The Post and Courier ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Saturday , May 6 , 2006 . 3 F The Lords of the Ring Citadel cadet inspired by uncle’s legacy BY ROB YOUNG The Post and Courier im Tarkenton, Citadel Class of J1964, guitarist, soldier, friend, strong and true, would be 64 this year. He died in Vietnam instead, leaving behind a mother who couldn’t stop crying, a father who blamed himself and a 16- year-old kid who simply missed his brother. His class ring left a legacy. A yearbook photo shows him in uniform, the band protruding beneath a white glove. Another wears it now as a vestige, a tribute to the man, his service, their blood. Truly, the decoration is an un- necessary reminder. A mirror suffices. Check the hairline, eyes, complexion and attire. Chase Tarkenton resembles his uncle, right down to the ring. “When you’re wearing your uniform, you’re representing not just your school, but you’re representing a lineage of people before you,” Chase says. “Wear- ing his ring adds to that.” Chase, 23, graduates from The Citadel today, though he con- siders himself a member of the junior class. He attended another GRACE BEAHM/STAFF university as a freshman before Chase Tarkenton has honored his uncle, a soldier who died in Vietnam, by wearing his 1964 Citadel class ring. transferring to the school, where he endured the rigors of knob rests among the keepsakes. He was the ultimate ghost year with the Class of 2007. Chase grew up with the memo- knob, a nickname given to first- Stripped of comfort and iden- ries and stories, visiting The year, gung-ho cadets, the ones tity, Chase sweated and struggled Citadel as an eighth-grader with who blend in seamlessly. His beside this crew. Upperclassmen his family. He watched a mili- company thought the same, re- broke them, then built them. tary dress parade and traced his warding Chase by selecting him They grew up together, like other uncle’s name on a Summerall as its top knob. knob classes. Chapel plaque, reserved for ca- Most cadets get class rings their dets killed in action. The school, An honor final year at the school. Chase and the challenge of attending, The Citadel ring has scarcely chose not to wear a 2006 ring compelled him. changed through the years. Like because it lacks meaning. His “It’s like being that little kid. the institution, its symbolism loyalty lies with his class. You’re standing on the edge endures. “It’s a symbol for going through of the deep end on the diving It forms a circle, attaching the four years of hell, especially board,” Chase says. “You’re school, its graduates — both the freshman year,” says Eason scared to death, but you still young and old, and in this in- Chapman, who graduated with want to jump.” stance, one family. Jim Tarkenton. “You had to work He started preparing for The PROVIDED Jim died before his brother together to get through it. The Citadel in high school, play- Jim Tarkenton’s relatives and married; the uncle never knew only friends you had were your GRACE BEAHM/STAFF ing lacrosse and football, doing classmates knew him as a his nephew, though his former freshman friends.” Chase Tarkenton points out his uncle’s name on a Summerall push-ups and sit-ups nightly. handsome, diligent young classmates mind the gap. Still, in keeping with Citadel Chapel plaque, which is reserved for cadets killed in action. The summer following his senior man. He died in Vietnam They make yearly donations to tradition, Chase wanted a ring. year, he went on five- and six- at age 25, three years after the school in Jim’s memory, and His father, Scott Tarkenton, some in Korea, then volunteered mile runs, waking up early to graduating from The Citadel. Chapman even visited Chase his understood, and made an offer. for Vietnam. Jim felt obliged, avoid the heat. He wore combat first year at The Citadel, arriving Wear Jim’s, he said. his brother Scott remembers, boots in the evenings for other del. He placed a school sticker on from his home in Florence. because so many others tried to jogs, emulating cadet training. his car to remind him and set his “When I heard Chase was ‘Tark’ avoid service. Pain developed in his left leg, computer’s desktop background there, I had to go see him,” Chap- Jim’s ring serves as more than In his last letter home, Jim but Chase persevered until it to show cadets marching in a man says. “Jim was a special an heirloom; it’s a gift. wrote that if a soldier survived grew unbearable. A scan revealed dress parade. person, a special friend of mine. I It allows Chase to negotiate the the first six weeks, his chances a crack in his bone