STOCKTON, Calif. — In his 77 years, Davis resident John Myers has worn plenty of hats.
"He taught martial arts for many years. He teaches law. He raced cars," said John's son Willie Myers. "He's driven an ambulance. He's been a combat veteran."
John follows his own path in life, and he’s almost done it all.
"A lot of us have bucket lists that are quite a bit different than John's," said his wife Kim Coontz.
His bucket list is almost all checked off, except for one decades-old dream
"Being a peace officer has been something I have wanted to do since I was a young man," said John. "I am obviously no longer young."
As they say, age is just a number and John proved that saying right Wednesday morning. During a ceremony at San Joaquin Delta College's police academy-- an institution nearly three decades younger than himself-- the law professor turned into a law enforcer.
"The mentality at my age was, 'I hope I can make it. I'm going to try to make it,'" said John. "And I was lucky and sort of by the skin of my teeth on some of those physical requirements."
Yes, physical requirements and all—John didn’t get any special treatment. His time in the academy lasted almost a year, starting with American River College.
"You have to get over a six-foot wall and run and do an obstacle course and drag a 165-pound dummy and run 500 yards as quickly as you can, and it's all timed," said John. "If you don't do it fast enough or you don't get over the wall, you're out of the academy."
He climbed that wall and kept running. The UC Law San Francisco professor was elected class leader, recognized with an award for his grit and even asked to speak at graduation.
The success in the classroom has even led to early success in the industry. While John plans to keep his job as a professor, he says he was offered a part-time role with the University of the Pacific police force which he intends to pursue if he passes a background check.
John could be living his dream on patrol by January.
"There are still many opportunities to do things that you didn't think you might be able to do. So get up, get off the couch. Get out and do it," said Myers. "It's a childhood dream come true."
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