Today’s Wellness Check is with Rory Fanning, who has many extremely interesting stories to tell. Listen here!
Rory and Brad met about a decade ago through Rick Telander, who walked with Rory in the Arizona desert while Rory was trekking across the country to raise money for his fallen Army Ranger comrade and former Arizona Cardinal Pat Tillman. Rory enlisted in the Army after Sept. 11 because he felt it was the patriotic thing to do.
After spending time serving in Afghanistan, Rory grew very unhappy with the United States’ war effort and became a war resistor. Most of his leaders and fellow servicemen felt he was a disgrace but Tillman was very supportive.
Shortly after Tillman was killed by supposed “friendly fire,” Rory was discharged. He tried to take up a “normal life” as an investment banker, but found it unfulfilling and decided to walk across the United States to raise money for the Pat Tillman Foundation and to raise awareness of Rory’s war resistance movement.
In addition to that amazing accomplishment, Rory spends time talking classrooms and other groups to share experiences from his time in the military.
Brad and Rory also talk a bit about Rory’s thoughts on Colin Kaepernick’s protests and the protests of other sports figures in history.
Rory is also a big Cubs fan and talks about how he’s able to enjoy the team even though he might not exactly agree with the politics of its ownership.
Rory now works and writes for Haymarket Books. Among the many titles they’ve published are Craig Hodges memoir “Long Shot: The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter” and Scoop Jackson’s book “The Game is Not a Game: The Power, Protest and Politics of American Sports.”
Rory is also a woodworker, so he and Brad talk a bit about that and much more.
Follow Rory on Twitter.
