Down to his final semester as a college student, Dalton Rigdon was eager to reach the finish line, but also a little unsure if he was finishing the right race.
Being a chiropractor was a well-established legacy in his family, with eight family members already practicing their craft throughout West Texas.
Like any red-blooded American young boy, though, Rigdon had long dreamed of a heroic profession when he got old enough – firefighter, police officer, solider. Not that chiropractic work didn’t have its element of heroism: The ability to help heal a person’s body. Just not the same sizzle.
During his career as a Texas Tech receiver, Rigdon watched Dominic Zuniga, the officer assigned to accompany Red Raider head coach Matt Wells wherever he went. On a road trip to Oklahoma State last season, Rigdon asked Wells if he thought Zuniga would mind if he asked him about his chosen profession.
That conversation led to more questions, a relationship that became more meaningful, several ride-alongs with law enforcement and eventually the decision to switch to a new career path.
Dalton, Texas Ranger.
“I was going to go into chiropractic because I wanted to stay around sports, especially this program, and maybe be a team chiropractor someday,” said Rigdon, who is now on track to graduate in December with a degree in sociology with an emphasis in criminal justice.
“It’s always been something in the back of my mind even when I was going through kinesiology courses to become a chiropractor. Criminal justice, profiling and just being able to help people in any way I can have always been something I was always really interested in. Just meeting with Zuniga and talking with him, made me realize that was something I wanted to do.”
As drastic as the sudden career change might seem, it’s not like law enforcement is a foreign concept in Rigdon’s extended family.
Besides the numerous chiropractors, there is a strong presence in public service – a grandmother (Judy Whitehead) who was a juvenile detective in Houston, Perryton and Canadian; an uncle (Nick Hale) who was in the Air Force; and another uncle (Keith Rigdon) who is in the Perryton Police Department and part of the SWAT team.
Now Rigdon would like to add to that part of the family legacy instead of the one that seemed to be his destiny for so long. The next step after graduation from Texas Tech is a six-month training program in Austin which will put him into the workforce as state trooper. That’s just the starting point for what Rigdon wants to eventually become a high-impact role with the ultimate goal of being a Texas Ranger.
“What really interests me the most is the chance to get into profiling and that kind of stuff,” Rigdon said. “Homicide investigations is definitely something that I really interested in, and I would like to look at being part of our Special Response Team (SRT). I want to do something where I can help as many people as I can.”
Hard to question Rigdon’s altruistic goals or his enthusiasm for his new and much different endeavor. But the transition from being a chiropractor to putting his life on the line every single day had to pass one more steep hurdle first.
Rigdon is a recent newlywed, so when he made the abrupt career change, taking Christina Rigdon’s feelings into account was at the top of his priority list.
Christina Rigdon is a lab technician at Texas Tech and her husband confessed that she “was not necessarily super pumped about it” when he told her what he was pondering.
“You think you're getting married to somebody who's going to do a normal 9-5 job and the most exciting thing that’s going to happen at the office is cracking some grandmother’s back, right?” Dalton Rigdon said. “Now, on the flip side, she’s married to somebody who is going to deal with a much more dangerous job, and it’s not all that glorious to think about your husband dodging bullets every day. But we talked about it, and she understands that I want to help people, so she’s fine with it now.”
To be clear, Rigdon’s wife wasn’t the only person who had to reconcile with how different the excitement of being a state trooper is from chiropractic work. He needed to be comfortable with his change as well.
Being a college athlete in prime condition lends itself to a notion of invincibility, and Rigdon is as fit as any player on the Texas Tech roster. But his relationship with Zuniga has the added benefit of understanding the realities of the path he is about to head down.
“I don't think you get into this kind of the profession without realizing what you’re potentially going to face every day,” Rigdon said. “If you're not truly willing to sacrifice that, I don't think you get into it to begin with because of the reality of it. You have to be willing to sacrifice if you believe what you’re doing is important.
“Being able to go and represent the state of Texas and being able to say that I protect the people of the state of Texas, that's the most gratifying thing I can ask for – loving what you do and just being fulfilled, it’s just an honor to be able to do that.”
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Randy Rosetta is the Managing Editor of RedRaiderSports.com
Follow on Twitter | @RandyRosetta or @RedRaiderSports
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