Monday was a special day for Don Maynard, El Paso's Hall of Fame wide receiver. It was a day to remember five years ago, to remember friends lost and to reflect once again on a long and unique trip home.

"There were 30 of us playing in a charity golf tournament in Canton, Ohio on Sept. 11, five years ago," said Maynard, the former Texas Western star who went on to an NFL Hall of Fame career with the New York Jets. "Ironically, I was on the 11th hole when the phone calls started coming in. We were all stranded in Canton. The flights were grounded, the rental cars were all gone. So I told the guys I knew a way to get home."

Maynard got the NFL Hall of Fame staff to give half a dozen of them a ride to the Greyhound Bus station.

"I got home 52 hours later," Maynard said, soberly remembering that sad day. "Mel Renfro, Yale Larry, Kenny Houston, Jim Taylor and his wife, Bobby Bell and I got on the bus. Bobby got off around Kansas City. Jim and his wife got off around Memphis. When we got to Dallas, Mel and Yale Larry were home, and Kenny Houston went on home to Houston. I was still 650 miles from home."

When he got to El Paso, Maynard had the bus driver drop him off on the service road. He got his bag and walked about three miles to the airport parking lot to get his car. Finally, he was home.

But New York also was his professional home for so many years.

His voice breaking with emotion, Maynard said, "I lost a very good friend and his son that day in New York. I saw a lot of our country on that bus ride home. You sleep and you ride and you think about a lot of things in your own life."

Maynard, who was the main target for Joe Namath in the Jets' glory years, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987. He has played in charity golf tournaments on a regular basis since. Maynard, who says he is "71 going on 24," continues to stay fit and active and still plays in those golf tournaments. And he always sends a message -- just by what he wears.

"I've been playing in those things a long time," Maynard said. "I always wear a flag shirt, a white straw hat, my white cowboy boots and red shorts. I've got five or six or seven of those flag shirts and they are all about to wear out. But it's pretty special to me."

And Monday was a special day for Maynard -- a day of remembrance.

"I put my flag up at the house," he said quietly. "I got one of those flags out of the newspaper and put it up in my truck. You know, 9/11, the attacks ... they just brought Americans together."

A bus ride five years ago also gave him time to reflect, to put so many things in perspective.

"It's a beautiful country out there," he said, again getting a little emotional. "You ride a bus like that and you think a lot, analyze things about your own life and about this great country."

Bill Knight may be reached at bknight@elpasotimes.com; 546-6171.