Best-selling author Homer Hickam Jr. and the world famous Rocket Boys -- Jimmy O’Dell Carroll, Billy Rose, Roy Lee Cooke and Quentin Wilson-- will return to their hometown of Coalwood this Saturday for the 10th Annual October Sky Festival.
Other special festival guests will include Dr. Tom Jones, who will autograph copies of his book “Sky Walking”. Jones, a former astronaut, is noted for having flown on four space shuttle missions and leading three space walks to install the American Destiny Laboratory.
Drema Denver, widow of late actor Bob Denver of the television series “Gilligan’s Island” will be on hand to autograph her husband’s delightful memoir “Gilligan, Maynor and Me”.
Grace Corrigan, mother of Challenger Astronaut Christa McAuliffe will also attend the festival.
As always, the Rocket Boys’ return is anticipated to attract scores of visitors from across the U.S. and abroad when Coalwood-- at least for the day--will bustle with the vibrancy reminiscent of its heyday when coal was king and Hickam and his friends were involved in the antics that would make them household names for the millions of readers of Hickam’s beloved Rocket Boys book.
Through snow, rain and scorching heat, the festival has continued for a decade, a tribute to the tenacity of hope that the Rocket Boys story engenders.
“The author is always the last to know why a story appeals to readers,” Hickam said recently during a phone interview from his Huntsville, Alabama home. “I was already 55 years old when it hit. I didn’t anticipate it.”
For those unfamiliar with the modern literary and movie classic,” Rocket Boys/October Sky” is the true story of Hickam and his Big Creek High buddies who decide to build a miniature rocket to enter in the county science fair. Inspired by the Sputnik, the teenagers prevail against great odds and go on to win the local science fair and also the state and national competition. Entwined in the story are the personal struggles that the boys face at home, at school and in the community.
“The book speaks to people on many levels,” Hickam said. “Teachers love it. The book was used after the terrible events at Columbine High School to teach kids how to work harder and do better.
“People who’ve had problems with their parents love it. After reading the book, they’ll say, ‘I get it. I know now that my Dad loved me, though he never said it. I’m going to call my Dad and tell him that I love him anyway.’ It’s one of those miracles that occur.”
After graduating from Big Creek High in 1960 and VPI with a BS in Industrial Engineering in 1964, Hickam served as a First Lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry Division in Vietnam from 1967 - 1968. Later, as an aerospace engineer at NASA, he worked in spacecraft design and crew training. Throughout it all, he continued in his lifelong love of reading.
However, it wasn’t until after he returned from Vietnam that Hickam decided to pursue writing, his other love. It didn’t take long for Hickam’s scuba diving adventures to find their way into noted magazines and that led him to write “Torpedo Junction”, a military history best-seller published in 1989 by the Naval Institute Press.
“Rocket Boys” was written nearly a decade later, the result of a 1500-word magazine article that he authored about his three-years of misadventures with the Coalwood Missile Agency.
“People loved the magazine article and that gave me the idea to write the book. Writing my memoir was something that I had always wanted to do,” Hickam said. “I had already published a successful book about 10 years before that, but most people didn’t know it.”
Hickam laughed as he recalled an even earlier publishing venture.
“Roy Lee Cook and I were in the third grade when we decided to do a newspaper, The Coalwood News. We sold the papers for one cent apiece,” he said. “People were amused by them and wanted to see what we had to say. My teacher said then that one day I’d make a living as a writer.”
The fact that the school marm recognized his talent and potential then may have surprised the young Hickam, but in retrospect, the older and now wiser Hickam readily credits his parents and teachers for having the biggest impact on him during his formative years.
“If we’ve had success, we owe it all to our parents and teachers of that era who stayed the course and were such great role models to us,” he said.
Hickam said that he often reflects on his youth during monthly speaking engagements throughout the country.

“When I speak, I tell personal stories that are not necessarily in my books. I get people interested in other people, and then I share the values of the people who raised us. We were fortunate to have wonderful parents who took care of us and gave us a passion for education.”
But that doesn’t mean that his early life was free of conflict. Hickam’s books abound with composites of the conflicts and struggles drawn from many of the real characters he knew in his youth.
“My parents didn’t agree on anything, but they never thought of splitting up,” Hickam said. “When I was growing up, we only knew one kid whose parents were divorced and he wasn’t from here. He came to visit in the summer.”
Growing up in Coalwood, Hickam said, helped create bonds of friendship that have lasted a lifetime.
“We (the Rocket Boys) have known each other our entire lives,” he said. “We knew each other even before we started to school. The good part is that some time or other, either during one of the October Sky Festivals or when I’m somewhere signing books, one of the kids from Big Creek will come up to me. It’s amazing. Everyone has been so kind. I haven’t had one negative comment.”
Ever the writer, to date, Hickam has authored 10 books, any of which he’ll be happy to sign at the October Sky Festival Saturday. His next book, “The Dinosaur Hunter”, is due for publication next June. Moreover, Hickam has signed to do three more books after that, and is currently assisting Iranian-American dynamo Anousheh Ansari with her inspiring memoir, “Be the Change”.
Though that would be more than enough to tire most anyone, Hickam has additional projects in the works. He is collaborating with a number of others on “Rocket Boys the Musical”. A reading of the play has already been done in Huntsville, Alabama and another one is scheduled for early 2009 in New York. The ultimate goal, he said, is to perform the play on Broadway after it has made its rounds first through community theatres, colleges and high schools.
“I’m working on the script with Carl Tramon and about 30 to 40 other people are involved with (other parts of) it,” he said.
For a sneak preview of the play, check out rocketboysthemusical.com on Hickam’s website: www.homerhickam.com .
To relax, Hickam, an amateur paleontologist, searches for dinosaur bones, and he and his artist wife Linda scuba dive and work on their fixer-upper second home in the Virgin Islands.
“I also like to run three or four miles every day to keep fresh blood flowing to my brain,” he said. “I have to write every day because there’s always a deadline. I don’t like not to have a book going. It’s my passion. I can write in any situation, with the radio going or in the middle of remodeling the bathroom.”

ROCKET BOYS IN COALWOOD - Author Homer Hickam (Pictured in this old photo) and the world famous Rocket Boys will be in Coalwood this Saturday for the 10th Annual October Sky Festival. The festival runs from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. and will provide plenty of family fun for all.
In a recent phone interview, Hickam related, “I’m proud to be from McDowell County and recognize the folks who have worked hard to keep it going.”
In touching on his success, he added, “I’ve learned that it’s not about money and recognition. Ultimately, it’s about living a good life and doing the best you can every day. If you have empathy and live your life right, everything else will come with time.”