jimmy, was in Tower One when Tower Two fell, and he was running out of Tower One when it was falling behind him,” Andruzzi recalled. “We didn’t know, and I just thought we lost my brother.”
Jimmy ultimately escaped the collapsing tower. Marc, who had only recently joined the FDNY, spent hours searching for him. Looking back 25 years later, Andruzzi told ABC that having all three of his brothers survive was “truly amazing.”
Andruzzi was a standout offensive lineman at Southern from 1993 through 1996, earning All-America honors twice and serving as team captain as a senior. He went on to a 10-year NFL career that included three Super Bowl championships with the New England Patriots.
Following the attacks, the Patriots invited Andruzzi’s brothers to serve alongside him as honorary captains when the NFL returned to play on Sept. 23, 2001. Andruzzi famously ran onto the field carrying two American flags as his brothers, dressed in their FDNY uniforms, were honored by the crowd.
More than two decades after leaving Southern to pursue his professional football career, Andruzzi returned to campus in 2019 to receive his bachelor’s degree in a special ceremony surrounded by his family.
Today, Andruzzi continues his commitment to service through the Joe Andruzzi Foundation, which he and his wife, Jen, founded following his own battle with cancer to support cancer patients and their families.
