Dan Franks, Thief and Lawman

By Robert Graham

English writer Ben Jonson commented about fellow playwright William Shakespeare that “he was not of an age but for all time!” The same could be said about ENMU alumnus Dan Franks (BS 75).

Dan high-jumped for ENMU’s Outdoor Track team in 1974, a team led by Coach Bill Silverberg that won the National Championship that year. A Communication Disorders major, Dan practiced audiology, a career field projected to have 34 percent growth from 2012-2022. Dan is also a lifetime artist, describing himself as a student of Realism.

Dan Franks (in black vest) reenacts a late 19th and early 20th century train robbery with his fellow cast members.

His latest artistic endeavor is that of reenactment in his residence of Chama, New Mexico. Dan vacillates between ‘lawman’ and ‘robber’ but for a good cause. “The tourism that the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad brings to Chama during the summer is vital,” says Dan.

In 2013, the National Park Service designated this railroad with National Historic Landmark status. The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad arrived in Chama in 1880, and summer reenactments commemorate the arrival. “Believe it or not, some of our biggest fans are Japanese Western clubs,” says Dan.

Before coming to ENMU, Dan was accustomed to ‘The Cowboy Way’, having herded cattle in his home state of California. Dan’s grandparents migrated to California from Oklahoma, “similar to the Joads in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath,” Dan says. He notes that members of his reenactment troupe, the Rio Arriba Stuntmen Association, really go all out in their costumes—but “I’m the only one who wears spurs.”