I feel like 2025 is going to be my year; my year to get some projects done and out there, things I’ve been working on for months, and in some cases, years. My book is done and during the fall semester I received what I hope is my last round of peer review edits before I revise and resubmit the manuscript to my publisher, the University of Colorado Press/University of Wyoming Press. I also have a law review article I’m revising and shopping around and a few other smaller writing projects. And I have some ideas that I don’t even want to talk about yet, projects still in the garage. For the first time in a few months, I feel like I can pursue it all. 

Last semester I took on a couple of extra courses along with a busy travel schedule. I love teaching, and it’s something I don’t ever want to give up. This spring semester I will have a reduced course load, so that’s part of my optimism and why I feel ready to produce, but I don’t want to lose track of my students, and I have many that I stay in touch with long after graduation. Some of my former students are now attorneys, police officers, highway patrolmen, college professors, professional basketball players, federal agents – and I’m proud of them all. I also have many student athletes in classes, which brings me to the topic I want to write about: the college transfer portal. 

While discussing the college transfer portal may not be related to my chosen blog themes of criminal justice reform and endurance sports, I will discuss it in the context of two of my former criminal justice students. Both were defensive lineman on the University of Wyoming (UW) football team – Jaylen Pate and Gavin Meyer. Before I get into my thoughts on the portal, I should make it clear that both Jaylen and Gavin were excellent students, and they both graduated from UW before transferring. Their reasons for transferring may be different, but they both worked their asses off while they were here, and they embraced UW and the community. Jaylen transferred to Northwestern, and Gavin picked the University of Southern California (USC) – two of the top academic universities in America, both with rich football traditions, particularly USC. 

Both men took advantage of the controversial transfer portal, which opened in October of 2018, allowing college student athletes to transfer schools without having to sit out a year. Not everyone likes it. “College football is rapidly changing and maybe not for the better,” Dirk Koetter said after announcing his retirement on Facebook following Boise State’s elimination from the College Football Playoffs (CFP). Koetter, a long-time coach and offensive coordinator at Boise State said, “We are behind right now in the NIL game. Our best players are being offered between 2 and 10 times what we can offer.”

The rules around Name Image and Likeness (NIL) have permitted college players to be paid since 2021. Looking elsewhere, the NIL money situation and transfer portal seems to be working beautifully for Notre Dame at the moment. The headline I read following the Fighting Irish’s recent CFP win proclaimed: “Notre Dame, buoyed by transfers, knocks Georgia out of CFP.”^[1] Without question, the new landscape in college football is benefitting some teams at the expense of others. But is that inherently wrong? Is it really any different than the way things have always been?

Why would a college athlete ever come to UW in the first place? With Gavin, it was the allure of the Wild West. “I fell in love with the wilderness and I will surely miss the outdoors and mountains that you do not get many other places.” He would like to work as a game warden or perhaps private security along with possibly coaching someday. Gavin credited UW with preparing him “exceptionally well” for both grad school and football. He was “developed inside and outside the classroom by so many dedicated and impactful people.” Meyer won Academic All-Mountain West honors in 2021 and 2022, majoring in Criminal Justice with a minor in Sociology. Gavin is currently obtaining a certificate in Gerontology from USC. 

Meyer is also declaring for the NFL draft and beyond football, he wants to travel and, “see new places I haven’t been able to go while playing college football.” This past season, Gavin had a successful year for the Trojans, starting for them at defensive tackle and in this article, earning high praise for leading the USC D tackles in snaps and QB pressures:

https://usc.rivals.com/news/dt-gavin-meyer-s-warrior-mentality-is-legacy-he-is-proud-to-leave-at-usc

Like Meyer, Pate is “full speed ahead with preparing for pro day in March. I’ve put together solid film over the last few years.” This past season, Jaylen also had a fruitful year, including a game against Purdue where he had 3 tackles for a loss. This is a nice piece about Pate in the Daily Northwestern:

https://dailynorthwestern.com/2024/10/01/sports/football-northwesterns-jaylen-pate-finds-fuel-in-his-process-strives-for-consistency/

Citing long term health concerns, Pate was quick to note that, “quite frankly playing football for long professionally has never been in my plans. In the immediate, I’ll have to figure out whether I still plan to attend law school or not.” 

Pate fondly remembers the “simplicity and peacefulness” of Wyoming. “It was easy to get away from a lot of things and I really just learned how to enjoy my own time, thoughts, and peace.” Jaylen also found both the academic and athletic transition to Northwestern easier than he expected. “At first coming to Northwestern, I felt as if someone like me didn’t have the ability to attend and do well. Until I finally got here and realized that it’s the exact same work that everybody else is doing, it’s just that at ‘elite schools,’ they do a better job of collecting the most driven individuals and the top talent.” 

In Jaylen’s case, he had been accepted to the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) law school, but they did not offer him a football scholarship. Northwestern on the other hand, offered Pate a football scholarship but their law school waitlisted him. So, Jaylen went to Northwestern on a football scholarship and was accepted to the Northwestern Master’s of Public Policy and Administration program.

