When Craig Merrell ’74 was slogging through dental school, he didn’t think that by age 53 he’d not only be a dental surgeon but also a scuba dive master, skydiver, motorcyclist, black belt, body guard, private security officer, model, actor and graduate of a police academy.

He says it’s a combination of restlessness and wanting to fulfill unmet needs. “I live in a really crummy neighborhood, I’ve witnessed a lot of crime, and I decided I wanted to try to lower the numbers a little bit.” So Merrell completed private security training, then the police academy. Now when he sees a crime in progress, he doesn’t have to call 911 and wait for the cavalry. “I am the cavalry,” he says. “I get a chance to have a direct impact. It makes me feel good and it’s exciting.”

As the oldest member of his police academy class, he kept his under-30 colleagues on their toes when he set a new course record for the police driving practical exam and won the class shoot-out at the gun range. Think you’ve seen him before? Merrill has been the face of Libby’s Juicy Juice and Radio Shack, and he has appeared in ads in Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, the The Wall Street Journal and The Dallas Morning News. He’s also a Mensa member and in the Triple Nine Society, the 99.9 percentile. Clever boy.