Grad student pours sweat for his goal

Chauncey Deller knows there is something therapeutic about physical activity.

The 23-year-old graduate student, who serves as the University’s new recreational program assistant, should know. An avid swimmer, he ran cross country for the University and participates regularly in triathlons.

Chauncey Deller

Even as he is being interviewed, Deller is peddling away on an exercise bike at the University gym. Perhaps it helps him cool down after an intense two-hour ping-pong match he finished five minutes earlier. Maybe he just hasn’t met his workout quota for the day.

Either way, Deller seems to have little trouble multitasking. He keeps a focused look in his eyes as sweat drips from his face to a towel dangling in front of him. As the perspiration pours out, so does an intriguing life story.

Deller is the third of eight children, ages nine to 27. His father worked as a maintenance mechanic for a rail car company, while his mother stayed at home to care for the children. He attended a Catholic school in Longview until the 9th grade.

“My family was dirt poor because my parents spent all of their money sending us to school, and there were so many of us,” he said. “I’ve calculated that they’ve spent about $150,000 to $200,000 on our private school education, and my siblings aren’t even done yet.”

The family lived in Gladewater, but Deller completed high school in Longview. While attending Longview High School, he developed a passion for physical activity through swimming, spending all four years on the school team.

“All I did was swim. It’s who I was,” he said.

As graduation approached, Deller started to think a little about college.

“Swimming was kind of a rich kid sport, so all my friends had big plans to go off to fancy schools. I just decided to go to college because that’s what everyone else did,” he said.

Deller believes his indifference to higher education could have carried him in a different direction. His parents offered little encouragement to pursue a degree, having never attended college themselves.

“It’s not because they didn’t care, they just had no advice or knowledge of what I was supposed to do. I put it off for a while, so my applications were pretty last-minute,” he said.

Deller started taking classes at the University in the fall of 2003, unsure of a major. He chose business administration despite having no real interest in the subject.

A Pell Grant and scholarship covered some of his expenses, but not all. To make ends meet, he lived at home and started working 60-hour weeks at a Longview movie theater. His daily drive time exceeded two hours.

“Things stacked up pretty quickly,” he said. “I was falling asleep in all of my classes. I finished the first semester with a 2.3 GPA and needed a 2.7 to keep my scholarship. By the end of my second semester, I lost my scholarship. To make things worse, I lost my Pell Grant because I was making too much money at the movie theater.”

He took up bike riding to work out the frustrations and soon realized he enjoyed it. As his love of physical activity grew, opportunities emerged. He met University Cross Country Coach Bob Hepler, who helped turn things around.

“Meeting Bob was the most pivotal point in my life. He expected good things from me and sincerely wanted me to succeed,” Deller said.

Hepler helped him land a part-time job at the University gym. By his sophomore year, Deller was making plans to move closer to school. His parents would not cosign for an apartment, so he persuaded his ex-girlfriend’s mother to do so.

He took out student loans to cover the cost of his tuition and traded long hours at the movie theater for part-time work, including serving as a lifeguard at the University. Deller said he was “literally down to pennies” every month when paying the bills, but he recognized the potential for a career.

His growing interest in fitness led him to change his major to health and kinesiology. Hepler invited him to join the cross country team. Deller agreed to give it a shot, even though he had no prior experience in competitive running.

“I started training really hard every day and came to love it,” said Deller. “The guys and girls on the team were very supportive and made it a lot of fun. I really liked the camaraderie of it all.”

Deller said he began averaging 25 hours of training a week. In his first conference competition, he finished number 30, and by his third year on the team, he was second. He developed a deep passion for running, which he said sparked an interest in triathlons.

“My older brother had been running triathlons and told me I should give it a shot, so I started doing them every now and then,” Deller said.

Deller also began to see a significant improvement in his grades, jumping to a 3.0 GPA within a semester. As graduation neared, he began to consider future career options.

“There wasn’t a lot in my field that I would enjoy straight out of college,” Deller said. “I decided to pursue an MBA because I knew it would make me a strong candidate for a position at a fitness facility. I also really enjoy the college setting, so I wanted to somehow continue working at one.”

Deller graduated from the University in December of 2008 and entered the MBA program the following semester. A new opportunity presented itself a few weeks later when the standing assistant recreational sports director decided to move away.

“Everything kind of fell in place,” he said. “A job doing exactly what I wanted to do came up and I was lucky enough to get it.”

Deller said his new job allows him to work in a field he loves and help others realize their own fitness goals. He hopes to one day use the experience to manage his own sports club or fitness facility.

“I needed the struggle, it made me who I am,” he said. “I just learned that you have to make time for what’s important, and if you focus hard enough, you can get through it.”

By Matt Rivers Contributing Writer