As prison education is near and dear to me, it was heartwarming to see that Pate also became involved in the Northwestern Prison Education Program, serving as the reentry chair. My colleague at UW, Tiger Robison, visited the prison ed. program at Northwestern with me, which is housed in their law school and pictured at the top. Pate still wants to work with an innocence project or equal justice initiative at some point. 

Chicago is also where Jaylen grew up, so the opportunity to return there to play in front of his friends and family was a significant factor in his decision to transfer to Northwestern. In both cases, Gavin and Jaylen transferred after they graduated from UW. 

I had the extreme good fortune of talking with both of these men during their processes of transferring. Full disclosure for those who don’t know me, but I grew up in Wyoming and have been a lifelong Wyoming football fan. My grandfather on my mother’s side was a professor here. My parents basically met on the UW campus, and I went to undergrad here. I love this place, but when I was 21 and looking at law schools, I wanted to get out of Wyoming. In hindsight, I probably should have stayed here in Laramie for law school. It’s a great school and it produces fantastic lawyers, which I can also attest to – since my entire legal career has been here. 

But when I was 21, I didn’t care about that. When Gavin and I talked about the process, he mentioned Cal Berkeley had contacted him. That was my dream for law school, although my LSAT was nowhere near high enough to get me in at Cal. But I went and toured the campus anyway, back in 1993 and it was stunning, completely awe-inspiring. Again, don’t get me wrong: our campus here at UW is beautiful in its own right. However, Cal Berkeley was something altogether different. So I tried to put myself in his shoes, especially knowing that he had graduated already and had given this university everything he had. It’s a big world out there, and I told him he’d be crazy not to transfer. 

My feelings about the transfer portal are complicated. Everything in life changes so quickly. I know that I have a different perspective as a college professor than I would have ten years ago, before I started teaching at UW. I am more sympathetic to the student athletes, at least the ones that I’ve worked with. I also know Gavin and Jaylen are both fine young men who gave UW everything they had while they were here, both on and off the field. The portal worked out beautifully for them and they earned it. They were great football players, great students, and excellent humans and – they will always be Wyoming Cowboys. Powder River and peace.   

^[1] https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43266364/notre-dame-buoyed-transfers-knocks-georgia-cfp

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I had planned on doing at least three triathlons this summer. Finishing three USAT (USA Triathlon) sanctioned races is necessary to get a national ranking, and I only got one race in: the Boulder Sunrise sprint triathlon back in June. I did well, 3^rd in my age group (50-54), but it looks like it’s the only triathlon that I’ll have the time and money for the rest of this year. The triathlon window is about to close around these parts for the season (which is Colorado), and I only swam today (Sept. 22) for the first time in over a month. 

I last did a pool workout back on August 25, 2024, and today I did 1000 yards at the Laramie rec., mixing some pull, kick board, and drills. It felt great. There’s one more triathlon left on the calendar down in Colorado, the “Last Call” race in Loveland, at Boyd Lake State Park, this next Sunday, Sept. 29. I’d love to do it but I’m not in the shape where it’s worth it to me. Triathlons are expensive, and if I’m going to shell out the money, I need to be in better swim shape. And it’s only one race. I need two more to qualify for a national ranking.   

However, I managed to get out and do one race last week, the “Memory of the 8” run up in Gillette, Wyoming. The Memory of the 8 is a run/walk that honors the eight University of Wyoming cross country runners who were killed by a drunk driver on Sept. 16, 2001. There’s a 5k race and an 8 mile race: one mile for each runner who was killed. The run is held on September 16^th of each year, with the 2024 race being the 14^th edition. The race was well attended this year, with hundreds of runners:

https://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/sports/local/article_a5dae0f0-76dc-11ef-a324-3388c795051b.html

The names of those runners are featured on the decal I got, pictured here:

The mother of Morgan McLeland, Debbie McLeland, lives in Gillette and is active in the running of the Memory of the 8. Years ago, shortly after the criminal case was resolved through a plea bargain, she shared her story of forgiving the driver, Clint Haskins, and it’s here online:

One comment from Debbie jumped out at me:

“Some people think that forgiveness is being disloyal to your loved one; that the only way to honour and remember them is to keep anger and bitterness in your heart, because negative emotion is so much more intense. But that doesn’t work for me. I need to get out of that place of pain and hurt. Forgiveness allows me to talk about Morgan in a positive and happy way. Forgiving Clint seems a logical step to me, as this tragic experience is something we both share. Also, he’s a kid, the same age as my son; and it’s important I remember that. Morgan wasn’t perfect, just as Clint isn’t a demon. The roles could have been reversed.“

It has been quite some time since that article was written, but it resonates. I could have been Clint Haskins too, and I am inspired by Debbie McLeland’s example of mercy. The two of them would go on to do many victim-impact panel presentations around the state. 

