BERKELEY – From coast to coast and all over the word, the name Mark Bingham is synonymous with heroism, and for good reason.

At the University of California, Bingham was a member of the 1991 national collegiate champion Golden Bears rugby team and a 1993 recipient of a bachelor's degree in social sciences with an emphasis in international relations.

Thousands of miles away, Bingham is memorialized in New York City at the National September 11 Memorial, where his name is etched along with the thousands of others who died in the attacks of September 11, 2001, and at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pa., where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in an open field shortly after 10 a.m. local time that day.

While that location marks the spot were Bingham and his fellow passenger died, it also serves as the permanent reminder that this Cal alumnus was able to change his fate after joining others to thwart hijackers who are believed to have been aiming their plane at a target in the nation's capital.

Since September 11, 2001, the entire world has come to know Bingham and his fellow passengers as heroes who altered the course of history on an unforgettably tragic day in the history of the United States.

Today, a charcoal impression of Mark's etched name from the National September 11 Memorial is framed in the Doc Hudson Fieldhouse on campus at Cal.

Bingham is also honored annually by the University through the California Alumni Association, which recognizes a young alumnus or alumna with the Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement at its Charter Gala each spring. The spring 2015 recipient of the Bingham Award was Wally Adeyemo, the Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of the Treasury.

Jack Clark, the U.S. Rugby Hall of Famer who coached Bingham as a Golden Bear, echoed the feelings of the Cal community when considering Bingham's actions that fateful day:

“What Mark and a few others did in those precise moments to save so many lives and the symbol of our nation's capital can only be described as leadership and selfless sacrifice.”

Bingham's mother, Alice Hoagland, has said of her son's alma mater, “Mark loved Cal. 'Go Bears' was his mantra. Mark wore the blue and gold rugby jersey proudly and played his heart out for his teammates.”

At a 2001 memorial service in Berkeley after the attacks, U.S. Senator John McCain said, “I may very well owe my life to Mark.” Sen. McCain continued:

“I never knew Mark Bingham. But I wish I had. I know he was a good son and friend, a good rugby player, a good American and an extraordinary human being. He supported me, and his support now ranks among the greatest honors of my life. I wish I had known before September 11 just how great an honor his trust in me was. I wish I could have thanked him for it more profusely than time and circumstances allowed. But I know it now. And I thank him with the only means I possess, by being as good an American as he was.”

The Cal rugby family joins everyone at the University of California to remember Mark Bingham and all those whose lives were taken, or changed forever, on a Tuesday morning, 14 years ago.