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Chad Hennings, born and raised in a small town outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was just your typical country boy on the high school football and wrestling teams. By his senior year, Hennings was an  All-State in football and state heavyweight champ in wrestling. 

Hennings went on to graduate from the United States Air Force Academy in  1988 and eventually earned his A-10 fighter pilot wings by 1990. From 1991  and 1992, Hennings was deployed with the 92d Tactical fighting Squadron  and flew 45 missions to help aid in relief and humanitarian efforts in northern  Iraq. 

Following his promotion to Captain in 1992, Hennings decided to retire and pursue his football career while he still could, and joined the Dallas Cowboys roster — the team drafted him in 1988 even though he was set to  fulfill his military commitment. At first, Hennings thought it would be a  hard transition from the military to professional football, especially as an  older rookie, but he soon realized that wasn’t the case at all. Hennings was  able to prove how valuable his time in the Air Force was and the year he flew  his last mission in Iraq was the same year he played in his first Super Bowl  ever. That’s how fast life changed for Hennings. That’s who Hennings was to  outsiders looking in, but was that really who he was? According to Hennings,  what you do does not define who you are. 

Hennings continued on and said there are three phases we all go through in  life. In our first phase, we are trying to make a name for ourselves, and trying  to figure ourselves out as well. Then, our next phase in life is honing those  skills and growing, and the last stage in life is when we start to impact the  next generation.