FELIX "THE NIGHTHAWK" GILES: FROM SUBMARINER TO NASCAR TO MEETING ROSA PARKS TO CONGRESS!

The Veteran Experience Podcast with Judge Johnson

Greg Coker, retired Army CSM, and Judge Johnson have the privilege of interviewing Felix "The Nighthawk" Giles.
Giles, also know as the 'Nighthawk', was the first Black person in history to race the world famous Baja 1000 Offroad Desert Race in Baja, Mexico. This race is famous for it's grueling one thousand mile trek through the treacherous Baja Desert Pennisula, where nearly half of the field does not finish the race. For his effort, he was honored on the Floor of Congress by Congressman Louis Stokes (D) of Ohio and entered into the Congressional Record. After several years in the sport, Giles was seriously injured in an end-over-end crash where he received neck, spinal and heart injuries and has had a complete recovery.

The Nighthawk started his adult life with thirteen years in the United States Navy Submarine Service during the Cold War and the Viet Nam Conflict. His first job in the Navy was actually driving the submarine. His longest stint underwater without surfacing, was 85 days aboard a nuclear submarine. After attending SONAR School, he became a SONAR Technician and Naval Instructor. He was a member of the Nuclear Weapons Reliability Program, as well a participant with the Foreign Military Sales Team.

After the military, he worked as an Aerospace Engineer with several companies, most notable, Northrop as a Senior Systems Engineer on the B-2 Stealth Bomber Project by day and as a college professor lecturing in the fields of computer science and information systems by night.
Felix has met and talked with Rosa Parks. Ms. Parks said to him, "When I wouldn't give up that seat, I expected hostility from whites. What I didn't expect was what I received from blacks accusing me of rocking the boat."

Giles was a National Spokesperson for 'Race Against Drugs' a FBI sponsored program, where he was invited to the White House by President Bush to attend a conference on drug use prevention. He also had the privilege of meeting Rosa Parks.

During the unrest in Los Angeles in 1992, he devoted much of his time visiting schools in the Los Angleles Unified School District, speaking in his race suit, pleading for calm and encouraging the students not to get involved in the fray. His highly successful efforts also lead him to visiting area hospitals treating the riot injured. He has continued to speak in schools on subjects from violence to teen pregnancy. He has been recognized by governors, mayors, churches, special interest groups, as well as school systems and colleges across the country.

He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and has appeared in the Quantum Leap, Chicago Hope and U.S. Customs Classified television series, as well commercials, industrial projects and music videos.

Previously, he was qualified as a Tae Kwon Do Martial Arts Instructor and regularly participates in celebrity golf and tennis tournaments for charity.

In the near future, Felix will again be competing in the Baja 1000
Contact us at www.mejohnsonauthor.com or [e-mail] (Judge Johnson) and www.reachingnewheightsfoundation.com (CSM Coker)