June 27, 2011|By Art Carey, Inquirer Columnist
Sometimes it pays to trust a rat.
At age 17, Frank Herrelko quit school and began working in a coal mine near his home in Western Pennsylvania to help his family pay off its debts. One day, during a break, he was throwing pieces of coal at the mine rats.
"Son, don't do that," his father said. The rats are there for a reason, he explained. They have a sixth sense about impending disaster.
Weeks later, Frank and his father were waiting for a coal car when Frank saw a rat scurry by and fetch her baby. Then the rat returned to retrieve a second baby.
"Let's get the hell out of here!" his father shouted.
They'd scrambled barely 100 feet when the roof of the chamber where they'd been working collapsed.
"That rat saved my life," Herrelko recalled the other day.
And what a life it's been, long and rich enough to warrant a book. In fact, Herrelko did just that. With the help of his son David, he wrote an autobiography that was published in 2008, Frank Herrelko: A Life in Full.
The book chronicles Herrelko's 34-year career in the Army and Air Force, from which he retired as a colonel. It includes such episodes as his tour of duty in Hawaii, where, as a young medic, he helped certify the health of prostitutes frequented by GIs. And the time he danced with Marlene Dietrich in Iceland. And the time he was chosen, because of his talent on the trumpet, to play "Ruffles and Flourishes" to welcome King George of England to the United States.
Along the way, the reader comes to know a man of many skills and interests (musician, dancer, marksman, woodworker) and immense vitality and enthusiasm for life. The same can be said of Herrelko at age 98.
All his life, he has taken care of his body by exercising and watching what he eats. In the 1980s, he learned about the senior Olympics and began competing at the state and national level in bowling and such track and field events as race-walking, the 50-meter dash, the high jump, long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus, javelin, and hammer throw.
In 2003, he appeared in Sports Illustrated as one of the "Faces in the Crowd." The magazine saluted him for winning nine gold medals (five in track and field, four in bowling) in his age group at the Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah, as well as a 10th as the overall track and field champion.