D James Aungst:
CLASS OF 1968
Renton High SchoolClass of 1968
Renton, WA
Palmer College of ChiropracticClass of 1975
Davenport, IA
D James's Story
After high school I joined the Air National Guard to get the uncertainty of the draft out of the way. About a month into that, my life and plans changed completely but I did receive training in electronics and met people from all over the U.S. (and haircuts for the next 6 years while the country was growing theirs down to their shoulders and beyond). While stationed in Biloxi, MS, I was able to see the 1969 Mardi Gras and New Orleans Jazz Festival, and surfed and hang-glided in Pensacola, FL. I started college when I returned.
In 1970, Tom Ponder and I stopped a fight one night while cruising "the loop" and I later realized the guys instigating it just wanted to beat on someone...anyone. Not being jocks, Tom and I started at a local Karate school within the week. I stuck with it, became a Black Belt and found my place in sports. I fought mainly in NW tournaments and was ranked 8th in the NW region at one point. I placed 4th in Chicago and 3rd at the California Nationals in 1982, beating the No. 1 ranked heavy weight in the nation at the time...and got a selfie taken with "Mr. Han" of the "Enter the Dragon" movie (He had been flown in from China especially for the tournament.). I even got to do a little celebrity body-guarding over the years for the likes of musicians Edgar Winter, Isaac Hayes, Chick Corea and Lisa Marie Presley, and actors Frank Stallone, Jason Beghe and John Travolta. (Sat across the table from John's wife Kelly Preston at a lunch spot once.)
One of my poems got published in some obscure renaissance magazine and a song I wrote was recorded by a local jazz musician. I used the skills I learned in photography at Renton to build my own darkroom and several of my photos got published in Karate Illustrated. What I experienced in the martial arts also began a search for the answers we all seem to seek at some point... you know, the stuff that goes beyond the physical sciences.
In 1971, I headed off to CWSC in Ellensburg to become a teacher. That ended after I spent a quarter in a school district and realized teaching in the public school system and I weren't cut out for each other. In the interim, I discovered chiropractic and decided that was for me. So, I was off t...Expand for more
o Iowa to attend Palmer College, the founding school of chiropractic, with students from all over the globe. I graduated with honors and served as the MC at my own graduation. I spent a few years with established doctors honing my skills and returned to the Northwest. I established my own facility in 1980 in Portland and haven't looked back. I had found another good fit. You can find me at DrAungst.com.
I have mentored 19 new Chiropractic college graduates over the years and served on the Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners at one point. I also served as the Oregon spokesman for Citizens Commission on Human Rights for 18 years (an international organization founded in 1969 serving as a watchdog against psychiatric abuses). In this capacity, I appeared on every major TV and radio station in Portland. My largest audience at the time was reported to be 4.3 million through affiliate stations.
I have been able to travel a little...Japan, South Korea (walked in the tunnels under the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, very creepy), Australia, England, Poland (toured Auschwitz Birkenau, numerous old castles and a famous mile-deep salt mine), Mexico (parasailed there), Hawaii and a few islands in the Greater and Lesser Antilles. I've driven up and down the entire west coast and across the U.S. several times. I've spent a few days touring the exhibits in D.C., seen Mt. Rushmore, rafted the Colorado with some friends and seen many weather phenomena that you don't see in the NW like sun dogs, moon dogs and an aurora borealis that filled the entire sky.
I am married to a delightful lady from Poland whom I met in Australia while buying colored diamonds at the Argyle Diamond Mine headquarters in Perth. (She speaks 4 languages, I'm still having trouble with the nuances of English!)
The wildest thing I ever did in school?
Wally Day and I would grab lower classmen around the chest and legs and dangle them face down out over the 3rd floor stairwell for a few seconds. One jerked loose once and we almost dropped him....so we decided not to do that anymore....for a few days anyway. Duh?!?!
Hey, did you read Bill Ritchie's story? Amazing!! Way to go Bill !!
My best to all.
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