What so proudly we hailed

So proudly we hailed Rocky Bleier this weekend, the grand marshal of the country’s largest Flag Day parade.

The Appleton native, army veteran, Purple Heart award recipient and four-time Super Bowl champion led one of the best Flag Day parades we’ve seen.

He worked the crowd ahead of the parade, shaking hands, especially with fellow veterans, and graciously posing for pictures.

Then, as a Coast Guard helicopter flew overhead, he stood through the sun roof of his yellow escort vehicle, held on to a large American flag and personified all the best qualities of the country he so clearly loves.

Bleier grew up in Appleton in an apartment above an eponymous bar his parents owned, was a three-sport captain at Xavier High School, a two-way starter on the football team and a three-time all state selection at running back.

He attended Norte Dame on a football scholarship, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers and then, following his rookie season, was drafted by the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam.

All of this is well documented and depicted in the movie, based on the book he wrote, called Fighting Back: The Rocky Bleier Story.

Gravely injured by a grenade blast in Vietnam, Bleier was told he could never play football again.

His battle back took years. I think every aspiring athlete should tape a copy of Rocky Bleier’s Steeler stats to their locker door because in between the banner years, there are lines of inspirational zeros.

He spent the first season following his extensive hospitalization and rehab on Pittsburgh’s injured reserve. As he worked to regain the muscles he’d lost, he spent the next season playing on special teams. He was waived twice but he kept fighting.

Four years after he came back to the Steelers, he finally regained his starting position.

He retired after the 1980 season and applied that work ethic to a successful business career in financial management.

Beyond all of that, he’s a really nice guy.

Congratulations to the parade committee on producing an excellent Flag Day Parade and many thanks to Rocky Bleier for being its grand marshal.