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Sig Borkoski ’63 graduated high school in 1958 and immediately began working in an insurance company’s mail room. If you had told him then that he would end up going to college, joining the military, and eventually spending the past decade-plus as a volunteer with the Lowcountry Foundation for Wounded Military Heroes, he would have hardly believed you.

“I’m in the mailroom, high school degree, and this one man pulls me over. He says, ‘You seem pretty sharp and bright. Why don’t you go to college?’” recalls Borkoski, who remembers thinking that it was a good idea. His sister, Marie, had gone to Douglas College in New Jersey, and told him that it was indeed a good idea and “pushed me to go to college.”

Now that the wheels were turning around this idea, he connected with a friend in a nearby town who had family that attended Norwich. “I talked to him, and he said it’s tough, but you come out a better person,” says Borkoski. “Somehow I got the application on my own at 17 and sent it in – and the funny part is, I never applied to any other schools.”

His lone application was accepted and now he needed to get himself to Northfield. “My father said he couldn’t take off from his work at the butcher shop, so I paid a high school friend to drive me up there in his old beater truck,” says Borkoski. “He dropped me off and said, ‘I have to go back now.’” Borkoski handed him his $10 in gas money, and his friend began his return trip.

“I’ll never forget,” says Borkoski, “My friend who drove me up to school had a beard, and the first thing I got asked was, ‘What are you, a hippie?’ I said, no, that I wasn’t a hippie, but that got me off on a bad foot – and I was assigned to their company!” His life at Norwich moved quickly, as he ascended through the ranks of cadet corporal, sergeant, and cadet captain of E Company prior to graduating as a Distinguished Military Student.

Before he knew it, Borkoski was commissioned into the Army as a first lieutenant. He made his way around the globe during his time in the Army while he was assigned to the European Command at the Berlin Brigade in Germany. After three years there, he rotated home to the United States where he served seven more years in the U.S. Army Reserves as he began to find his civilian life and career, mainly in sales and human res“And then we have folks like Sig who are not committee leaders, but volunteers nonetheless,” says Spicer. “Our volunteers probably number, conservatively, about 150 people. They stuff golf goodie bags, escort veterans for the day, or whatever else is needed.”ources.

Borkoski and his family eventually found himself at home in the Bluffton, South Carolina, community of Hampton Hall as life moved along. Here, he would meet a handful of people who would share his spirit of service and form bonds that would last for years; one of which would be Russ Spicer, the future CEO of the Lowcountry Foundation for Wounded Military Heroes.

The Spicer family moved to Bluffton in 2008. “Shortly after we moved here, General Weisman and his wife who were friends of ours from Virginia came down to visit,” says Spicer. He and retired Army Lieutenant General David Weisman, like many in the local community, spent much of their time on the golf course. Throughout their conversations between swings, LTG Weisman encouraged Spicer to do something productive during retirement. “He said, ‘You can only play so much golf. We need to make sure that the veterans in this generation receive more support than we did when we returned from Vietnam.’”

The idea was fresh in their minds when things started falling into place. “Believe it or not, later that day, we ran into a friend named Jim Miller, and his son, MSG Todd Nelson,” says Spicer. “And Todd, at that time, had about 30 surgeries as a result of his military service.”

Nelson’s wellbeing became the spark that lit the kindling. The flame grew quickly, and before long, Borkoski was attending a meeting in the neighborhood’s clubhouse to smooth out details and source volunteers. “I said, ‘Hell, I was an officer, a lieutenant,’” says Borkoski. “And more than that, I understand wounded heroes; I didn’t serve in combat, but even I have seen enough or heard enough through my service. I was committed to help.” The very next year marked the foundation’s inaugural golf tournament.

“Sig has been a volunteer with us for a long time, from the very beginning. He has been an instrumental volunteer,” says Spicer. “We take pride in the fact that we are an all-volunteer organization; nobody in our organization has ever received a check or payment for anything.” The group is growing by the year and helmed by a seven-person board of directors and nine committees led by 14 volunteer committee chairs, ranging from auctions, to donations, to media relations, and beyond.

“And then we have folks like Sig who are not committee leaders, but volunteers nonetheless,” says Spicer. “Our volunteers probably number, conservatively, about 150 people. They stuff golf goodie bags, escort veterans for the day, or whatever else is needed.”

Borkoski has consistently volunteered his services the past 13 years by serving as an escort for the wounded heroes through their day out. Upon the heroes’ arrival, he is found alongside a group of other volunteers awaiting them at the entrance. “As they show up, each of us greets them, serves them coffee, and all that kind of stuff,” he says. “We get them in a golf cart, and at the assigned time, we pack up and take them to the driving range where they can – if they want to – start playing golf. We want this to be a fun day, not just sitting around and hearing speeches; we want to do something for them.”

