A memorial 5K will take place Saturday starting at the Bowers Stadium parking lot. The run is held in honor of Captain Rowdy J. Inman, the first Sam Houston State University ROTC graduate to die in combat.
“This run was established to commemorate the sacrifice that Captain Inman and other service members have made for this country’s freedom,” senior Criminal Justice major Caitlin Arrigali said.
Captain Inman served with the U.S. 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment out of Fort Hood during Operation Iraqi Freedom. A veteran of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Just Cause, Inman received many honors including the Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster, the Purple Heart and the meritorious service medal with oak leaf cluster.
Inman graduated from SHSU in 2000 as a major in Kinesiology and a minor in Military Science. He was commissioned as 2nd lieutenant soon after that.
“When it came to planning the memorial, a 5K just kind of felt like the right way to honor one of our own,” Cadet Arrigali said. “The military promotes health and fitness among its members and those involved, and this was our way of keeping that idea within our own event.”
This is the first year a 5K has been held in Inman’s honor. The run will be a 3.1-mile loop starting and ending at the Bowers Stadium parking lot. Sponsors will hand out refreshments and other items to runners and cadets, alumni or other volunteers.
Above all, Arrigali hopes that the inaugural Captain Rowdy Inman Memorial 5K run will serve as a reminder and a way of honoring all service members.
“When making the decision to serve, you are choosing to put the freedoms of others before your own personal wellbeing at some point,” Arrigali said. “Although not all service members may be on the forefronts of conflict, they have all at one point or another raised their right hand and sworn to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States,’ and that is something that should be recognized and remembered.”
The price to participate is $20 per person, which includes a t-shirt and snacks.
Flyers are posted around campus with QR codes that can be scanned in order to pull up a registration link on their phones. At the request of Inman’s wife, Shannon, there is a link discounted for high school students.
To register for the 5K, scan the QR code on this page, find a flyer around campus, or sign up directly by going to the Lowman Student Center mall area. ROTC members will have a table set up with a computer ready to sign people up on Tuesday and Wednesday.
