Most Inspiring Person of the Year Award 2002

FINALIST:
PENNSYLVANIA MINERS & RESCUERS
Keeping faith in the dark


Click to read a nomination from:
Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker

While the world held its breath for three days last July, nine miners in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, clung together 240 feet underground, in a four-foot high space filled with 55-degree water. The miners, who had drilled into an abandoned, water-filled mineshaft incorrectly positioned on a map, were engulfed by millions of gallons of water but were able to warn a second crew, working behind them, to get out--most certainly saving their lives.

The trapped miners were determined to live or die together. As their oxygen was depleted and the water level rose, they wrote down their last words to their loved ones and tethered themselves together, so that if they drowned rescuers would find them all. They kept each others' spirits up. As miner Blaine Mayhugh said later, "Everybody had strong moments. At any certain time maybe one guy got down, and then the rest pulled together and then that guy would get back up and maybe somebody else would feel a little weaker. But it was a team effort."

The rescue effort above ground was another monumental feat, involving hundreds of volunteer firemen, engineers, geologists, heavy equipment operators, federal and state personnel, family and friends. There were roller-coaster highs and lows, from the joyous moment the rescuers first heard nine pings indicating that all the miners were alive--to the horror when a big drill bit broke, delaying rescue efforts for another 18 hours.

One unexpected hero was Dr. Kelvin Ke-Kang Wu, a federal government scientist, whose insistence on not breaking into the mine until a certain amount of water had been pumped out to keep air pressure normal, ran counter to everyone's impulse to push ahead. Dr. Wu turned out to be right.

When, after 77 hours, a tiny phone transmitter was lowered into a six-inch hole in the ground for the first voice contact since the ordeal began, one miner was heard to ask, "What took you guys so long?"

Coming less than a year after the crash of Flight 93 in a nearby field on September 11, the words "Nine for nine!"--the fact that all the trapped miners were rescued--energized and cheered Americans.

Nomination by Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker
"They are known as the Quecreek Nine to the world, but they are so much more than that. They are nine hard-working, honest men who relied on their faith and the love of their families to get them through 77 hours of sheer agony. They will tell you they're just nine guys who wanted to see their families again. But we know better. They are the greatest of heroes. Because they reminded the nation, they reminded the world, that love for family can make anything possible."

The Miners: Randy Fogle; Thomas Foy; Harry (Blaine) Mayhugh, Foy's son-in-law; John Unger; John Phillippi; Ronald Hileman; Dennis Hall; Robert Pugh; and Mark Popernack.

	For More About the Quecreek Nine and Mine Safety: Quecreek Mine Rescue Photo Gallery CNN.com: "Quecreek Miner Miracle" On Beliefnet: Did God Save the Miners?