Bulls captain Charles Oakley returned to his offseason home in heroic style Saturday when he purchased 100 tickets to the Bulls-Knicks game and donated them to relatives of New York firefighters killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

''That could've easily been me who was killed as an innocent victim on the ground or in air, just like the average person,'' said Oakley, who played 10 of his 17 NBA seasons with the Knicks. ''One of my financial advisers has an office in the World Financial Center and I could've been 20 feet away from the explosion. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing on television. It looked like someone dropped a bomb on the entire city.

''The firefighters who risked their lives and died trying to save other people are heroes. They're the real role models. These men and women risk their lives every single day helping save the lives of strangers. After it happened, I told my business manager, Billy Diamond, who lives and works 15 miles away in Springfield, N.J., that I wanted to do something for families of the firefighters who died, and this is what I felt would help pay tribute to these brave people.''

"Most of Charles' career, he's done numerous charitable acts which he never even wanted publicized,'' Diamond said. "However, he's making this announcement public to spur on fellow NBA players [to also help the victims].''