On Wednesday, July 5, former Xavier HS and Iona College rugby player James Dowdell, a firefighter with the Fire Department of New York, rescued four men trapped in an elevator at the Brooklyn Cin Edison Plant in New York.

Dowdell was lowered 200 feet down an elevator shaft to bring out the four workers, who were trapped below street level. According to the New York Daily News, the Con Ed employee and three contractors were trapped between floors and couldn't get out.

Firefighters rigged up a pulley system to send Dowdell down to the top of the elevator, and from there he squeezed through a two-foot hatch to reach the four men.

“I’m just happy it all worked out,” Dowdell told the Daily News. “Everybody in the whole Fire Department did a great job and everyone is home safe.”

Dowdell played rugby for Xavier HS and later Iona. He still supports both programs. Dowdell's father, Kevin, was a firefighter with the FDNY and was credited with several heroic rescues. Kevin Dowdell died while rescuing civilians during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. James Dowdell, 32, joined the FDNY after 9-11 and now plays drums in the FDNY Emerald Society Pipes and Drums band, which annually honors the fallen of the 9-11. Kevin Dowdell's other son, Patrick, also played at Xavier. He graduated from West Point and served in Afghanistan.