Andy Heck named MPCC Alumni of the Year

ANDY HECK

NAMED MPCC ALUMNI OF THE YEAR

Andy Heck (‘67) is Mid-Plains Community College’s 2017 Alumni of the Year. Heck, now retired and living in South Carolina, is a former junior college All-American running back, professional football player and president of a major lighting manufacturer who also earned two Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam.

“Andy is a fine example of the quality of students that attend community colleges,” said MPCC President Ryan Purdy. “He took a chance coming to McCook, Nebraska from halfway across the U.S. to run track and ultimately play football. Andy credits his time at McCook as the catalyst to his successes in his life.”

Originally from Bergen, N.J., Heck was recruited in the early ’60s to run track at what was then known as McCook Junior College. However, he soon found himself on the football team after the school’s football coach noticed his speed and agility. Heck was named a junior college All-American running back during his time in McCook - recognition that caught the attention of major universities, including Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. According to a September 2014 Wake Forest Magazine article entitled, “The Thing He Carried,” written by Kerry M. King, Heck was equally attracted to Wake Forest because of its small size and strong academics. It wasn’t long before Coach Bill Tate signed him to the university’s football team as a replacement for Brian Piccolo. Piccolo went on to serve as a running back for the Chicago Bears. Heck ended up leading the Wake Forest team in rushing in 1965 and 1966 – also the year he won the team’s Most Valuable Player award. After two years at Wake, Heck headed north of the border to play professional football with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League. He rejected an offer from the San Diego Chargers in the process. Heck caught shrapnel in his back, arms and legs and was medevacked to U.S. Naval Hospital Guam. He didn’t know it at the time, but back on campus classmates were writing him get-well wishes. “Take a minute to send a Get Well message to WFU’s Andy Heck who was grievously wounded in Vietnam,” read a sign beside a scroll stretched out on the old information desk in Reynolds Hall. Upon completion and unfurled on a football field, the paper stretched from the end zone to the 35-yard line. Heck almost didn’t live long enough to see it. He was sent back to Vietnam a few months later, and the scroll made its way from Wake Forest to Heck’s mother.

Heck was back in Vietnam for only a month when he was wounded again, shot in the chest during a firefight near Hué. He earned two Purple Hearts as a result and still bears scars from the shrapnel. After he recovered, Heck was discharged from the Marines and returned home to New Jersey. He found a package from Wake Forest waiting for him. He’s never counted the number of names on the scroll, but guesses there must be close to 3,000, which would be almost everyone at Wake Forest in the spring of ’68. Andy eventually married, and he and his wife Marnie raised three sons. He went on to have a successful career with the International Paper Co. and became president of Sylvania Lighting US. Today, he and Marnie are retired and living on Pawleys Island, S.C.

“Andy is a fine example of the quality of students that attend community colleges,”

A year later, Heck was drafted into the U.S. Marine Corps. He landed in South Vietnam in January 1968 – one week before the Tet Offensive, a series of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout the country. Heck was severely injured during a night patrol in Quàng Nam Province when a Marine walking in front of him stepped on a booby trap.