where blood He wanted to return, making still think about him a lot.” distance between them. of surviving the tour were pretty had begun to pool. The verdict: arrangements to transfer after Through Chase, his father He gives campus tours as a good. a stress fracture. If he continued his freshman year. He started also connects with his brother’s public affairs officer, showing He died March 19, 1967, rough- to run, doctors told him, the leg training again, and once more, friends, discovering new details visitors the ring, describing his ly 1½ months after arriving in would snap. he felt familiar pain. A visit to an and stories, combining their rec- uncle. Vietnam. Jim’s company com- His injury forced The Citadel to orthopedist exposed the cause — ollections with his. He speaks to Jim’s old friends mander had taken leave, placing deny him admission for liability a collapsing arch, which caused “They’re not bad memories,” and classmates, searching them Jim in charge. His troops came concerns just days before enroll- the fracture. Scott says. “They’re just sad out at Citadel functions. They’ll under sniper fire, and Jim ac- GRACE BEAHM/STAFF ment. Chase broke down. Overweight and out of shape, memories.” tell him about “Tark,” a fun-lov- companied a foot patrol to flush Jim Tarkenton’s nephew now “I was in hysterics. I had Chase faced a decision. He real- Chase will return to the school ing, handsome cadet, about the out their attackers. It was an wears his ring. Citadel flags, pennants up in my ized if he told The Citadel of his in October to get his own ring in Corvette he drove, how he loved ambush. A command-detonated room,” he says. “I ripped every- injury, it would again refuse him a ceremony alongside the 2007 his guitar, Elvis Presley and folk Claymore mine exploded, killing settled on a career. thing off the walls, flipped over admittance. He never made the class. But unlike his uncle, he songs. many in the group. “That took a toll on him,” Scott chairs in my room. I was about to call. chose not to go into the military, They’ll tell him about the time Jim was 25. says. put a hole in the wall.” “I said let’s do it,” he recalls. “If opting instead for a career in real a few classmates dragged a 12- His death left their mother Chase attended East Carolina it breaks, it’s not meant to be.” estate. foot alligator into the barracks, distraught and led their father to Postponement University in Greenville, N.C., He wore custom orthotics, No matter. Jim’s ring completes how it crept near Jim’s door. question himself. Jim came from Scott calls to mind his brother as a last recourse, enjoying sur- breaking them in during what a link begun a generation past. “Jim started playing guitar,” a military family. His dad fought and family from his home in Ra- roundings different from The cadets call Hell Week, a brutal “He took pride in his uniform. Chapman recalls. “He hoped the in World War II and Korea, leigh. Jim’s senior year portrait Citadel’s spartan environment. indoctrination to knob year. He He did his job,” Chase says.” I noise would get him to leave.” eventually retiring as a colonel. hangs on a wall. His engraved He walked to Krispy Kreme and shed his excessive weight within feel like I’m the same way. It’s Sometimes, like his father, they Scott, too, would go on to attend lighter, recovered incredibly Wendy’s, and went out in the the month. been a real honor to wear it.” might even tell Chase about 1st Texas A&M and spend seven enough nearly two years after his evenings to bars and clubs. “I was getting yelled at. I was Lt. James C. Tarkenton III. years in the Army. death by one of his pallbearers, He gained 20 pounds. sweating my guts out,” Chase Rob Young can be reached at He fulfilled a two-year com- Their father had encouraged an Army major who found it on a “I was a complete slug,” he says. says. “This was what I’d been 937-5518 or ryoung@postandcou- mitment to the Army, serving Jim to stay in the service until he dead North Vietnamese soldier, But he still thought of The Cita- waiting for.” rier.com. Van Zandt, ‘The Sopranos’ consigliere, out to save garage rock BY FRAZIER MOORE Silvio: Lifelong friend of Tony ... Tony for the audience. For a series His two-hour weekly radio picture that in your mind and you ’n’ roll back on the radio.’ And, Associated Press probably the only person who’s not where characters are painfully ministry is “Little Steven’s Un- got it.” sure enough, everybody turned afraid of him and can be honest dispensable, Silvio is as vital as derground Garage,” which he pro- “Underground Garage” reflects me down.