meeting a Bronco part 2

Posted by admin | December 13, 2021

In the last blog, I talked about meeting a Broncos player from back in the day that I forgot was a Bronco. I sense a reoccurring theme or two with this blog post.

One of my side gigs is working Parking Lot Security for a K-State games. The lots I work have the VIPs, players, coaches, TV crews, and so on. I had one of the Lockett brothers (Aaron) come through my gate. I’ve seen Bill Snyder twice every football game (once when he comes in and once when he leaves). Since the lots are small, it is fairly boring to work this gate, but it does have interesting moments.

As I am dependable and was quickly promoted to Team Lead, I also tend to work early security. So, this particular day was such a shift. I had an indoor security person come up to me and leave me with a couple of envelopes with parking passes, game passes, and such. The one name wasn’t memorable, but the other was Dalton Risner. At the time, I was like, “I recognize that name, but can’t quite place it.” I thought maybe it was another Aaron Lockett where I vaguely remember him playing for K-State. Anyway, I put the packet aside.

Later on, a nice car comes in (a Charger if I remember right, though it was probably a rental). The guys rolls his window down and I said something like, “Hello. How can I help you?”

“I’m Dalton Risner,” he replied.

“Yes, sir,” I said as I took a step back and grabbed his envelope. “I have your passes right here.” I then opened the packet and removed the parking pass. “Put this on your dash. The rest of the packet has your passes and whatnot.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Where do I park?”

I rolled my eyes. Of course, K-State didn’t bother to give him details of his visit. “Any of the open handicap stalls at the front of the building will work.”

“Handicap?” he asked.

“Yeah. It’s our overflow. The lot is full every game, so we stick any extras there. Plus, then you are right at the entrance.”

“Okay,” he said. “Thank you very much for your help.”

“No problem,” came my reply.

He was so grateful to me and all I was doing was my job.

It was later that I heard the announcement inside the stadium. “Please give a special welcome to former K-State and current Denver Broncos Guard, Dalton Risner.”

I died a little inside right then. I wonder if I would have been more star-struck if I had known who he really was. I don’t think I would have handled the conversation any different, though I probably would have had the urge to get his autograph right then and there.

You never know where encounters in your life may lead. Meeting Dalton Risner is probably the biggest highlight of my side gig. Though, towing some of these punk kids’ cars that think they can walk all over me is a sinister pleasure I get here. Not sure if I’ll blog about those experiences, but so much fun to do!

That’s the big takeaway here. Have fun everybody! No matter what you do, life isn’t life without fun.