New York City firefighter John Caputo saw something white and thought he'd uncovered another piece of bone in the devastation that was the World Trade Center. "When I picked it up, I realized it was a golf ball," Caputo said, recalling the events of April 1. "And I just couldn't believe out of all this destruction, something like a golf ball could survive." Wednesday, on the eve of the U.S. Open, Joseph Vigiano, whose father Joseph and uncle John Vigiano were killed on Sept. 11, presented the ball to USGA president Reed Mackenzie. The USGA, in turn, continued a tradition it began during World War II and donated an ambulance to the city of New York. The ball will be placed in the USGA museum next to an American flag flown over the U.S. Capitol to honor those who lost their lives on Sept. 11. The logo on the ball was from the New York Shipping Association located on the 20th floor of Tower 2 at the World Trade Center. Accompanying the ball is a band inscribed with the following words: "Firefighter John T. Vigiano, FDNY Ladder Company 132, Joseph Vigiano, NYPD Truck II, ESE 9/11/2001." Joseph Vigiano Sr. was a New York City policeman and John Vigiano was a member of the FDNY. FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta accepted the keys to the ambulance. During World War II, the USGA gave ambulances to Pearl Harbor and St. Andrews, Scotland. "Today's ambulance donation, continues what has really been a wonderful, charitable tradition of the United States Golf Association," Scoppetta said, with a picture of the ambulance in the background. "In the past six years they have given more than $30 million to thousands of charities around the world. "In doing so, they really perform an enormous valuable service, and that is what they are doing today for the New York City Fire Department." On the ambulance will be a plaque that reads: "From the United States Golf Association to the City and People of New York in remembrance of 9/11/2001." On hand for the presentations were New York governor George Pataki, State Park Commissioner Bernadette Castro and golf architect Rees Jones, who was responsible for renovating the Bethpage State Park's Black Course. Pataki was wearing a "I love New York" hat. "We are pleased that tens of millions of people from around the world will get to see New York at its best," Pataki said. "We have no doubt that New York at its best is as good or better than any place anywhere in America or anywhere in the world. "Where else in America can you get in your car, show up maybe 4, 5 in the morning, wait for a few hours and play on one of the greatest golf courses anywhere in the world for $31 but at a New York State Park?"

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