This year for #FathersDay, I’m finally ready to do a thread about the old man ( #ChrisHixon), so here we go. Warning that this will get morbid when I get to February 14th, 2018. Long thread to follow: 1/23

Dad grew up in the Poconos of PA, the oldest sibling of three. In high school his sports were football and wrestling and his number was 14. This number becomes a recurring theme throughout his life, which is why it’s worth mentioning. 2/23

After high school, Dad decided to enlist in the Navy in 1986, on the 14th of the month. He became a Machinist Mate and attempt Nuke school, but ultimately ended up not finishing. He was then assigned to the USS San Diego (AFS-6). 3/23

He met my Mom at a wedding of one of his Navy buds and they ended up getting married on July 14th, 1990. Dad ended up getting deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. 4/23

Once I came along, he made the decision to leave Active Duty and switch to the Reserves and ended up moving to Florida to be with my Mom and help her care for me and some sick family members. 5/23

Mom was, and still does, work in the Broward County Public School System and Dad decided to get a job in at BCPS as well. He started as maintenance worker but quickly became an Athletic Director and Security Monitor. 5/23

He also earned the nickname “RoboCop” because he once ran down one of the star track athletes at the school. 6/23

Reserve side, Dad served with a few units in the South Florida area, including a ship maintenance unit, a Dive unit, and ultimately as a Master at Arms. He was slated to deploy to Camp Bucca in 2008, but was medically disqualified due to a previous slipped disc in his back. 7/23

He ended up retiring in 2013 with 27 years of service. At the time I was a recent OCS grad and I had the honor of giving my Dad his final salute. 7 months later he would return the favor and be my first salute as a newly minted 2ndLt in the Marine Corps. 8/23

On the civilian side, Dad would continue to work as an Athletic Director and Security Monitor at Blanche Ely High School, South Broward High School, and finally at Stoneman Douglas High School. 9/23

He regularly worked late to be at every sporting event to ensure everything was taken care of. Both he and my Mom worked at South Broward while I was in school there, it made for quite the high school experience. 10/23

Wrestling became my Dad’s sport of choice, frequently attending practices and taking up the coaching job at MSD. He was well known for being tough but caring. He held students accountable, but always offered help when needed. 11/23

At MSD he took on coaching up to 5 sports while filling his job as an AD and Security Monitor, for no extra money, just so students wouldn’t have to go a season without their sports. He was truly a class act. 12/23

Then on February 14th, 2018, when shots rang out in the 1200 Building of MSD, Dad was the first one to respond. He was the first person to run into the building. Unfortunately, Dad wouldn’t make it far into the building before he was hit the first time. 13/23

Hit in the leg/hip, he immediately took cover, but he wasn’t able to move. Then the shooter found him behind his cover and, being the sick person he was, decided to shoot Dad two more times. 14/23

The only upside to this was that the shooter was distracted by Dad enough that he skipped the classroom directly behind him and they were spared.

Now we come to the hard part to get through since I’ve seen it. 15/23

Dad kept himself conscious, with three close range gunshot wounds, for 11 minutes. He could have accepted his fate, but he decided to keep himself in the fight. And he did until Coral Springs PD finally came into the building. 16/23

He was the first person they saw and the Officers themselves have commented on how amazed they were to find him still conscious. They extracted him, but Dad would end up losing his fight on the way to the hospital. 17/23

Dad was 11 days short of his 50th birthday. He received a military burial with full honors and is buried at the South Florida National Cemetery. 18/23

Dad was a humble guy and he was never recognized enough in his life for all the great things he did for students and coaches. 19/23

Thankfully, he has since been recognized with an ESPY ( @ESPYS), the “If Not Me, Then Who” award by @TMFoundation , and inducted into the Broward County Wrestling Hall of Fame, to name a few. 20/23

In his honor and to continue his legacy, we established https://chrishixonathleticscholarship.com/ . To date we have awarded over $22,000 in scholarships to student athletes at the schools my Dad worked at and we hope to expand that further in the future. 21/23

Dad was one of the good ones, he loved his family and his students like they were his kids. He stared evil in the face and gave his life to protect them from that evil. For that, he deserves to have his legacy kept alive. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. 22/23

Happy Father’s Day Dad. Tell your Dad you love them today. It was the last thing I said to mine. 23/23