By Kathianne Boniello
In a lot of ways, Bayside native Al Niedermeyer was bigger than life, his friends and family said.
Niedermeyer, they said, was the kind of man who loved sports and who valued loyalty to family and friends, including a core group of childhood buddies from St. Robert’s Bellarmine Church in Bayside.
A 15-year veteran of the Port Authority police, whom friends said demonstrated his heroism time and again over the years, Niedermeyer was on duty during the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
With what friends describe as his typical heroism, Niedermeyer responded to the scene of the attack to help in the rescue. He was killed when the Twin Towers collapsed.
Now more than six months after the sports loving, athletic, outdoorsy 41-year-old Niedermeyer was killed, friends and family have planned a celebration of his life big enough to match his fun-loving attitude.
The benefit, titled “Big Al’s Baseball Bash,” was scheduled for April 14 in the picnic area of Shea Stadium. All proceeds are slated to go to an education fund for Niedermeyer’s children —- his wife Nancy discovered she was pregnant with the couple’s second child after Sept. 11.
When Niedermeyer joined the Port Authority, he followed in the footsteps of his father Alfonse, a 40-year veteran of the Port Authority’s buildings operations division. The younger Niedermeyer spent much of his Port Authority career at both John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports.
Alfonse Niedermeyer, who lived in Cambria Heights before raising his family in Bayside, said he managed to escape the devastation of the trade center collapse and get home to Bayside.
He described his son as “very outgoing.”
“He helped people,” the father added.
Niedermeyer’s sister, Denise Tracey, said since her brother’s family lives in New Jersey, many Baysiders could not attend last fall’s memorial service there.
“This benefit is really designed for those people to come and celebrate his life,” she said.
Ken Hoefer, one of a strong group of Niedermeyer’s longtime childhood friends who is helping to organize the benefit, said the officer had a history of heroics.
The benefit has been in the works since October, Hoefer said.
“He’s an undying Mets fan,” Hoefer said. Shea Stadium “is one of his favorite places.”
“He was a great friend, he always put people ahead of himself,” Hoefer said. “He lived and loved life to the fullest.”
Tickets for the benefit are $50, Hoefer said, but must be reserved by March 31. For more information or to buy tickets call 516-354-3098.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
