Lifestyle

John Spent Decades as a Law Professor. Then, at 77, He Joined the Police Academy and Became California’s Oldest Rookie Cop: “This Is the Last Thing on My Bucket List”

By Curtis Jones · November 14, 2026

John Myers spent most of his adult life teaching law. The Davis, California, man taught for the last decade of those years at UC Law San Francisco, according to KCRA 3 in Sacramento, and by any normal measure he had already earned a quiet retirement.

Instead, at 77, he enrolled in a police academy.

KCRA reporter Jason Marks and photojournalist Victor Nieto followed Myers through the San Joaquin Delta College POST Academy in Stockton for a July 2025 report. Myers told the station the idea had been with him since he was a boy.

“I’m almost out of time to do stuff I’ve always wanted to do,” he says in the video. “This is the last thing on my bucket list.”

He knew how he looked standing next to the other recruits. “I’m old enough to be the grandpa of a lot of them,” Myers says. “Not the father, the grandpa.”

The academy did not go easy on him. KCRA reports the training ran 10 months, and Myers told the station the physical side was the biggest intimidation factor, with push-ups, sit-ups, running stairs and weightlifting. In the video, the course includes dragging a 165-pound dummy and running an obstacle course.

Letecia Infante, the academy coordinator, told KCRA she was “stunned and a little taken aback and initially fearful for him.” She said that when she saw someone his age, her first thought was that there was no way he would make it.

He made it. Myers graduated with Class 5724 in November 2024. Delta College said in its own graduation story that he was the oldest graduate in the history of its POST Academy and served as class leader. The college described 18-hour days: up at 5 a.m., teaching criminal law in San Francisco in the morning, then driving to Stockton for academy classes until late at night.

Then came the job search, and Myers did it the old-fashioned way. University of the Pacific Police Chief Grant Bedford told KCRA he received a letter by mail asking him not to throw it away once he learned the applicant’s age. “I was in shock,” Bedford said. “I was like, ‘I have to meet this guy.’”

After a lengthy background check, Myers started work on the Stockton campus. POST Academy representatives told KCRA he is believed to be the oldest police recruit in state history, which makes him the oldest known law enforcement rookie in California. He works the overnight shift and still teaches during the day.

Myers knows it hardly sounds like a retired man’s schedule, and he jokes about it. “You can call this retirement if you want,” he told KCRA. “Well, it’s my version of retirement,” he says in the video.

His story is an extreme version of something many older adults are weighing right now: whether to go back to work, and what kind of work. For anyone thinking about a second act, a few practical steps help. Many public safety and civil service jobs post their own age, fitness and background requirements, so read those first rather than assuming you are too old. Community colleges, like Delta, often run training programs open to adult learners. And if you already collect Social Security and are under full retirement age, the Social Security Administration’s Receiving Benefits While Working page explains how earnings can affect your checks.

Myers did not wait for permission. As he put it in the KCRA video, he had to do it now or never.

This article is for general information and is not financial or legal advice. John Myers’ story and quotes are from KCRA 3’s report and video; academy details are from KCRA and San Joaquin Delta College. This article was produced with the assistance of AI and fact-checked against the sources cited by LightWave Reports.