Immigrants of Reno: Running to UNR and Becoming a Health Care Executive
Macie King writes about her father, Chris King, who first arrived in the Biggest Little City as an international student to run for the University of Nevada, Reno.
“Honestly I didn’t know what a full ride meant,” Chris King says of being offered a full scholarship from the University of Nevada, Reno’s track and field and cross country coach in the late 1980s when he was 18.
“When he told me, I called my friend and I said, ‘he offered me a full ride. What is that?’ and he said ‘Oh that’s good, take it,’” King chuckles as he thinks back to his reaction at the time.
Born and raised in Bradford, England, King grew up working class as the second of three siblings. His mother was a primary school teacher and his father was an electrician. While King’s parents were supportive of his running career, his drive, he says, came from within.
“I realized I could be good at something so it was really my personal motivation to be successful,” King told me during our interview.
When King was 16, he saw some of his peers continue their running careers at universities in the United States and knew he wanted to do the same. He dedicated his time in secondary school training and competing to get running times worthy of an international scholarship.
Two years later, in 1988, King received the call from Jack Cook, the track and field and cross country coach at UNR at the time, offering him the full scholarship.
When asked if his family flew with him to the United States, my father explained that “no, they just put me on a plane and I flew over to Reno on my own.”
He arrived in the U.S. with a single suitcase. He was brought to his dorm, Juniper Hall, eager to experience American culture. It wasn’t Reno’s mountains and weather that he noticed first, though, it was how little Americans knew about England, or anywhere really, he says.
“People asked all sorts of questions like, ‘do you drive to France?’ and I was like ‘well, there’s a sea in between us so…” King remembers.
While Americans didn’t know much about England, they were in awe over King’s accent, which also took him by surprise.
“In England my accent is a very working class common accent, so in England to have an accent like mine, it’s fine but it’s not really something people would like,” King said.
As he settled into his new life, King quickly realized it was not going to be a vacation.
“I was 18. I thought it was some fun exciting trip like I was going to Disneyland,” King admitted. “It only dawned on me, I think once I got there, how hard and challenging it would be.”
King had two cross country practices a day, went to classes in between, worked at night, and attended competitions on the weekends, leaving him with almost no time to rest.
After 11 consecutive seasons of cross country and track and field at UNR, King decided he was not going to complete his last outdoor track season. Three plus years of running competitively left him burnt out and ready for a change.
While King’s running career was on hold, his academics still needed to be tended to.
“I took another year to graduate… because of how busy everything was. And I had to actually earn enough money to pay for a whole year…and I had to pay out-of-state tuition as an international student which was a big additional amount of money,” King said of finishing up to get his degree.
While an international student, his work opportunities were limited to university jobs. The highest paying job he could get was at UNR’s Main Station Farm, where he milked and occasionally slaughtered cows. His day began with a six-mile journey on his bike at 3 a.m..
“In hindsight, I loved the experience of all that I did; coming to another country and being a runner and dealing with all of the, just, challenges and circumstances. But, college was hard,” King said.
After his studies, King found success in Reno and ended up working in high level positions in health care including as the executive director at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center. He now runs the Pinnacle Medical Group which has a full team of primary care physicians in the Reno-Sparks area.
“It builds so much character, you don’t nearly realize how much character it’s building,” King says looking back on his time at UNR. “But the process of surviving and ultimately succeeding is more I think of the success than whatever happens in the classroom.”
King highly encourages any student thinking of studying abroad to go through with it. Not only does it offer new opportunities for those studying abroad, but it also allows for those already living in the country to meet new people and gain new perspectives.
“It teaches you about perseverance, dealing with tough times, sometimes being lonely, and it makes you a survivor,” King concluded.
