C H A R AC T ER •
Strengthening America From USAF Space Command BY AN N A D ER BY S H I R E ('9 0)
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RU CE H OLLYWO OD IS EN J OYING HIS DR E AM J OB in Washington D.C. as the Executive Director of the United States Air Force Space Command. Hollywood is a 1984 graduate of Southern Nazarene University. The first time Hollywood visited the Bethany campus he says, “I was home. It was just that feeling.” He transferred from Texas Tech in Lubbock and the 2nd floor of Snowbarger became home base. One of the important things he found at SNU was the incredibly strong support system. “The professors wanted to see you succeed. All the people around you wanted you to succeed. Young men don’t always make the best decisions, but one of the professors, or church leaders, or friends would step in.” He remembers a time when his good friend, Robert Canino, stepped in. “Robert probably doesn’t realize what he did, just him being him. At that moment I was down, he was a very calming reassuring friend.” Hollywood worked driving buses for Putnam City, and roofing, but one semester he couldn’t finish paying his school bill. “I did not know what I was going to do,” he recalls. The business office manager called Hollywood to the office and
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SNU MAGAZINE | Summer 2019
"ALL THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU WANTED YOU TO SUCCEED."
told him “Herman Plott (a friend’s father from Lubbock) just paid your bill. Welcome back to school.” It was that level of kindness, and the strength of those relationships, that still bears fruit in Hollywood’s life. “I am still in touch with friends from there. It was a great and amazing time.” After graduation from SNU, he joined the Air Force and had a great desire to become a pilot. He began training but suffered severe damage to his right ear that disqualified him from the program. After the initial disappointment, he was grateful to move on to the next thing—space training. By 2005 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel. He was gearing up for his annual move with his family when a heart attack stopped him in the parking lot of the Pentagon, suddenly changing his direction.
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