He did not want to miss a minute of the soccer goalie clinic he was running later that night, so Rudolph Mastrocinque arrived at his office in the World Trade Center early on the morning of Sept. 11.As his wife, Meryl, put it, "soccer was his life."
It started out as something for the children, Peter, 11, and Amy, 16. But one day a group of parents got together to play and someone noticed how quick Mr. Mastrocinque’s feet were. He went on to become one of the most enthusiastic members of the Kings Park Soccer Club on Long Island, and coached several children’s teams.
When he was not playing soccer, "he’d be telling me joke after joke after joke," Mrs. Mastrocinque said. "Rudy was very funny."
Mr. Mastrocinque was 43 and a vice president for property claims at Marsh & McLennan. Mrs. Mastrocinque talked him into buying a boat "to find some relaxation on the water" after his long hours at the office. He did, and fishing on Long Island Sound became one of his favorite things to do — second only, perhaps, to soccer.
Copyright (c) 2001 by The New York Times Co. Reprinted by permission.
