What a refreshing respite this day has been; a much-needed reprieve from covering the new Name, Image and Likeness world of Power 5 football, where we have been trained to believe that the value of a college scholarship means virtually nothing.
Don’t you dare spew this nonsense to the recipients of the scholarships awarded by Folds of Honor; educational grants that go to the children and spouses of military members and first responders who have died or been disabled in the line of duty.
Don’t tell it to Jurley Torian, whose husband — Marine Master Sgt. Aaron Torian — died in Afghanistan nine years ago. Their three kids, Elijah, Laura Bella and Avery, have all been given the gift of a quality education with the help of financial-aid scholarships provided by Folds of Honor.
“It’s been amazing,” Jurley says. “I work full-time as a nurse, but there’s no way financially I could give three kids the quality education they are receiving now because of the scholarships. I’m so thankful.”
I’m thankful, too.
I’m thankful that sometimes in this job, I get a chance to interview people who are truly inspiring.
I’m thankful that I got a chance earlier this week to have a conversation with Air Force Lt. Col. Dan Rooney, an F-16 fighter pilot who started Folds of Honor 17 years ago after he was emotionally moved on a commercial flight home from his second tour of duty in Iraq.
As the flight landed, the pilot announced that the plane was carrying the remains of Corporal Brock Bucklin on board. Rooney watched sadly as Corporal Bucklin’s identical twin brother walked stone-faced alongside the flag-draped casket to meet his family on the tarmac. Among the family members was Corporal Bucklin’s 4-year-old son, Jacob.
“I’ve seen a lot of terrible things as a fighter pilot in combat, but one thing you never really see is the fallen soldier’s family,” Rooney recalls. “I think I speak for every veteran and every first responder who is running toward trouble when I say that our greatest fear is if something happens to us, what happens to our family? That feeling is ubiquitous among those who serve.”
That night as he looked out the window onto the airport tarmac and saw a 4-year-old boy who would grow up without his father; that’s the night Lt. Col. Rooney decided his mission in life was to help the families of fallen heroes. That night is when the idea of Folds of Honor was born with a mission statement that would come later:
“Honor Their Sacrifice. Educate Their Legacy.”
For Rooney, the best way to fulfill this mission was through his passion for golf. Rooney was a college golfer at the University of Kansas who grew up on a public golf course his parents owned in Grand Haven, Mich. Rooney once told his father, “When I grow up, I want to be a fighter pilot … and a professional golfer.”
He did even better. He became a fighter pilot and a professional guardian angel.
His first fundraiser for Folds of Honor was a charity golf tournament at his parents’ golf course that raised $8,500. Since then, Rooney and his Folds of Honor team have doled out 44,000 scholarships worth more than $200 million. In all, 91 cents of every dollar donated goes directly into scholarships, and 46% of those scholarships went to minority recipients last year.
Even Rooney’s boyhood hero, Jack Nicklaus, has gotten involved. Rooney went to Nicklaus with a “crazy idea” that he wanted to turn the family golf course in Michigan into a “golf church” and a shrine to the American military.
Nicklaus waived his $3 million fee, redesigned the course and it reopened as “American Dunes” in 2021. Nicklaus’ words are emblazoned on an 8-foot wall in front of the clubhouse: “I love the game of golf, but I love my country even more.”
Folds of Honor started in Michigan, but now organizes nationwide golf fundraisers like the “Hero 100? Tuesday at Orange County National where golfers from across the country secured pledges and played a 100-hole golf marathon to raise money for scholarships.
Michael Assey, the head golf pro at Savannah (Ga.) Country Club, played in the marathon on Tuesday and also hosts a fundraiser at his home course because he says “the tears started flowing like never before” when he first heard of the Folds of Honor mission.
“Helping the children of those who give up their lives fighting for our freedom,” Assey says, “I can’t think of a better cause than that.”
Says Mark Williams, a golf pro in New Bern, N.C. who last year played in a 24-hour golf marathon fundraiser in which he completed 360 holes: “Playing 360 holes in 24 hours seems crazy. I got rained on a couple of times, but the guys on the front line aren’t gonna stop for a little rain. You could say this is a golfer’s way of going to battle for those who sacrificed so much.”
Those like Master Sgt. Aaron Torian, who I referred to earlier. He played college football at Tennessee-Martin and got his master’s degree in education because he wanted to be a teacher and a high school football coach. He had just interviewed for a teaching and coaching job in Florida just as the war in Iraq was beginning. That’s when he phoned his girlfriend Jurley from the Marine Corps recruiting office.
“He told me that when he was on the job interview and he was standing on the football field, he realized he wasn’t ready to just be on the sideline,” Jurley remembers. “He wanted to be on a team out on the field.”
That team was the United States Marines and that field was in the mountains of Afghanistan. He could have joined as an officer because of his advanced education, but he enlisted in the infantry because he wanted to be on the front lines.
Aaron and Jurley got married and had a family, and when he wasn’t deployed he was Mr. Mom. While Jurley worked as a nurse, Aaron would take the kids to school and sporting events and play dates and birthday parties. When Jurley drove home from work one day, she laughed as she pulled into the driveway and saw Aaron having a glass of wine with the other moms.
It was Aaron’s sixth combat deployment when Jurley got the awful news. Aaron was on a mountain patrol training Afghan commandos when he noticed one of the commandos was trying to improperly dismantle an explosive device. As Aaron walked down an embankment, he stepped on a land mine and lost his life.
Honor their sacrifice. Educate their legacy.
It started with a flag-covered casket of an unknown soldier all those years ago and continues today with thousands of scholarships going to the kids of our fallen heroes.
Up at the Nicklaus-designed American Dunes, a trumpet plays “Taps” over the public-address system every day at 1 p.m. — 1300 hours, standard military time. Taps is followed by 13 chimes, representing the 13 times a flag is folded at a military funeral – the Folds of Honor.
“I feel I have found the key that will open every door to happiness,” Rooney says. “If you want to be truly content, give of yourself to help those who need it most.”
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on Twitter @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and HD 101.1-2