Spicer echoes his sentiment. “The kickoff and national anthem start the day around 11:30, but we have our speakers and everything at the end,” he says, highlighting that the foundation aims to serve the heroes, not just recognize them. “I would classify our group of volunteers as people who want to serve rather than be served,” says Spicer. “That’s the one common thread within our community.”

Around 10 years ago, the foundation added a clinic to the event that is administered by students from a local golf college, the Professional Golfers Career College. “They’re seniors at this golf college and are going to be Professional Golf Association (PGA) pros,” says Spicer. “We take the heroes back for an hour of instruction because some folks have never swung a golf club before, while others are accomplished golfers.”

Once the heroes have gotten some swings out of their system, Borkoski and the crew of escorts load up into the golf carts and begin driving to the front of the community’s golf facility for opening ceremonies. “The highlight of the opening ceremonies is that each year over these past 13 golf events is that we’ve had the Special Forces Association Parachute Team jump in,” says Spicer. “That usually includes one active-duty guy, but a lot of them are already retired and still jump. They pop smoke and jump from about 10,000 feet, and the last jumper has an American flag that is huge.”

Borkoski has recently enhanced the ceremony by recruiting a bagpiper and two drummers to join. “They drummed back to where the wounded heroes were just finishing some golf, and then we had a procession led back to the opening ceremonies by the piper and drummers,” says Borkoski, adding that the combination of the piper, drummers, and parachutists lining a fairway green provides a unique sense of “atmosphere and tension.”

The ceremony moves quickly, keeping the foundation’s promise of giving the heroes a day of golf and fellowship. “We don’t play golf as escorts, they play golf,” says Borkoski. “They have a nice time playing 18 holes, trading stories with each other, and what have you.”

The golfers are usually done in a few hours. Through his years of escorting the heroes, Borkoski has developed a consistent schedule to fill the time between golf and the evening’s activities. “I escort them back to my house and treat them to a beverage if they’d like one and offer them a shower,” he says. “After that, we reconvene at the clubhouse.”

Once at the clubhouse, supporters like the involved charities and keynote speaker have a chance to address everyone in attendance. “Sometimes we’ll have a presentation about a mortgage-free home or a scholarship if the recipient is there playing golf that day,” says Spicer. “The most important part of the mission is to ensure our special guests, the wounded heroes, that their service and sacrifice will not be forgotten.”

Offering visible support for the heroes has been a crucial part of the organization’s mission. Though, they could not offer support to the heroes without finding supporters of their mission. “Bullet point number two is raising funds through our sponsors and donors,” says Spicer. “An auction is part of the night, but it is not the focal part. The focal part will always be ensuring these servicemen and servicewomen that attend are comfortable and confident that their service and sacrifice will not be forgotten.”

Behind the scenes, volunteers like Borkoski have spent time procuring items to be sold in the fundraising auction. The foundation’s event has made a name for itself in the local community, and the auction plays host to supportive community members who bid on a variety of items. “This is part of how we raise money,” he says. “It’s not just ‘Oh, here’s a donation of $1,000.’ We generate enthusiasm; golfers and community members are putting their hands up and buying things.”

“We give 100% of what we collect,” says Borkoski, highlighting that the organization tries to cut down on overhead costs to ensure sizeable donations to their causes. “If we need food, we contact local grocery stores. They donate the lunch, which is very expensive to do.”

“We once had a lofty goal of trying to raise $25,000 to support combat wounded service men and women,” says Spicer of their very first event, but what was once a lofty goal has become a drop in the bucket. “Our upcoming golf event will be our 14th that we’ve held in our years of existence, and we have now donated $2,289,000.”

The Lowcountry Foundation for Wounded Heroes has worked alongside the PGA Tour’s military outreach program, Birdies for the Brave, since it was born in the neighborhood clubhouse all those years ago. The foundation has raised and donated more than $2 million in that time, in which these donations have been passed on to individual charities tied to Birdies for the Brave and the Lowcountry Foundation for Wounded Heroes. All parties involved have agreed to target the donations to Wounded Heroes located in, or connected to, the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry area.

Additionally, the group has sponsored 33 dogs through K9s for Warriors as their largest supporter, offered seven scholarships through the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, and sponsored 11 homes through the Military Warrior Support Foundation; all three groups are associated with Birdies for the Brave.

Borkoski has fostered a strong affinity for the foundation for nearly a decade and a half now. “Russ came back from Vietnam as a chopper pilot. We should imagine he saw lots of stuff; we know wars,” he says. “We all see this. Todd was the family member of someone who lived here. We looked at him and said, ‘He needs help.’”

“When people see that, you realize that there are those out there that really have a hard time acclimating physically and mentally once they come home from combat,” says Borkoski. “They have a problem – PTSD, one leg or arm, or have a situation because of combat. When I see these soldiers, it bangs on my heart and I want to keep doing this.”

This story was previously published in the spring 2025 edition of the Norwich Record.