By DAVID SWEARINGEN
TheFlashToday.com
EDITOR’S NOTE: Residents of Erath County are very fortunate to have the brave men and women who make living here safe, many of whom are volunteers. They are Hometown Heroes! These people keep us safe and we owe them our thanks and our respect. THANK YOU!
TARLETON STATE (June 5, 2017) – Scott Daily is a Sr. Peace Officer with the Tarleton State University Police Department and was born in Newton, Kansas, on August 13, 1970. He has a younger brother, Jason, and a younger sister, Alex. Daily has been married to Rhonda Turpin Daily since Sept. 1994. They met in Borger, while Scott was attending Frank Phillips College. They have two sons, Codye (age 26) and Corye (age 17).
Being born deaf has never slowed him down. According to Daily, the cause is not certain but it could possibly be any combination of numerous causes. Although he was born two months premature, Daily was a large baby. He said because of this, the doctors had to use forceps during the birth process. He also had yellow jaundice and said, while unknown, his hearing loss could be contributed to any or none of these conditions.
Daily would go on to graduate from Kansas School for the Deaf in 1989. While attending high school, he enjoyed playing football. Daily lined up at linebacker and fullback, and even played some quarterback. He would continue his education at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. where he also played quarterback, cornerback and fullback. Daily would later transfer to Frank Phillips College in Borger, where he would meet his future wife, Rhonda.
He was exceptionally athletic and played left field on the college baseball team while at Frank Phillips. Daily transferred to Amarillo College where he completed his TCOLE (Texas Commission on Law Enforcement) classes and graduated in 1999 as a peace officer. During these years in college, Daily was also a professional bull rider during the Super Bull Tour, construction work and in the oilfield industry.
Daily’s first law enforcement job was as a jailer at Pampa’s Gray County Sheriff’s Office in 1998. He would go on to work in several other law enforcement departments in Texas and Colorado before coming to the Tarleton State University Police Department in February 2012. Daily still works for TSU PD and has been in law enforcement for the past 18 years.
Law enforcement blood definitely runs deep in Daily’s family. His dad, Jim Daily, is a retired Chief of Police for the city of Newton, Kansas. His Uncle John Daily is a retired Chief of Police from the city of Bel Aire, Kansas. His stepmother, Janet Daily, was a police officer and his Aunt Barbara Daily was a dispatcher for Sedgwick County in Kansas.
On his days off, Daily said he is seldom “on call” but he is always on “standby” to assist any and all of the law enforcement agencies of Erath County to interpret for the deaf. Daily said he loves performing this community service and interacting with people. And it is obvious because he always has a smile on his face. Daily is available to assist any deaf TSU students and/or staff. And also teaches a statewide TCOLE mandated law enforcement course on interactions with drivers who are deaf or hard of hearing. Needless to say, he is very proficient in sign language.
He said his mother motivated him to work hard and succeed while his dad gave him the inspiration to succeed in life. Jim lost both of his legs due to an accident while working for Santa Fe Railroad in 1970, and would later become a dispatcher, police officer and, eventually, the Chief of Police of Newton.
When asked about one of his most rewarding moments in his career, Daily shared this wonderful story:
Early in his law enforcement career, Daily was a police officer in Borger, when he responded to a shoplifting call at a convenience store. When he got there, he learned the alleged shoplifter was an 8-year-old boy. The boy was returning home from playing in the hot summer weather a little distance from his house and he was very thirsty. The boy told the officer he stole the coke because he was so thirsty. Officer Daily told him if he would have asked the cashier for a drink of water the cashier would have surely helped him.
After talking with the little boy for some time, he promised Officer Daily it would not happen again. So, Daily drove the boy home. When he arrived, he discovered the boy’s father was in prison and his mother was seldom home. A grandmother at the house gave very little supervision or guidance.
A few days later, Officer Daily dropped by the boy’s house for a visit and found him playing football in the front yard with some other children. He called the boy over to his patrol car.
Daily recalls the boy and his friends looked very scared, thinking they were in some kind of trouble again. Instead, Daily gave him a 2-liter bottle of Coke he had bought. The boy was surprised and happy and thanked the officer.
About 10 years later, Daily was back in Borger visiting his mother and they were eating at a local establishment. He remembers he was talking with his mother, when a young man tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he was Officer Daily.
He said yes and the man informed him that he was the little boy from 10 years ago caught stealing the Coke at the store. The young man told Daily the actions he took and the love he showed inspired him to pursue a career in law enforcement. He told Daily he was currently enrolled in criminal justice classes at Texas Tech. Officer Daily says those are the type of things that make the job worthwhile.
Daily likes to spend his spare time with his family, his horses, practicing martial arts and attending church with his family and friends. He is Assistant Director of Law Enforcement Chaplains and a board member of the National State Chaplains Foundation.
When asked if he would like to give a specific quote, Daily said he would rather include the following scripture from Isaiah 6:8:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Daily will tell you he feels he has been blessed in his life and he shared one last story. It is a story of passing on blessings or as some people might say “pay it forward.”
Sadly, Daily’s mother passed away in Borger from liver cancer in September 2011. The house she had lived in was turned into a rent home soon afterwards. A family with children moved in. The father of the family did oil field work. And when the oil business took a big downturn, the father soon found himself out of work. It did not take long until the family was several months behind on paying their rent.
Daily took a trip to Borger to talk to the renters and was informed of how the man had lost his job due to the downturn and told the renters were sincerely trying to somehow find a way to begin making payments again.
After leaving the meeting, Daily contacted a cousin who lived in the area to check into the man’s story. The cousin checked into the situation and discovered he was telling the truth. With this information, Daily immediately set up an appointment with the appropriate people and set a surprising event into action.
He soon went back to Borger to meet with the man who was living in his late mother’s home and presented him with a deed to the house. The deed now showed the renter was the owner of the home. The house was paid for.
Daily said he knows in his heart this man who he blessed with a gift of a home will recover from this rough financial time and more than likely realize the way he and his family have been blessed Daily said he hopes only that the family will continue to prosper and “pay it forward.”
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