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By GENE MOTLEY

Special to the RC News-Herald

WINDSOR – Tristan Bowser says 5-to-10 years from now you might find him on a professional football field, or maybe on the U.S. Olympic track-and-field team. And those would have to fit in between his day-job as an FBI or CIA agent.

Such were the Colerain native’s ambitions he revealed when he signed an academic scholarship letter in the Bertie Early College High School Media Center on Monday, May 8 to attend NCAA Division-III Methodist University. In addition to the academics, he also has an offer for both the Monarchs’ football team and the track-and-field squad.

It also needs to be mentioned that he plans to major in Criminal Justice.

“They have the best Forensic Science and Criminology courses that I’ve seen,” he said. “And they told me that everyday (I’d be working on) a crime scene, and that’s pretty great because I want to go into the CIA field, FBI, or NCIS, and that would be great for me.”

Bowser completed his Falcon football career as a tight end-linebacker having played in 23 games over a three-year period (Bertie did not play football during the 2020-2021 COVID pandemic year). Last season he scored a touchdown on a 19-yard reception on offense, and defensively he finished his time in Blue-and-White with 83 tackles and 6.5 sacks. His track career in the discus toss and shot put will continue to the conclusion of the spring season. Currently, he leads the 1A Four Rivers Conference (40 feet in discus and 42 feet in shot) and he hopes to make the state championships.

Much as he has a love and proficiency in both sports, all he will say is that he wants to play both.

“Five schools total were interested in me football-wise,” he noted. “(Among them were) Barton College, Chowan University, and Bluefield State in West Virginia, and I picked Methodist because of Criminal Justice.”

Bowser says he loves that the emphasis he’ll concentrate much on in school will be academics.

“I loved that because they made that more of a priority instead of an option which was really great because that told me that academics comes first,” he acknowledged. “They set aside study groups and things like that to help me if I ever fall behind. But I feel like I’ll do great because academically I succeeded well and athletically I succeeded well, too, and with all the sports I played in school I’ve never slipped so I think I’ll do great.”

Bowser knows he will have to build up his body over the summer to be prepared for college football with structured weight training and calisthenics. That effort could lead to increased playing time for a freshman, but starting low and working ones way to the top is one of his credos for the student with a weighted 3.0 average in the classroom.

“After I graduate I want to make my way into the FBI and after that into the CIA,” he declared. “If it works the other way around, I’d rather be in the CIA, but you have to have to start somewhere and work you way up after college.

“Athletically, if football doesn’t take me to the NFL or playing overseas, and in the discus if I’m not an Olympian or anything like that I will be striving for it, but if I’m not there, I’ll definitely be in law enforcement,” he relayed.

There don’t appear to be many clouds in Bowser’s crystal ball. He seems a well rounded, well-spoken young man, who’s going to leave the next two decades up to his own drive to succeed.

“Twenty years from now, I don’t really know where I’ll be,” he surmised. “Hopefully, I’ll be somewhere in football pads and living in a beautiful house.”