Looking up into the Missouri sky in the late 1920s, George W. Hickman, Jr. knew at age three that he wanted to be an airman.

“Gee, I wish I could see that airplane,” Hickman said, hoping that the airplane would fly down to him so he could see it and play with it. He recalled how he had no idea how big that plane actually was.

A few years later, Hickman collected Kellogg’s cereal box tops and sent them in for a balsa wood airplane model. He sat down with his father and each made an identical half of the model airplane before assembling the entire aircraft. Taking the completed and ready-to-be-painted plane into the living room, Hickman set the model in a chair, just so he could “idolize” his work. His mother, coming home from a long day at work and a trek to the grocery store entered the house with three large sacks of groceries in her arms. Hickman described his mother as “tired and out of breath” before she went over to the chair, turned around and sat directly on his airplane.

Hickman heard it crack.

“It was if I had been the airplane and she sat on my chest. ... I was heartbroken,” Hickman said.

He didn’t give up his dream of the model airplane despite that heart-wrenching setback. A few weeks later, as he was riding around the neighborhood on his bicycle, Hickman noticed a model airplane shop. Picking out a model just like the one he’d sent off to Kellogg’s for, Hickman sat down and, without the help of his father this time, managed to put together and actually paint his balsa wood airplane.

Hickman studied the different ways the plane moved, from left to right, or a glide compared with a dive. And when he’d had enough, he wanted to take the plane down in style.

“I made it look just like the movies, ... the movies with World War I airplanes.” Hickman said as he described winding up the “rubber band engine,” striking a match in one hand before lighting the tail. “I let it go,” he said, “It was just like the movies!”

The balsa wood plane went down in flames as the fire spread from tail to nose.

“It was a thrill because it was like I’d really done something,” he said. “Look at what I did.”

Hickman’s love for airplanes did not cease and he continued building models, which grew as he did; eventually he was building models that had gasoline engines.

But airplanes weren’t his only hobby growing up. In high school he participated in everything from track to choir.

“My high school was the first all-black high school west of the Mississippi River,” he said. “The teachers groomed us to be the best that we could be. [They] enlightened us that we didn’t have to take a back seat to anyone.”

In July 1943, Hickman began his service in the U.S. military, specifically the Army Air Corps. He attended the college training detachment (CTD) at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama which he described as, “a black, segregated school.”

His time as a Tuskegee Airman was a brief moment in his life story, only serving as an aircraft engine and instrument specialist until February 1946.

Hickman recalled that when he used to walk through town wearing his uniform, people would often spit on him and push him into a ditch.

Currently, Hickman works at the UW Legends Center and as an usher for almost every major sport.

Lesle Gallimore, head coach of the UW women’s soccer team has known Hickman for 15 years.

“Getting to know George has been one of the best ‘history’ lessons of my life. To hear how he grew up, and to come to understand what it was to be one of the Tuskegee Airmen and then to still face the racial prejudices that he and his comrades faced is amazing to me,” Gallimore wrote in an e-mail. “It’s not surprising, but it’s amazing to see how someone who faced so much negativism grew to become such a positive person is truly inspirational.”

Last month, Hickman traveled across the country with his grandson to see the inauguration of President Barack Obama. He was one of more than 300 former Tuskegee Airmen invited to witness the inauguration. He was able to attend thanks to the efforts of both athletes and employees of the athletic department who raised money for the trip.

“I was responsible for collecting the money, and almost every person who handed me money said how much they love George, and how they were happy to help with this effort,” said Assistant Athletic Director of Internal Communications Liz McFarland in an e-mail.

Despite the bitter cold, Hickman still brought back a realization of change and hope.

“The inauguration was much more than I ever thought,” Hickman said with a hopeful and bright smile. “I received so much gratification that it made me feel like, in spite of the harshness of segregation prejudice hatred, that the change witnessed in Washington, D.C. was like a lifting upward of misery; the beginning of heaven on Earth.”

McFarland had similar sentiments.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to do something special for someone who has a special ... place within our department,” McFarland said. “Not only that, but it gave me the opportunity to talk more with him than I am used to doing and to hear more of his stories.”

Hickman mentioned ‘Generation O’ as he told a story of a plane ride from New York to Chicago where he met a young man who had participated in Obama’s campaign. Hickman said the young man was so excited about the change the world had in store and that it was an inspiration and wake-up call to him.

“It’s like an umbrella of ignorance, a veil of ignorance has been lifted.” Hickman said, when describing how he’d been missing the day-to-day changes in society.

He has much hope and passion for this life.

“I know the days are going to be better,” Hickman said. “I’ve been blessed to live this long and see this change.”

His influence on people around him has made an impact in peoples’ lives.

“He is a man who has had so many interesting experiences in his life that it’s worth slowing down when you come through the doors just to pick up on one of his little ‘nuggets’ of wisdom each day,” Gallimore said. “He grew up deciding that he would always treat people the way in which he wanted to be treated, and I’ve really never witnessed someone live by the Golden Rule as honestly and consistently as George does.”

Hickman thanks the UW for allowing him “to appreciate the love, faith and pleasures of living,” he said. “I know what it is to hurt, and I know what it is to feel good. I have a love for people.”

Reach reporter Ella Williams at features@dailyuw.com.