MIAMI (WSVN) - Scott Tinkler was once the Florida Panthers equipment manager, saying one of his greatest memories was when the team won the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals.
Before he decided to work for the team in 1993, he was a tank driver for the Marines and even fought in Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
“I always use a lot of the Marine Corps structure within my own home. Not to make it militant but to instill some type of structure,” Tinkler said.
His son Rocky embraces his dad’s military background, but he said he wanted to do more for those who fought for our country after his first visit to a local veterans hospital.
“I see people that are just in a very unfortunate situation and they put their lives on the line for our country, and they come back and they’re just not in a good spot, physically or economically,” said Rocky Tinker.
While juggling the demands of high school and being the captain of Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School’s cross country team, Rocky made it his mission to help veterans at the VA and veterans who are homeless.
“I was like, ‘What can I do to help?’ and I would go down there every couple of months with the stuff I collected from my school, like canned goods, food, hygiene [items], clothing, all that stuff,” said Rocky.
He also set up a GoFundMe page to raise money.
“I’m very proud that he recognized the need for it and really went in there and made his own path and decided how he could help,” said Scott. “It wasn’t only dollars, it was getting other items and awareness, and that’s something that he did on his own.”
Rocky said he will not be joining the military like his dad.
He graduated high school with a 5.1 GPA and has an academic scholarship to Florida State University.
Rocky is also on the waitlist for Harvard University.
He still plans on helping veterans and leading by example in college.
“I’d like to recruit the younger people and say look to me as older and, you know, also my academic success as being sort of top of my class helped me get that reputation to lead the people,” Rocky said.
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