efore sophomore Ryan Dillon could even spell “law enforcement,” he was watching the fence-leaping heroes from “Cops” live out his dreams.
Though Dillon’s dream is still the same, a lot has changed since he was the shy kid from Indiana.
Dillon began his life in Indianapolis, which he said was a perfect place for a sports fan like him.
“I grew up watching IU basketball and Purdue football,” he said.
Besides the wonderful sports atmosphere, Dillon said he loved the rural environment and having close family around.
Dillon said family has always been the main focus in his life. His father, Mark, a general manager of a broadcasting company, is the main reason for that.
“My father has always been an inspiration in my life,” he said. “Even when he worked 60 to 70 hours a week, he would still make time to coach me and my brother’s baseball and basketball teams.”
Dillon said his father’s tenacity was especially inspiring when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1995.
Karla Dillon said her son was also faced with reality when his father was ill.
“I think for a child to see your father like that, you see he’s like everybody else,” she said. “Things can happen to him like everybody else.”
She said Dillon stayed positive through his father’s illness because Mark Dillon never gave up.
At age 12, Dillon and his family went on one of their first “new adventures,” as Karla Dillon called it.
She said the family’s relocations to Columbus, Ohio; Asheville, N.C. and finally to Hendersonville, Tenn., taught her son a valuable lesson.
“He understands that in life you have to go where your job takes you,” Karla Dillon said.
Dillon said he did understand why his father had to move the family, but it didn’t make the move to Columbus any easier for the then 12-year-old.
“I went there not knowing anyone in a large city,” he said. “My graduating class would have had 800 people in it.”
Dillon said he also missed having both sets of his grandparents around.
After three years of life in Ohio, Dillon said he was happy to move to the mountains of Asheville.
“We lived in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “I loved it, though, because I love animals and nature.”
Once senior year came around, Dillon said he and his family moved out of the mountains and into civilization.
“Asheville was five to 10 years behind in technology compared to Nashville,” she said.
Being minutes from Nashville was great for the country music fan.
While at Western, he gets to be close to home and back to the small town environment that he grew up in.
Since at Western, the political science major has become president of the College Republicans.
Hendersonville sophomore Ryan Russell said though they didn’t know each other in Hendersonville, he is glad they became friends at Western.
Russell said Dillon taught him a lot about politics and keeping an open mind.
“On the surface, you’d think he’s a straight-by-the-book kinda guy, but really he’s a real laid back, cool guy.”
Reach Stephanie Toone at features@wkuherald.com.
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