[Drew]

Source: phillyBurbs.com

ATLANTIC CITY - "It's a new world."

In assessing the state of our society two years after the terrorist attacks, former Flyers goaltender and current director of pro personnel Ron Hextall probably spoke for everyone in the organization.

"You still think about the families [of the tragedy's victims] and just the way the whole world, at least our world over here, has changed," Hextall said yesterday after playing in a Flyers' alumni golf tournament.

"Things are different and they're never going to be the same as they were."

Hextall flew on charter planes as a player. As a scouting director, he usually flies commercial, so his concerns are the same as those of John Q. Public. Likewise, when he enters the Wachovia Center on a regular basis.

"I still think there needs to be concern there and measures taken," he said. "I can tell you I certainly feel more comfortable when they're taken as far as bag checks.

"I take a good look around airplanes when I hop on them and see what's happening. I'm not scared, I don't have fear but I would say I'm aware of my surroundings.

"Lately, the alert about the airplanes puts you back a couple years."

Flyers TV color analyst Steve Coates agrees with Hextall that we can no longer look at things in naive fashion.

"As a society, I think, we're a lot more aware of what goes on around us," he said. "I, for one, am happy that when we go into a building, my broadcast bag gets opened. It makes me assured that people are trying to do a good job to keep the building safe.

"Most people seem to accept it. At first, people were offended. But in the long run, we in our society - especially the sports business - understand. There are lines, but no one seems to mind. They've come to accept it."

Today, Coates will reflect on what happened two years ago. He came to the Flyers' practice rink for the first day of training camp but after the second World Trade Center tower fell, he hurried to his car and drove back to Somers Point, N.J., to be with his family.

"I'll remember that moment and I said to myself, 'I have to go home to be with my family.' It just seemed to be that's the only thing I could do. I didn't say good-bye to anybody, I just left. Hopefully, as a society, we can learn from this."

Former Flyer Brian Propp, now color analyst on radio broadcasts, conducts a golf tournament each year for one of the South Jersey men killed in the New York attack.

"We'll probably do that tournament every year for that family," he said. "I believe almost everybody was affected by what happened."

Pro athletes are insulated to a degree from the public, but they're also vulnerable.

"I look at it this way. When you have pro athletes in a charter and something happens to it, it's devastating to a whole league, a whole team," Propp said. "So it's worth the time, even on a charter, to go through some of the screening tests."

Jim Jackson, TV play-by-play man, said the anniversary brings it all back home to him.

"It happened the first day of training camp and I'll never forget that," he said. "You think about security, you think about flying all the time and going into buildings with 20,000 people that could be targets for terrorism.

"I knew there were going to be hassles, so I made a vow the first day never to complain. Some people might, but not me. We have to have safety. We have to be secure."