James Tempro, 88, a retired FDNY firefighter who won the James Gordon Bennett Award in 1969, would like the FDNY to consider changing the name of the award.
As the smoke and flames climbed around him and no water appeared, he realized something was wrong down the line.
Tempro, who’d already been in the fire too long, crawled to the doorway to leave, but the weak cry reached his ears.
“I realized someone was still in there,” Tempro told the Daily News. “I had to go back in.”
The rescue nearly cost Tempro his life. He was hospitalized for weeks with smoke inhalation and serious burns — but he saved the young boy found unconscious on the floor of the home at Dekalb and Tompkins Aves.
The James Gordon Bennett Medal is awarded to firefighters who demonstrate the most outstanding act of heroism.
(TODD MAISEL/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
The brave act also won Tempro what’s considered the FDNY’s top annual honor: The James Gordon Bennett Medal for the most outstanding act of heroism.
It was the first time a black firefighter took home the award.
Now, Tempro, 88 and retired, wants the name of the medal changed — because James Gordon Bennett wasn’t just a 19th-century publishing giant.
He was a giant racist, too.
“When I received the award in 1969, I had no idea of the history of Bennett, who he was or what he stood for,” Tempro told The News. “But now that I’ve learned more about his beliefs, that he was a racist who supported slavery, it demeans the medal for me a bit.
“I think it’s time for the Fire Department to change the name. There are so many others more deserving, people of high moral character that should be offered this honor,” he said, noting that stadiums, libraries, medical facilities and other longstanding institutions change names and endowments over time.
“Now that I’ve learned more about his beliefs, that he was a racist who supported slavery, it demeans the medal for me a bit,” says Tempro.
(TODD MAISEL/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
“For me, it’s like saying, here’s an award named for George Wallace” — the race-baiting 1960s Alabama governor.
When the FDNY first handed out the James Gordon Bennett award, in 1869, its namesake was among the nation’s richest and most powerful men.
Bennett and his son set up the FDNY medal with a $1,500 endowment. According to the endowment letter sent at the time, the award was to thank firefighters for extinguishing a fire in Bennett’s country house.
For several years, the Bennett medal was the sole citation for valor awarded by the FDNY.
Given Bennett’s immense stature, it carried tremendous prestige — even though his connection to the Fire Department was slight.
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