FARMINGTON -- Success in life boils down to choices either good or bad.
Using a comparison/contrast case study with a common geographical location of Coffeyville, Kan., as a fixed point in destiny; a history buff such as Farmington senior Kaylee Brown can evaluate how choices determined vastly different outcomes between her fate and that of the Dalton Gang. The dreams of the Dalton Gang to make a name for themselves by robbing two banks at once died in Coffeyville, Kan., as opposed to the dream of Brown to play college basketball which will be realized at Coffeyville Junior College.
"My favorite subject is history, it's fantastic, I love it," Brown said.
The senior forward signed a national letter of intent to play women's college basketball for Coffeeville Junior College at Cardinal Arena on Feb. 1. She plans to pursue a degree that will lead to coaching basketball.
"I love kids and I have a love for that sport," Brown said.
This past summer she got up at 7 a.m., then coached youth until late afternoon.
"It was so much fun, waking up at 7 a.m. for those kids," Brown said.
Disenchantment
The attempted double bank robbery backfired on the Dalton Gang on Oct. 5, 1892. Citizens armed themselves and confronted the outlaws. Bob and Grat Dalton were killed along with two other members of their gang. Emmett Dalton , who was only 21 years old, received 20 bullet wounds in his body before surrendering.
History records the majority of these men were disenchanted with the hands of fate they were dealt in one way or another and turned to a life of crime.
According to legendsofamerica.com in the category Old West Gangs, the deadly Dalton Gang, their older brother, Frank Dalton, who served as a deputy marshal for the federal court in Fort Smith, was killed in the line of duty Nov. 27, 1887 in a gun battle with an outlaw gang.
Grat Dalton followed his older brother's lead, serving as a deputy marshal in Fort Smith and later for the Muskogee court in Indian Territory in 1889. That same year he received a bullet in his arm while attempting to arrest a suspect. Bob Dalton also became a deputy marshal for the federal court in Wichita, Kan., working in the Osage Nation, in 1889.
Succumbing to temptations to make easy money ended their careers as lawmen and respectable citizens. Bob and Emmett Dalton were charged with selling whiskey in the Osage Nation on March 21, 1890. In September, 1890, Grat was arrested for stealing horses, but was released for lack of evidence. All three brothers eventually made their way to California, where their younger brother Bill was a successful farmer and rancher. However, Bill became embroiled in a political fight between the Southern Pacific Railroad and local farmers over land disputes.
The brothers tried to rob a Southern Pacific train, killing the engineer on Feb. 6, 1891. From that point on they continued to operate outside the law with deadly consequences. All of them except Emmett died by bloodshed in gun battles with lawmen. The headline of the Coffeyville Journal dated Friday, Oct. 7, 1892, read "DALTONS! The Robber Gang Meet Their Waterloo in Coffeyville. The Outlaws Beaten at Their Own Game."
Resilience
In sharp contrast, Brown did not falter after twice experiencing anterior cruciate ligament knee injuries in her freshman and sophomore seasons at Farmington. A line from the rock band Eagles' 1973 Desperado album Doolin'-Dalton track proclaims, "Go down, Bob Dalton, it must be God's will, two brothers lyin' dead in Coffeyville." In a legalistic mindset, an athlete suffering two ACL injuries in consecutive seasons might have been counseled to accept that as fate, resigned to a career-ending setback, yet Brown never let that enter her thinking.
"It's a testament of perseverance," said Farmington coach Brad Johnson. "Four weeks into her ninth-grade year, her season was cut short. Fourteen months later she tore her other ACL. For the better part of two years she was in rehab."
After missing nearly two seasons, Johnson said Brown had to rework the fundamentals of the game of basketball.
"It wasn't easy," Johnson said. "At times it was excruciatingly painful and difficult. She's kept on pushing. Two years later we sit here. What an extremely special moment it is for her."
Farmington athletic director Brad Blew, who coached girls basketball for many years, said Brown's successful comeback is truly a great story.
"She is an exceptional athlete because of the adversity and injuries she has overcome in her athletic career," Blew said. "As Coach Johnson said, in the course of an athletic career there are lots of ups and downs. When you sustain the injuries she has, those valleys get pretty deep. Her ability to overcome has given her opportunities to further her athletic career and get an education."
Johnson says Brown has become a role model for many younger kids, who look up to her and see what she has accomplished through her choices to overcome that has landed her at Coffeyville Junior College. They can also realize how negative choices led to the downfall of the Dalton Gang, who met a bitter end at Coffeyville.
Sports on 02/08/2017