bad day
FDNY Lt. Howard Carpluk's heroic sacrifice came as no surprise to his old pal, sports commentator and former Jet quarterback Boomer Esiason.
Carpluk was Esiason's back-up QB when the two friends attended East Islip HS in the late '70s and early '80s.
"We all hung out together. Howie was one of the posse. He was a great teammate," a devastated Esiason said yesterday.
"He was a terrific guy. He was unselfish. He was fun."
Most of all, the football legend said, Carpluk was a "great teammate."
"The fact that he became a fireman tells you who he is. Being a firefighter, you have to be a great teammate," he said.
"You have to be unselfish to be a firefighter. You have to be unselfish to be a back-up quarterback.
"How many people go into burning buildings? It's the ultimate sacrifice when you try to save people's lives and give up your own."
Carpluk, 42, of Yaphank, L.I., had received two citations for bravery during his 20-year career - one for rescuing two unconscious men from a burning Bronx tenement in 1988.
He leaves a wife, Debbie, and two children, Bradley, 14, and Paige, 10.
Carpluk's high-school football and baseball coach, Sal Ciampi, was stunned.
"Howie was a great young man. He did everything you asked of him. He was a hard worker - a team player. He did anything he could do to make himself better. He always had a smile," Ciampi said.
"You could say he was on the real team. The Fire Department is the real team. That's what it's all about."
Mayor Bloomberg visited Carpluk's family at Montefiore Hospital, where the hero died.
"New York City has lost another one of its Bravest," the mayor said.
"For more than 20 years, Lt. Carpluk devoted his life to saving others. When I met with the men of the Engine 42, they told me how the lieutenant faced each and every challenge before him bravely and unflinchingly. [Sunday] was no different."
His uncle, Theodore Carpluk, described him as a "brave, courageous person," adding, "It's a great loss to the family and community."
The fallen firefighter had been a marathon runner, cyclist, softball player, golfer - and an active member of his community's civic association.
"I could see him going into that building without a thought for his own safety," said the association's president, Johan McConnell. "We had such high hopes for his recovery because we heard he was off the respirator, and then to get hit with this, it's awful
Figured I would post this to show everyone who he was...Mike