I was able to talk to a few people after the race, although I did not seek out Debbie. The 8 miles left me drenched in sweat, and I had to get back to my hotel and get ready for an important breakfast meeting that next morning. Despite that, I do hope to speak with Debbie McLeland at some point. If you’ve been following my social media posts, you will know that I have visited Gillette in the recent past to speak with my good friend Mark Corbett about his involvement with restorative justice and forgiveness. Gillette is a town with a big heart, and I’m grateful that I was able to run for the Memory of the 8. As Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize winner said: forgiving is about remembering, about second chances, and not repeating the past. The run for the 8 was uplifting and good for the soul, and I thought about them every mile of the way. And I’ll be back up there again, soon I’m sure. Until next time, Peace.    

^[1] https://labs.psychology.illinois.edu/~lyubansk/Rquote.htm

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Beardsley rose to running prominence in the early 1980s, winning several notable races, including the London Marathon. Without question, Dick’s best known race was his battle with the great Alberto Salazar in the 1982 Boston Marathon. Beardsley would finish 2 seconds behind the Olympian Salazar in a race that is famously known as “The Duel in the Sun.” Salazar would win his 3^rd consecutive Boston Marathon that day, but it was Beardsley who is remembered for his gutty performance, leading the race for most of miles 17 through 25, when he and Salazar broke away from the pack. The local press had given him little chance in the race, dubbing him a “bumpkin” from Minnesota.

The lead pack ran the initial mile in 4:33, which would set the blistering pace for that day. Salazar was the heavy favorite, and in ultimately winning, he clocked a new course record of 2:08:52, with Beardsley finishing second at 2:08:54. After 26.2 miles of endurance chess, the margin of difference was razor thin at the finish. 

“I remember crossing the finish line, and the clock is reading 2:08-something. There were only like one or two other people who had broken 2:09, and I’m thinking, ‘Wait a minute, I just ran a 2:08, and I finished second!’”^[1]

Beardsley would later say, “As I was finishing that race, I told myself, ‘I’ll never face anything so difficult as this again.’ But I was so wrong,”^[2] 

Following his performance in Boston, many sportswriters picked Dick as a favorite to make the 1984 Olympic team. Unfortunately, like so many great athletes, injuries would derail Beardsley’s career, forcing him into retirement by the late 1980s. By his own admission, Dick’s life would later become “pure hell.” Beardsley would endure multiple freak accidents post-retirement. Two of the injuries included a truck striking him while running in Fargo, North Dakota, and most significantly, his entire body, left leg in particular, was torn apart by a tractor accident in his native Minnesota.

Through those crippling mishaps, Beardsley became addicted to pain killers by the early 1990s, at times taking as many as 80 pills a day. It provided him with a front row view of the current opioid epidemic plaguing America, and also got him caught up in the criminal justice system. While Dick did not speak much at all about his felony drug conviction during his talk at the University of Wyoming (UW), he didn’t need to. It’s in the past and clearly not a measure of this remarkable man. He did say that it was the best thing that ever happened to him, and he described his faith and personal recovery process, including the excruciating withdrawal from methadone that he suffered through.

Dick Beardsley took the time to meet with me and discuss this blog post and my work in trying to reform the criminal justice system, and for that I am grateful. He’s funny, self-deprecating, and he truly cares about people. It was a joy and pleasure meeting him. He is a living example of the power of human resilience and redemption, and his presentation to the campus was life changing for me and so many of the students and other audience members. The picture of the audience that I took shows a crowded house, and there was a balcony above with bunches of students not in the picture. I laughed and cried, although it was mainly laughs. 

Beardsley is also a best-selling author and has written or co-written several books, including Duel in the Sun and Staying the Course: A Runner’s Toughest Race. If you’re interested in learning more, here’s his website:

https://www.dickbeardsley.com

One thing Dick said about that accident with his tractor was that immediately before he went to use the machine, he hesitated and almost headed inside the farm house to tell his family he loved them. Instead, he continued on with his chores and was nearly mangled to death by the tractor. His message was simple: never pass up an opportunity to tell someone you love them.

Classes start Monday, so I will hopefully be posting some future articles about upcoming events here at UW. Maybe nothing quite as motivational as Dick Beardsley’s talk, but I’ll see what I can come up with. Until then, peace. 

^[1] https://lakesarearadio.net/2022/04/19/dick-beardsley-alberto-salazar-boston-marathon/

^[2] https://apnews.com/631df27631724f71ba7edf5c9dcc4d41

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Mission

Wyoming Pathways from Prison is a trans-disciplinary and trans-professional statewide collaborative that aspires to support currently and formerly incarcerated people in navigating the waters of higher education and life more generally.

Objectives

Wyoming Pathways from Prison has four central objectives: [1] provide no-cost college credit, in partnership with Wyoming community colleges, to incarcerated people; [2] engage in valuable service to the state of Wyoming; [3] mentor UW students in teaching and leadership; [4] provide students with valuable real-world experience through teaching and assistance to the Department of Corrections.

I have been teaching courses and collaborating on Wyoming Pathways from Prison projects since 2018. Learn more about the program and how you can support it here:

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