Reach out and thank your personal heroes

We all have heroes in our lives. My heroes have always been a great inspiration affecting my personal philosophy and lifestyle. Let me introduce a few of my heroes.

Fred Claire was my sports writing mentor for several years. At age 17, he gave me my first byline: “Ron Angle, Progress-Bulletin Sports Writer.” I still have that first clipping in my scrapbook. Fred only had me rewrite my first article three times before he would accept same. I learned quickly that there was only one way to write sports: Do it accurately and do it right.

Our daily newspaper enthusiastically supported sports writing. Just prior to my coming on board after military service, the

Pomona Progress-Bulletin sports section was recognized by the California Newspaper Association as being the best in the state for its circulation size.

I learned much more than sports writing from Fred Claire. He is a person of high integrity. I learned that there is a right way and a wrong way to move forward and by taking the high road, one will have few regrets.

Fred made a few good moves beyond sports writing: in 1988, he was general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers when they won the World Series. One can’t do much better than that. He is still my hero.

In my late 20s, I learned that a recently enacted GI Bill would provide me almost $10,000 in benefits. But the catch was that those benefits will terminate in nine months. I decided to burn that money taking flying lessons.

Over time, I earned commercial pilot ratings in both single and multi-engine aircraft with instrument certifications in both. During all of the training, a total of about 325 hours, my flight instructor was a gentleman named Robert Thomas. As a flight instructor, Thomas was as good as they come. He was very patient since I was a very slow learner. I have marginal skills and reflexes and have to think my way through many situations while in the air rather than by instinct.

Thomas was building flight hours also, and eventually went to work for Fed Ex, flying commercial haulers. He retired as one of Fed Ex’s instructor pilots. I learned from him that there is only one way to fly an aircraft: with one hundred percent concentration. Another hero.

My most recent hero was found right here in Butte County. John Hawkins is retired now. When I first met John, he was a Division Chief with Cal Fire Butte County. I was doing some research on firefighting mutual aid for my Master’s degree. John was most cooperative. He subsequently became of my instructors when I attended (and completed) the Butte College volunteer firefighters academy.

Over the next few years, John often allowed me to ‘shadow’ him during major Butte County wildfires. This was when my real education began. John Hawkins was the very epitome of leadership.

Early in my firefighting classes, I learned this little ditty about ineffective incident commanders:

When in danger, when in doubt

Run in circles, scream and shout.

Chief Hawkins led by simply letting all under his command understand that there was no easy response to a wildfire. Fighting a wildfire was a hot, dirty, and very dangerous job that could be accomplished only when everybody on the team pulled together.

After many years in Butte County, John Hawkins relocated to Orange County and became chief of that Cal Fire unit until his retirement. Known as ‘the Hawk’, his reputation commanding major wildfires. His greatest contribution to firefighting has been the hundreds of younger firefighters that he had mentored.

Often, we do not find our heroes; our heroes find us. Perhaps it is time for you, the reader, to reach out and thank your personal heroes.