A three-and-a-half-year Fire Department veteran, Michael Clarke had been assigned to Ladder Co. 2 in Midtown Manhattan. "When he was young, he just loved to sit in the engines at the fire house," said Michael Clarke's father, who remembers giving his son that bright red firetruck he pedaled around in.
On the night before the attack, he had called his father, John, to say he would be coming home the next evening for dinner. Mr. Clarke was working a 24-hour shift, which extended into the day of Sept. 11. Sept. 11 was a scheduled day off; Firefighter Clarke went to work because he had switched days with another firefighter.
A firefighter by trade, Michael Clarke, 27, was a hockey player at heart. A goaltender at Wagner College and Monsignor Farrell High School, he recently backstopped Ladder Co. 2's team to a second-place finish in the Fire Department's citywide King of the Ice tournament. He also was an assistant hockey coach at St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School.
Now, at Wagner College, they have retired Michael Clarke's hockey number — 34. His father misses those regular phone calls from him, the ones that came to mean so much more after John Clarke's wife, Eileen, died three years ago.
"He'd call every day," the father recalls. "And he'd say, 'Hi, Pop. How you doing?' "
He also loved to hunt and fish. Mr. Clarke was a faithful and devoted companion and a doting uncle. Despite a seven-year age difference, James Clarke said he and his brother were best friends.
"He was a friendly, lovable guy," said James Clarke. "His smile lit up a room. Michael was always the first one there when someone needed help."
On the night before the attack, he had called his father, John, to say he would be coming home the next evening for dinner. Mr. Clarke was working a 24-hour shift, which extended into the day of Sept. 11. Sept. 11 was a scheduled day off; Firefighter Clarke went to work because he had switched days with another firefighter.
A firefighter by trade, Michael Clarke, 27, was a hockey player at heart. A goaltender at Wagner College and Monsignor Farrell High School, he recently backstopped Ladder Co. 2's team to a second-place finish in the Fire Department's citywide King of the Ice tournament. He also was an assistant hockey coach at St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School.
Now, at Wagner College, they have retired Michael Clarke's hockey number — 34. His father misses those regular phone calls from him, the ones that came to mean so much more after John Clarke's wife, Eileen, died three years ago.
"He'd call every day," the father recalls. "And he'd say, 'Hi, Pop. How you doing?' "
He also loved to hunt and fish. Mr. Clarke was a faithful and devoted companion and a doting uncle. Despite a seven-year age difference, James Clarke said he and his brother were best friends.
"He was a friendly, lovable guy," said James Clarke. "His smile lit up a room. Michael was always the first one there when someone needed help."
A three-and-a-half-year Fire Department veteran, Michael Clarke had been assigned to Ladder Co. 2 in Midtown Manhattan. "When he was young, he just loved to sit in the engines at the fire house," said Michael Clarke's father, who remembers giving his son that bright red firetruck he pedaled around in.
On the night before the attack, he had called his father, John, to say he would be coming home the next evening for dinner. Mr. Clarke was working a 24-hour shift, which extended into the day of Sept. 11. Sept. 11 was a scheduled day off; Firefighter Clarke went to work because he had switched days with another firefighter.
A firefighter by trade, Michael Clarke, 27, was a hockey player at heart. A goaltender at Wagner College and Monsignor Farrell High School, he recently backstopped Ladder Co. 2's team to a second-place finish in the Fire Department's citywide King of the Ice tournament. He also was an assistant hockey coach at St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School.
Now, at Wagner College, they have retired Michael Clarke's hockey number — 34. His father misses those regular phone calls from him, the ones that came to mean so much more after John Clarke's wife, Eileen, died three years ago.
"He'd call every day," the father recalls. "And he'd say, 'Hi, Pop. How you doing?' "
He also loved to hunt and fish. Mr. Clarke was a faithful and devoted companion and a doting uncle. Despite a seven-year age difference, James Clarke said he and his brother were best friends.
"He was a friendly, lovable guy," said James Clarke. "His smile lit up a room. Michael was always the first one there when someone needed help."
On the night before the attack, he had called his father, John, to say he would be coming home the next evening for dinner. Mr. Clarke was working a 24-hour shift, which extended into the day of Sept. 11. Sept. 11 was a scheduled day off; Firefighter Clarke went to work because he had switched days with another firefighter.
A firefighter by trade, Michael Clarke, 27, was a hockey player at heart. A goaltender at Wagner College and Monsignor Farrell High School, he recently backstopped Ladder Co. 2's team to a second-place finish in the Fire Department's citywide King of the Ice tournament. He also was an assistant hockey coach at St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School.
Now, at Wagner College, they have retired Michael Clarke's hockey number — 34. His father misses those regular phone calls from him, the ones that came to mean so much more after John Clarke's wife, Eileen, died three years ago.
"He'd call every day," the father recalls. "And he'd say, 'Hi, Pop. How you doing?' "
He also loved to hunt and fish. Mr. Clarke was a faithful and devoted companion and a doting uncle. Despite a seven-year age difference, James Clarke said he and his brother were best friends.
"He was a friendly, lovable guy," said James Clarke. "His smile lit up a room. Michael was always the first one there when someone needed help."
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