NEW HAVEN, Conn. AP – Frank Ricci’s name is on the lips of almost every senator in the Supreme Court nomination hearings of Sonia Sotomayor. His buddies know the 35-year-old New Haven firefighter by other names.

They call him Cushion because another firefighter landed on him when the two fell more than 10 feet at a Yale University building under construction. They also call him Halligan – for a tool that knocks down doors.