Neals
first exposure to the USAF Academy was in his family room in Dallas when
he was 12 years old. He and his Dad (an 8th AF, 44th Bomb Group, 67th
Squadron B-24 pilot in WWII) watched the Falcon football team battle
TCU to a 0-0 tie in the 1959 Cotton Bowl. In those days, very few football
teams across the country had any kind of mascot or decal on their helmet
maybe some stripes or numerals on the side, but nothing noteworthy. But
the Falcons
Wow!... they had lightning bolts on their helmets, and
Neal decided then and there he wanted to play football for the AFA and
become a pilot in the USAF.
Neal always says that he had absolutely the best cadet experience at the
Academy that anybody could ever hope for
great Squadrons (24th and
12th)
great squadron mates
challenging academics (proud to
be right in the middle of the Class, thank you)
rewarding command
experience (both during the academic year and during the summers)
and meeting Sharon, his soul mate for the past 48 years, on a double blind
date to the All Class Formal in Arnold Hall at the end of our Doolie year.
Neal distinctly remembers Sharon saying,
and the only thing
I dislike more than Cadets is Texans! Absolutely true
ask
her!
Neal won the opportunity to wear his lightning bolts
and is proud
of his four seasons with the Falcons, serving as Team Captain for the
67 Falcons, one of the least successful teams in AFA
football history (mostly due to losing so many of our best players in
two different cheating scandals). Neal says the motto for the 67
Falcons was, We showed up every Saturday! In the Spring of
'68, Neal was the Commander of Cadet Squadron 12, the first Dirty
Dozen.
Upon
graduation, Neal waited five days to marry Sharon, and accepted an invitation
to stay at USAFA as a TDY 2nd Lt. coaching freshman football, along with
classmates Gerry Wyngaard and Dick Ellis, pushing his pilot training start
date at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX to mid-March, 1969. Everything
was working out just like he planned
until
mid-September of 1968, when Neal started losing feeling in his left foot,
then up to his calf, then past his knee and up his thigh, all in the space
of about two weeks. A seven week stay in Wilford Hall down in San Antonio
revealed a blood clot in Neals spine (Brown-Sequard Syndrome) which
had to be closely monitored through return trips to San Antonio every
six months, while remaining in his current job in Colorado Springs. After
nearly four years on hold, Neals Doctors determined
that he probably would not die from the clot moving up into his brain,
but it did disqualify him from pilot training.
Neal explains that he and Sharon enjoyed their four year tour
at the Academy, but his plan was always to become a pilot, have a successful
tour somewhere in SEA, and move on to ever more challenging responsibilities
and commands in the USAF. But without those wings and bonafides, Neal
felt he could no longer compete for key jobs in the USAF. Neal resigned
his commission and left the USAF on May 31, 1972
a mere 3 years,
11 months, and 26 days after we all threw our hats into the air in Falcon
stadium. Thats less time than we were at the Academy! It was time
to move on to Plan B, which did not include being a civilian football
coach.
Other
than a year in Denver and 6 months in Cleveland, Ohio, Sharon and Neal
have lived in Colorado Springs. Neal, for nearly 40 years, had a successful
career mixing entrepreneurship (Neal Starkeys ALL-AMERICAN Sports
Center, Inc., StarJes Data Systems, Inc. and Starkey and Associates, LLC)
with the Computer/Defense/Aerospace industries (Digital Equipment Corporation/GSG,
Sun Microsystems Federal, and EADS North America Defense). Sharon has
retired after "only" 42 years as an educator in Colorado Springs
School District #11, primarily due to the chronic Hepatitis-C she contracted
from tainted blood transfusions after the birth of their second child,
son Mitch, in 1976.
Speaking of Mitch (36), hes a Sr. Acct Mgr. with a Xerox-subsidiary
in C-Springs, married to Laura Henley, with two children: Anna (6) and
Katie (2.5). His older sister, Tracie (41) is the Assistant Principal
at Rampart HS in C-Springs, married to Travis Cormaney, with two children;
Cale (10) and Carsyn (7).
Like
many of you, Sharon and Neal invest an extraordinary amount of time and
resources in their two children and four grandchildren and their many
escapades, which should pay off big time when it comes time for them to
select our retirement home for us!
In
their free time, Neal and Sharon work as Pet Therapy volunteers,
taking their succession of Labs and Retrievers into the local hospitals
to cheer up both the patients and the staff, and into several elementary
schools, where Sharon uses the dogs to help countless 1st and 2nd graders
improve their reading skills, a truly unique experience for everybody
involved.
Click
on thumbnails above and below for larger images
Neal
and Sharon: "Looking forward to seeing everybody at our 45th! Beat
Army!!!"
February 2013
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