Bit of a story myself.
I attended Navy AECF, FC "A" school, Mk. 92 mod 2 and mod 6 "C" schools (about 2 years of electronics, radar, weapons guidance system training before setting foot on a ship) After I left the Navy, there weren't a lot of honest jobs available for guys who knew how to blow stuff up with missiles, and the idea of working on radars for the rest of my life sounded painfully boring. I moved back to the family ranch near Blanco. I took a tech job in San Antonio repairing cell phones and computers, then met and started dating a TXST sorority girl. I fell in love with her and San Marcos, but she was just slumming it with me for her last couple of semesters. lol
Her parents hated that I didn't have a degree and they told her that I would always be "beneath her" because of it. It was ironic because although she was a senior in college, the only part of school she was any good at was partying. She ended up making the dean's list (her first and only time) during her last semester because the guy without the degree ended up tutoring her and convincing her to stay in on school nights. We broke up right around her graduation and she moved away.
I shouldn't have let it bother me as much as it did, but it didn't sit well knowing that I could probably do intellectual laps on some of the people who were looking down at me for not having a degree. I also missed San Marcos terribly, so I applied/enrolled at Texas State the next year. It was kind of a petty reason to go to college, but it worked out for the best.
I didn't get hooked into Bobcat sports right away. I mostly did volunteer work with SVC. (TXST habitat for humanity-Bobcat break, Bobcat build, etc.) I loved basketball and attended a few games, but the product was unwatchable under Davalos. I only made one football game I think (it was a loss), but I was part of the student body vote to fund the FBS transition. I started taking an interest then.
During my junior year, I drew some seriously bad luck with roommates and I ended up without a place to stay. I had to drop out mid semester to move to the Houston area with my father. I took a job as a wrangler at a boarding & hunter/jumper facility planning to come back and finish school when I had enough saved. However, I got promoted to ranch foreman within a couple of months, so I stayed.
I kept up with TXST though. I made it to basketball road games at UNLV, Houston, Houston Christian and Rice, even a couple games in San Marcos.
Ten years later COVID hit, and the ranch went under during the lockdowns. My options at that point were either get a new job, or finish school and get a new job. The rest is history.
I graduate in May so my time here may be ending soon, but I go to every athletic event I have the energy for now. I've made about 75% of the soccer home matches, dozens of MBB/WBB/Volleyball games... every home football game the last two seasons and a couple away games. The only sports I haven't gotten into are softball and baseball (never been into those sports), but I've decided I'm going to give them a shot this spring.