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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Ex-Bear A Model AFA Cadet

By Greg Archuleta
Journal Staff Writer
      LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Little did Travis Dekker know when he decided to attend the Air Force Academy that the experience would lead to a career in modeling.
    Dekker, a senior tight end on the Falcons football team and graduate of La Cueva High School, was one of three players selected to be on an AFA poster to display its 2008 football schedule.
    "Yeah, I'm really a huge model, now," joked Dekker, three-time owner of the top GPA (3.7 currently) on the football team and the most recent recipient of the outstanding graduate of the chemistry department award.
    Dekker, who is shown with a laceration on the bridge of his nose, now insists that he was not harmed during any part of the photo shoot.
    "That was put on," Dekker, who had 25 catches for 382 yards as an All-MWC honorable mention last year, says of the gash. "I had a real cut above it. They covered that one up and put a fake one lower. But it was fun. I was proud to do it. It was a good experience. People back home who have seen the poster, they'll say something about it, crack a joke here or there."
    That includes University of New Mexico senior linebacker Zach Arnett, Dekker's good friend from their La Cueva days.
    "He's always been a fashion guy, dresses real nice, but it shows his tough side as well," Arnett says. "He's doing a great job at Air Force; it doesn't begin to speak about the commitment he's making to the country."
    A biochemistry major, Dekker completed summer research at Kirtland Air Force Base in 2007. He says he plans to go to medical school.
    Future photo shoots may have to wait. Dekker is becoming quite a role model nevertheless.
   

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