Spenser Dalton '12, second from left, was a walk-on guard for the University of North Carolina basketball team
Spenser Dalton '12 Begins Life After UNC Basketball
Christ School alum was a Tar Heel for two seasons
Spenser Dalton '12 gets antsy when autumn rolls around. The leaves are changing, the temperatures are cooling, and the basketballs are bouncing. Preseason practice is under way at the University of North Carolina where Dalton was a walk-on guard for the defending national champion Tar Heels during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. He says watching games on TV is actually more nerve-racking than being in the locker room. Dalton, who has embarked on his professional career in Kansas City, took a moment to talk about his days of playing basketball at Christ School, and later UNC.
Question: What are you up to these days?
Answer: I live in Kansas City. I work for an oil company called Sinclair. There are only a handful of their stations on the east coast. We mainly operate in the Midwest and mountain states. I do a lot of different stuff, I'm a jack of all trades. The easiest way to describe what I do is account management service. I'm a wholesale rep trying to bring in new business as well as managing our current accounts. I play a lot of golf, and a little bit of basketball. I'm battling knee problems right now, so that has limited me. I miss Asheville like heck. The mountains are where I was born and raised. Missouri and Kansas, in particular, are mostly just flat and farm land. There isn't a whole lot of pretty scenery.
Question: You're not that far removed from playing basketball at North Carolina. I imagine you miss that adrenaline?
Answer: It's really funny. It's much more difficult now being only a semi-related third party observer and not participating. It's painful to watch Carolina games. Even when things are going well, they aren't going well enough. But it's a lot of fun, too. I miss basketball and being in Chapel Hill. Any time anybody goes back, I'm hating life because I want to be back there with them.
Question: UNC coach Roy Williams has a history of rewarding walk-on players. You were on the JV team for two full seasons before he moved you up. When you look back on it, what do you make of getting your shot?
Answer: A lot of my success in basketball, I could attribute to hard work. It's also about always being around, being an indisposable type of person. When you're always at the gym, always there early, always staying late, you become a fixture. Right place, right time is the old adage, but it really is true. If you put yourself in the right place every time, you put yourself in a place where you can be successful.
Question: I know you're from Asheville, what led you to Christ School?
Answer: I took a tour when I was in the seventh grade, and came home and told my parents I wanted to go to Christ School. I wanted the advantages that the school was going to offer me. The small environment and the focused academic nature. All the Plumlees (Marshall, Mason, and Miles) were there at the time, and I was starting to figure out that basketball is something I really wanted. It was a great five years. It was really incredible.
Question: How would you say your Christ School education helped you?
Answer: I don't think it really changed me all that much as a person. I was a hard worker before I got there. But it definitely enhanced all my positive traits. Being able to take those things into college put me at a big advantage. I was able to balance my time between academics, my social life, and athletics because I had been doing it for five years at Christ School.
