Tulsa Rotary Club Honors 2017 Police Officer, Firefighter Of The Year

Tulsa's Rotary Club honored its 2017 picks for Tulsa police officer and firefighter of the year.

Both the firefighter and the police officer got their calling a little later in life, but when they got that call to service, to duty, they answered.

For Detective Chad Moyer, it was watching the towers fall on 9/11 and he decided to join the military even though he didn't start basic training until his 30s.

Moyer served in Iraq and Afghanistan, earning a Purple Heart after being injured in combat.

He has seen fellow soldiers struggle to transition back to civilian life.

One man Moyer served with got addicted to drugs and arrested several times; Moyer even arrested him once but was then able to get him into rehab with the help of Warriors for Freedom and other groups. 

That man has now been sober for a year and is getting his master’s degree.

"These guys put their life on the line. To see them struggle like that doesn't seem right. These guys get looked over a lot. I felt I needed to do something," he said.

Firefighter Greg McCourt was project manager for a printing company when he came up on a wreck and saw firefighters working to save lives, so he decided to become a firefighter and joined the academy when he was 37.

About that time, he met a young burn victim named Cheyenne and took her under his wing, inviting her to their graduation, going to her birthday party, going to her school when she was being bullied for the special clothing she must wear, to show that firefighters have her back, and then to burn camp to show she's not alone.

"One of the things we did was take her for a ride in one of the training ladder trucks and she got to toot the horn, which made a big impact. She finally felt important," McCourt said.