Who Was Your Childhood Hero?

[Cranky]

Lots of real people in my life but Donald Duck was da one!!

 

[Budnicks]

I agree with most of the list, in the org post
I wasn't a big Superman guy
I'm not a big singing cowboy guy either
but, Audie Murphy was a real war hero

pretty much all the Mercury & Apollo astronauts are hero's
I got into engineering because of my granddad & my uncles
"they were my real hero's"
so are "most" of the people that served honorably in any war
&
then there's John Wayne, Steve McQueen personal favorites for sure
&
Dave Hough (Nanook Fuel Altered fame), Bob Glidden, Ronnie Sox, Dick Landy
Don Garlits, Richard Petty, Buddy Baker & many more
in racing I idolized them, especially the drag-racers

Kenny Stabler, Fred Bilitnikoff, Marv Hubbard,
Dan Fouts & Norm VanBrocklin (Both Oregon Duck's)
Bart Starr, Don Drysdale, Willie Mays, Jack Nicklaus all in sports

But;
I don't think of racing or sports figures as hero's
or even good role models really,
just people good & talented/devoted at/to a craft

especially today

I should have added a few more "I really respected"
pretty much anyone in Law Enforcement, that respects the job...

then there's a few guys, like;
James Garner (vet & a racer, just a cool dude),
Jimmy Stewart (vet & he was a hero)
& Elvis Presley king of cool,
even Toby Keith is a great guy today...
Bob Hope did so much for our troops,
even Motor-city Madman Ted Nugent...
Richard Nixon for getting US out of Viet Nam
after that the Kennedy's/Johnson, bargained away the south...
& "Ike" Eisenhower for his time in office &
as a world war commander WWII & Korea
(he was really before my time, but always thought he was the best modern day POTUS)
for our Interstate/Highway system as we know it today...
Ronald Reagan for getting US out of the mess
that 'the damn weak *** peanut farmer' got US into...

They all have my deepest respect too...

 

[747mopar]

Watching Ken Block video's I think he's my new hero, they shut down whole cities for him to wreak havoc and obliterate a set of tires in stunning fashion!

 

[gtxracer]

Like so many others, my Dad was always my hero. I remember in the first grade we all had to stand up, tell our name and what we wanted to be when we grew up. I replied "I want to be a man like my Dad". Mrs. Hart our first grade teacher, Thanked me.

 

[Wingfoot]

A man named Harlan was my childhood hero.

My father died in a car wreck when I was 9. My grandfather took my mother (his daughter), me and my 3 siblings to his Iowa hog farm to finish raising us. My grandfather was a strict disciplinarian and his swearing was terrible. Harlan was my grandfather's sharecropper.

Harlan was a very pleasant fella with off-the-chart common sense. Harlan unknowingly became my childhood father-figure and was the buffer between my grandfather & me. Harlan taught me how to drive on the highway when I was 13, how to be a row-crop-farmer (a profession I never followed), how to fix and properly maintain farming equipment, engine overhauling, welding, animal husbandry, conservative politics and how to treat girlz.......... Harlan's daughter Nancy was 5 yrs older than me; a yummy, super-sweet, long-haired hottie who always wore short-shorts. I hung around Harlan's farm a lot helping him with field work and such.

Harlan always told me, "Marry a rich girl. You can always love 'em later." Well, I've been married twice and never followed his advice. My first wife I married for lust and my second wife, of which I am still with, I married for love......................

 

[Cranky]

Did anyone mention Kirby Grant? There were several shows that I liked as a kid but Sky King was probably in the top 3 list. Clowns were usually at the bottom of the list with Bozo being the least liked but liked the cartoons that came on his show. Another local TV kids show in the NE that I liked was Salty Brine's Shack (Walter Brian).

And of course, my dad was at the top of the list. Even though he had a hair trigger temper and we didn't get along all that well in my teen years, he kept his swearing to a minimum and learned to control his temper. Looking back, I'm sure he was stressed out pretty bad having to deal with mom being sick so much and doctor bills piling up and her passing when I was 12. He relied on my sister to help raise me since she was 4 years older but she was a tyrant having to deal with the loss of her mom and then moving away from her friends when we moved to the south. Dad and I finally came to an understanding in my early 30's and we got along excellent from then on but my sister never let go of those bad times and she and I still do not get along....and believe me, I've tried.

 

[Ron H]

I'm impressed by the number of those who found their dad's their hero's...I'm glad to say, as I posted earlier, I'm among them so know exactly the feeling. Makes me wonder how many scumbags walking the planet who became such because they didn't have a dad like we had. We know of those who's parents didn't want their kids, were mistakes of inebriated or drug induced one night stands, or those "dad's" out there that impregnated numerous women and continue to do so while not paying child support. Truly sad, or more, pathetic. We don't do enough to hold those scum-sucks accountable for their actions.

 

[SteveSS]

I saw Bruce Jenner give an inspirational speech not long before he went crazy. It was great.

IMHO he's still a man dressed up like a woman but what the hell. I could put on a crown and call myself the Queen of England big deal. It's still just craziness.