Hulk Hogan honored with flags at half-staff in Florida. Who else has DeSantis commemorated?

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On Aug. 1, American flags were lowered in the Florida Capitol and other locations around the state to commemorate the life of professional wrestler and longtime Floridian Hulk Hogan.
Gov. Ron DeSantis also declared the day to be "Hulk Hogan Day in Florida," honoring the iconic wrestler and pop culture force of nature who was born Terry Bollea and was living in Clearwater at the time of his death from a heart attack on July 24..
"Rest in peace, brother," DeSantis said in a social media post.
Hogan was a "larger-than-life personality (who) will be missed," DeSantis said in a release. "As the 'Hulkster,' he was an icon for many who grew up in the 80s and 90s as well as today. He was a true Floridian through and through."
Under Florida's flag protocol, flags are lowered to half-staff "for the death of a present or former State official, member of the Armed Forces from Florida that died while serving on active duty, or a Florida first responder that died in the line of duty."
Flags also may be lowered when the president orders it for the death of a major political figure or foreign head of state or dignitary, or to commemorate the victims of tragedies.
This year, along with the annual commemorative days, DeSantis has ordered the flag lowered in honor of:
Pope Francis
The victims of the Florida State University shootings in April
Walton County Sheriff's deputy William May, killed in the line of duty
Ormond Beach pilot Jonathan Campos, who died in the Washington, DC crash
Florida politicians including former governor Buddy MacKay, Miami City Commissioner Manolo Reyes, Senator Geraldine Thompson, and former state representative and U.S. Senator Lincoln Díaz-Balart.
He also ordered flags that had been lowered for former President Jimmy Carter's passing to be raised again during President Donald Trump's inaguration.
But DeSantis has also ordered flags lowered before for prominent Florida personalities, such as Hogan.
DeSantis orders flags lowered for Jimmy Buffett
In September 2023, flags were lowered in the Capitol and in Monroe County to honor the late, legendary laid-back Florida musician and business tycoon Jimmy Buffett.
Few people embodied the Florida lifestyle more than Buffett, who sang about kicking back with a margarita for a lazy day by the water and also fought to protect manatees in the state. Over the years, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter headed a multi-billion-dollar empire of Margaritaville-themed stores, hotels, luxury resorts, water parks, casinos and retirement villages.
DeSantis ordered flags lowered from 5 p.m. Sept. 7 to 5 p.m. Sept. 8, because, in the words of the song, "it's always five o'clock somewhere."
Florida honors Aerospace Hero Col. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr.
Col. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr. was a Florida native who served in the U.S Air Force for 29 years and spent 11 months as a prisoner-of-war in a North Vietnamese prison before going on to break multiple aviation records including the highest skydive (which held from 1960 until it was finaly broken in 2012) and becoming the first man to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon in 1984.
Kittinger died in December, 2022, at the age of 94. DeSasntis ordered flags to half-staff on Jan. 28, 2023.
Flags lowered for FSU coach Bobby Bowden
In August 2021, DeSantis ordered flags lowered to "honor the memory of Bobby Bowden and his impact on our nation and state."
The late Florida State University football coach, who died at 91, coached 34 seasons at FSU, winning two national titles (1993 and 1999) and 377 games altogether. Bowden played quarterback himself at Samford (then called Howard College) from 1949 to 1952, earning All-America honors. He later served as head football coach at his alma mater from 1959 to 1962.
Florida honors right-wing radio icon Rush Limbaugh
DeSantis' most controversial flag proclamation may have been in 2021, when he ordered them lowered for the death of conservative media icon Rush Limbaugh.
The provocative Palm Beach radio personality is credited with kicking off the current widespread conservative media industry with his bombastic and wildly popular radio show. His passing was widely mourned by conservatives, but critics brought up his history of ridiculing people with disabilities such as actor Michael J. Fox, and his racist, homophobic and anti-women comments.
In a statement, DeSantis praised Limbaugh for having an ability to 'connect with his listeners across the fruited plain — the hard-working, God-fearing and patriotic Americans who were and are the subject of derision and ridicule by the legacy media.'
In Limbaugh's home county, some Palm Beach County officials rebuked the governor for honoring what then-County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay called an "incredibly divisive" person who "hurt many people with his words and actions."
Then-Agriculture Commissioner and current Democrat state chair Nikki Fried told offices under her control to disregard the order because the state's flag protocol is for tragedies and the deaths of well-known public officials and active-duty military members or law-enforcement officers.
"Lowering to half-staff the flag of the United States of America is a sacred honor that pays respect to fallen heroes and patriots. It is not a partisan political tool," Fried said in a statement. "We will not celebrate hate speech, bigotry and division ... Lowering the flag should always reflect unity, not division and raising our standards, not lowering them."
Two years later, Fried called on DeSantis to lower the flags for Jimmy Buffett, calling him a "true Florida icon."
When is it appropriate to lower the American flag?
There are certain commemorative days when it is customary to lower the flag to half-staff:
Fallen Law Enforcement Officers (typically a day in April)
National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Day (typically a Sunday during Fire Prevention Week in May)
Peace Officers Memorial Day (May 15, unless that day is also Armed Forces Day)
Memorial Day (last Monday in May, from sunrise to noon)
Patriot Day (Sept. 11)
Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (Dec. 7).
Under DeSantis, Florida has also lowered flags every year as a mark of respect for the victims of some of the state's tragedies:
Marjory Stoneman Douglas Remembrance Day (Feb. 14): To honor the 17 victims of the 2018 Parkland shootings.
Pulse Remembrance Day (June 12): To commemorate the victims of the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016.
Naval Air Station Pensacola Remembrance Day (Dec. 6): To commemmorate the three U.S. Navy sailors killed and the victims injured in a 2019 terrorist attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola.
Do flags fly at half-mast or half-staff?
On ships and at naval stations ashore, flags are flown at half-mast.
On shore, flags are flown at half-staff.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Hulk Hogan honored with half-staff flags. Before him, Buffet, Limbaugh
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