Unassailable greatness

How Tom Mullikin’s greatness has been achieved by bringing others with him

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.

What might we say about a great man (or a great woman) or greatness in general? Some say great men are born to greatness. I don’t buy that. In my experience with having been surrounded by great leaders my entire life, I’ve come to the conclusion that great men (in the purest definition) are neither born into greatness nor have they achieved greatness through unexpected circumstance. Though some might differ with me when it comes to Medal of Honor recipients and the like.

Most of the great men I’ve known have achieved their greatness through hard work, tenacity, a dogged refusal to retreat in the face of overwhelming obstacles or odds, and ALWAYS giving and putting others first: And frankly bringing them with you.

Take for instance, Dr. Tom Mullikin, who I’ve known for about 15 years and who I’ve moved in near circles with – through mutual friends and in paralleling circumstances – for about 40.

Much has been said about Mullikin’s being born with deformed feet and his parents being told he’d never walk. I won’t get into that here except to say he defied all the odds and the medical professionals, and he not only walked but ran – becoming an accomplished tennis player, a basketball coach, a U.S. Army combatives instructor, a Black Belt in Karate (ultimately earning a berth in the S.C. Black Belt Hall of Fame), a world-renowned explorer having hiked and climbed mountain ranges stretching across every continent on earth, achieving four (so far) of the world’s seven great summits, SCUBA diving in all of the world’s oceans, and having earned parachutist wings from numerous foreign military forces.

Greatness? You bet. But those are more-or-less symptoms if you will of his greatness; not the everyday work that has made him truly great. Mullikin’s greatness lies within his giving and figuratively carrying others on his back, often unknown and unsung.

The time and personal resources he has poured into his home state of South Carolina, and frankly the nation and the world is unmatched.

I won’t be able to touch on everything, and nobody wants to read a tiresome list anyway. But for a short-list example, there is and has been Mullikin’s tireless pro-bono work for and support of citizens living in the Republic of Fiji, the Republic of Moldova, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, and his helping lead a National Geographic expedition across a stretch of the Alaskan wilderness. That’s for starters.

Back home in South Carolina, Mullikin established the non-profit Global Eco Adventures and all of its free environmental enhancing programs including GEA’s Adventurer Club which introduces youth to the outdoors and develops within them a passion for outdoor adventure that carries over to their friends and family.

Mullikin has also conducted untold hours, days, and weeks for many years of free SCUBA training for unknown numbers of fledgling open-water divers. What else? He and his wife Virginia Ann regularly host lavish dinner parties honoring specific people and in support of worthy organizations. Mullikin has organized and led racial reconciliation events and statewide bus tours aimed at bringing disparate communities together. Mullikin has non-partisanly supported political candidates on both sides of the aisle with money, counsel, and the hosting of campaign events. He has organized military staff rides to historic battlefields, and he reengineered the historic S.C. State Guard (SCSG) into one of the finest search-and-rescue organizations in North America. Mullikin, by the way. became the two-star commanding general of the SCSG and has been said to be “the great sea change agent” of that now-352-year-old state defense force here in S.C.

Mullikin has for years supported U.S. military special operations forces and American military veterans. He led a record-setting statewide planting of 3.4-million loblolly pine tree seeds and saplings. He has organized cleanups from S.C. to Hawaii to the Galapagos for World Ocean Day. And for several years, his law firm has been the named sponsor of the annual Carolina Cup horseraces in his hometown of Camden wherein Mullikin year-after-year has hosted grand parties and celebrations surrounding the historic steeplechase event.

There is all of this and the day-to-day work and steering of his successful law practice, teaching at various universities, and carving out lots of time – when there is seeming little time to carve – for family. He manages his quality family time by involving his family in nearly everything he does.

In 2018, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Mullikin chair of the newly established S.C. Floodwater Commission – again pro bono work entirely – which included among other missions the first-ever installations of tech-smart artificial reef systems off the S.C. coastline to help in the tracking of storms, sea level rise, and other coastal monitoring operations.

All of which brings us to the third annual SOUTH CAROLINA SEVEN (SC7) expedition, founded by Mullikin and today jointly led by his GEA (also the S.C. Floodwater Commission) and the S.C. National Heritage Corridor (U.S. National Park Service).

A statewide, monthlong expedition led by Mullikin himself, SC7 involves a growing number of volunteers and participants – hiking, climbing, kayaking, rafting, and SCUBA diving – across South Carolina as they explore the seven named wonders of South Carolina and various on-trail and off-trail excursions in between. The seven designated wonders of the Palmetto State include Sassafras Mountain; the Jocassee Gorges; the Chattooga River; the Congaree National Forest; the Edisto River; the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto Basin – universally referred to as the ACE Basin; and Bull Island-Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge: “Each one a unique geographical treasure,” says Mullikin.

The expedition began July 1 in Oconee County with its initial leg through Oconee Passage. As of this writing, SC7 participants are winding their way across much of the ruggedly beautiful Upstate and will soon make a hard turn south toward central S.C. and the Midlands before concluding in Charleston, July 30, with a sizable smart-reef installation operation involving everyone from the S.C. Department of Natural Resources to retired Navy SEALs and former Marine Recon operators with FORCE BLUE and so many others.

An ever-expanding chorus of sponsors are involved in Mullikin’s SC7, including MUSC Health – the named presenting sponsor for SC7 2022 – the University of South Carolina’s Office of Research, Duke Energy, the S.C. Dept. of Agriculture, the U.S. Forest Service, cities, counties, and many more. In a word, phenomenal; and that’s not overreaching.

Who organized it all? Mullikin and a company of sterling leaders he found, befriended, recruited, and placed in key positions to help him navigate the proverbial SC7 ship from the mountains to the sea.

So getting back to greatness: How does one measure greatness in a man? Perhaps the better question might be, how does one acquire such greatness? The answer rests within the obvious example of Tom Mullikin, who has not only achieved great things on his own, but he has also (and always) shared those achievements with others and striven to bring everyone else with him across the goal-line. What’s his is yours, mine, and everyone else’s. That’s how Mullikin views the world, his work and everyone around him. It is who he is, and it’s who he has been for as long as I’ve known him.

– For more information about SC7, please visit – https://www.southcarolina7.com/.