Yes, there is a thread of golf tied to this man’s story and we’ll get there, in due time. But first, patience and perspective are requested. Given the holiday that is upon us, proper respect is owed to Rocky Sickmann and his profound reasons to give thanks.
“When you’re stripped of your freedom, of your dignity, of your pride, and you spend every day blindfolded, not knowing whether you’re going to live or die, you come to understand that freedom is not free.”
Tomorrow, Rocky will spend Thanksgiving with Jill, his wife of 40 years – “she is my icon,” he said – their three children and four grandchildren, and while this annual holiday will be celebrated similarly by families in towns throughout America, the truth is it is hugely and sometimes shamefully taken for granted.
Just not by Rocky Sickmann.
“I will start the day as I start every day,” he said. “I will think of those eight who gave their lives (in a failed rescue mission in April of 1980). They never got to go fishing with their sons, like I have; never got to go a father-daughter dance like I have; never got to walk a daughter down the aisle like I have.
“So, yes, not a day goes by when memories don’t come up and it’s especially bittersweet at Thanksgiving because that’s the day when we need to be especially thankful.”
As a United States Marine Corps Sergeant, Sickmann was one of 52 American hostages held captive in the American Embassy in Tehran by Iranian militants. In contact with then President Carter that fateful day (Nov. 4, 1979) when the embassy was overrun, Sickmann was told not to shoot his weapon and he followed orders.
Instead, he was told, “Give yourself up. We’ll get it done with diplomacy.”
Diplomacy took 444 days.
Rocky Sickmann and the other 51 hostages were released on Jan. 20, 1981, minutes after President Reagan was inaugurated. While there is much to be bitter about and Rocky Sickmann is disappointed that “they have never been held accountable,” he has found many avenues in his journey since Iran that enable him to give thanks for the precious freedom that he enjoys.
For years, Sickmann, a Missouri native, worked for the Anheuser-Busch company in St. Louis as the U.S. National Director for Military and Industry Affairs. Entrusted to execute national sales promotions that would salute the men and women of the armed forces, Sickmann’s responsibilities eventually brought him into contact with a force of nature, a legend named Lt. Col. Dan Rooney who is the architect of the incomparable Folds of Honor charity.
“When I retired in 2016, Lt. Col. Dan said, ‘You’ve got to come work for me.’ ”
By then, the like-minded men had had plenty of conversations. “The first day I met him, he was at Anheuser-Busch and he tells me his story, I tell him mine,” said Rocky. An impenetrable bond was quickly formed.
Then again, how could it have not? Each man had experienced the heartache that comes with military encounters, but were buoyed by a passion to defend our freedom.
Rocky Sickmann had missed two Thanksgivings and two Christmases because of the hostage crisis and can’t count the number of times he sat alone in a chair, blindfolded and wondering if they had been forgotten by folks back home.
“I used to think, who cares about 66 people (that was the initial hostage account, but unbeknownst to Sickmann and the others, 14 hostages had been released a few months into captivity)? I knew my family would care, but who else?”
As for Lt. Col. Dan Rooney, he sat on a plane returning from a second tour of duty in Iraq in 2007 and watched as the casket of Cpl. Brock Bucklin was carried off. Among those who was there at the airport was the corporal’s son, Jacob, and the scene tore a hole in Dan Rooney’s gut.
Determined to create a foundation that would honor the sacrifices of our military personnel, Lt. Col. Dan Rooney has designed a behemoth of charitable programs, complete with a Boston chapter, no less.
Rocky Sickmann with his parents and siblings upon his release in 1981.
Folds of Honor offers life-changing scholarships to spouses and children of America’s fallen or disabled military personnel. In recent years, FOH has been expanded to include First Responders and as a guest speaker for the charitable program for eight years, Sickmann is in awe of what Lt. Col. Rooney has built.
“Folds of Honor has been therapeutic for me. (Since 2007) there have been some 62,000 scholarships and $290 million awarded,” said Sickmann. “Dan walks the walk and he makes thing happen. Those 62,000 scholarships represent 62,000 stories that people have to tell.”
But here’s a suggestion: This Thanksgiving give some thought to Sickmann’s story and allow it to percolate.
It was 45 years ago when 22-year-old Rocky Sickmann was assigned to the embassy in Tehran and 28 days later the militants took over.
“What I still think about are my parents (Virgil and Toni). Can you imagine your son or daughter being overseas, a hostage? How do you get up every morning and deal with that pain? It was tough on them. It really aged them.”
Including the mental and physical abuse that captivity inflicted upon Sickmann, easily the most painful part of the crisis came when he was released and learned of the ill-fated Operation Eagle Claw on April 24, 1980. Three Marines and five Air Force personnel were killed when a helicopter crashed into a transport aircraft.
“Every year for the past five years, I’ve gotten together with (personnel involved in that attempt). They had the guts to try.”
A sidebar to the Iranian hostage crisis included the six American diplomats who somehow evaded the embassy takeover and found shelter with Canadian officials. Their eventual escape thanks to the CIA using a bogus Hollywood film team was told in “Argo” starring Ben Affleck. Sickmann was invited to visit the movie set in 2011 because parts of the film did show the violent takeover of the embassy (Ryan Ahern played Rocky Sickmann).
When Rocky mentioned that his son, Spencer, was an actor, Affleck gave him a small part in the movie. “Stuff like that just doesn’t happen,” laughed Rocky.
The hero to Sickmann’s story is easy. It’s Jill, his 18-year-old girlfriend back in 1979 when Rocky left for Iran. “Thoughts of her kept me alive. No question,” he said.
Speaking engagements with Folds of Honor keep Rocky Sickmann very much in touch with his military brothers and sisters. Oh, and the connection with FOH has introduced him to the world of golf as Lt. Col. Dan Rooney, a PGA Professional, cherishes the game.
So, too, does Rocky which means we've arrived at the thread of golf within the man's story. Ready? Sickmann made his first-ever hole-in-one at the second hole on the Mountain Nine at Osage National Golf Resort in Lake Ozark, Mo.
“I love golf and play as much as I can,” he said. “I played a lot when I first got married but got away from it. The last few years I’ve gotten back into it.”
He still has the bottle of champagne he was given for making the hole-in-one, but he insists he’s not going to open it. At least not yet. “No way. I’m not going to open it till I get another.”
A small golf thread, yes, but no worries. Better on this Thanksgiving to savor one man's story of sacrifice and gratitude to remind us what this day is all about.
