Dan O'Neill

Dan Rooney is a man of many talents. An Oklahoma boy, he was a decent college golfer at Kansas; once he finished a group ahead of Stanford’s Tiger Woods. He liked golf, tried the mini-tours after graduation, fell short at PGA Tour qualifying school. So he and his father purchased Grand Haven Golf Club in Michigan and he became a teaching pro.

Then at 27, he decided to pursue another dream, an itch to fly F-16 fighter jets at 1,333 miles per hour. Turns out he is a little better with the flightstick than the flat stick. At 30, he became an Oklahoma Air National Guard pilot and by 2005, he was flying over Iraq.

Maybe standing over 5-footers to save par helped him get ready for that, who knows.

But as you might have construed, Maj. Rooney is a man of purpose. One of those guys who believes he can make a difference, one of those who makes a stand.

Late one evening, as he returned home from his second tour in Iraq, he discovered a new mission, a profound new place to stand.

After a layover in Chicago, he boarded the plane to Grand Rapids, Mich., and as he walked through the cabin, he noticed a somber young man in Army dress greens, seated in first class. “Wonderful,” Rooney thought, “the airline is taking good care of this soldier heading home on leave.”

Moments later, the plane landed and as it taxied to the gate, the United Airlines Flight 664 captain announced “an American hero” was on board. “Nice touch,” Rooney thought.

But the captain wasn’t finished: “We are carrying the remains of Cpl. Brock Bucklin home. He was killed in action in Iraq and his twin brother, Brad, is accompanying him back.”

The words punched Rooney in the stomach, sucked the air right out of him. The captain went on to ask if those on board could show respect for the fallen soldier and his family by staying seated on board until the remains of Cpl. Brocklin could be removed.

From seat 24A, the father of three young girls watched as Cpl. Bucklin’s flag-draped coffin was delivered to an honor guard, to a grieving family, to a 4-year-old son. It was nearly midnight, it was dark and it was raining. It was the first time Rooney had seen the war at ground level, first time he had seen the price paid 6,000 miles from where it was issued.

“The reality of that is etched in my mind forever,” he said.

Then something else left a permanent mark, something equally demoralizing. Despite the gripping scene, despite the captain’s polite request, half the passengers collected their belongings and scurried off the plane. It was late, it was raining, and there was no time for heroes.

“It was hard to believe as an American,” Rooney said. “I was engrossed in looking out the window and when I turned back and saw what was happening I was angry and disappointed. I knew then that we had to do something to, first, bond with those people that stayed on that airplane. But maybe more importantly, we had to reach the people who got off.

“Because there’s something very wrong when we can’t spend 30 minutes of our life to honor the incredible sacrifices that these members of our military and their families are making.”

Rooney, now 35, departs for another tour in Iraq at the end of August. And he and his wife have a fourth child on the way. He does his part, and then some. But he wants to do more; he wants to make a difference.

So he created Patriot Golf Day, an easy way for so many of us to make a difference, so many of us who might otherwise do nothing. Patriot Golf Day, which will run Aug. 28 through Sept. 1 (Labor Day weekend), is the signature event for the Fold of Honor Foundation. The organization honors our American heroes in a most profound way, by providing educational scholarships for dependents and spouses of those who have been killed or disabled while defending our right to be indifferent and punctual.

“We’ve been able to give hundreds of scholarships to spouses,” said Rooney, who was at the PGA Championship earlier this month. “Whether it’s getting secretarial skills or cosmetology school or some kind of vocation, so they can get those skills and assume that role of bread winner and provide for their family financially.

“And for the children, bringing education into their homes. In a lot of cases, perhaps it wasn’t even planned on before. If you look at the demographics, look at the folks who are being killed and disabled over there, not a lot of people have gone to college. At the end of the day, you can’t fix everything with money. But maybe you can effect a generational change.”

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