Before the first bullet was fired, Zack Golditch (B.A., ’17) was having an exceptional summer. It was July 2012, and he was about to enter his senior year at Gateway High School in Aurora, Colo., where he played football and had just committed to play for Colorado State University.
Along with hundreds of other moviegoers, Golditch and some friends attended a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises at the Century 16 at Town Center at Aurora. About a half-hour into the film, he felt something hit him in the neck and he immediately started bleeding. He rushed out into the lobby just as people were fleeting an active shooter in the adjacent theater.
Golditch eventually made it to Aurora South Hospital where the medical staff confirmed that a bullet had gone through the theater wall and passed through his neck from left to right. Miraculously it caused no permanent damage. Others were not so fortunate. What has since become known as the Aurora theater shooting took the lives of 12 people and injured 57 others.
The enormous outpouring of support from the local community and his high school helped Golditch get through the traumatic aftermath of the incident. Football helped, too. The focus and physical demands of the sport gave him something else to think about.
As a six-foot-five-inch tall, 300-pound offensive tackle, he went on to receive numerous awards and recognition at both the high school and college levels before going on to the NFL where he spent part of 2018 and 2019 trying to earn a roster spot with five different teams.
A New Pursuit
“I made a commitment to myself,” Golditch said, “that if I had gone an entire year without being on a roster, then I was going to move on. Fire had always been my Plan B.” Although he has an older half-brother who is a police officer in California, he had heard that firefighters have a culture and daily lifestyle that is very similar to athletes. That aspect was certainly attractive, and he also admits his career choice was influenced by the events of 2012.
“I know what it feels like to be on the other side of the 9-1-1 call,” Golditch said. “To be afraid and uncertain and to just want someone to help.”
He visited a few fire stations in Aurora and determined he needed to receive his emergency medical technician (EMT) certification and complete a few other prerequisites as part of becoming a firefighter. Slimming down was also a priority. “I knew I needed to lose my football weight because everyone said, ‘It’s hard to be a firefighter at 300 pounds,’ even though I was, probably in the best physical shape of my entire life.”
His hard work paid off, and in August 2020, began working as a firefighter for South Metro Fire Rescue along with four other former CSU football players: Kevin Davis (B.A., ’16), Sammie Long (B.A., ’17), Kevin Pierre-Louis (B.S., ’15; M.T.M., ’16), and Jordan White.
The most important person in Golditch’s life is Fort Collins’ native Sara Sladek (B.S., ’17). She and Golditch met in Parmelee Hall during their freshman years and have been a couple since then. But as his firefighter career began to take off, he wanted to make sure the lifestyle was something she could live with.
“I work two days on and four days off, so I’m there for 48 straight hours. I know that can be a lot on the spouses of firefighters,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that that was something she wanted to get into.” Fortunately, it was and toward the end of Golditch’s first year on the job, he and Sladek were engaged and they married in October 2022.
Answering the Call
In early 2021, Golditch was on a phone call with Heather Dearman, the CEO of the 7/20 Foundation, a nonprofit organization that honors those killed and injured in the theater shooting and celebrates the resilience of the Aurora community and communities across the nation who have suffered similar tragedies.
The foundation completed the construction of a memorial near the theater in 2018, and the 10th anniversary of the shooting was coming up in 2022. To bring attention to the occasion, Golditch suggested creating a footrace that would fund college scholarships for first-generation Aurora Public School student-athletes like he was.
That phone conversation led to the creation of the Zack Golditch Opportunity Scholarship at the Aurora Public Schools Foundation and the Hero’s Journey 5K, a run/walk race to celebrate anyone facing challenges, struggling to overcome them, or returning home as heroes. The race was first held in July 2022. It attracted about 200 people and funded one $10,000 scholarship. Golditch hopes to grow the event each year to continue funding more scholarships.
Golditch is keenly aware, however, that his volunteerism with the 7/20 Foundation is rooted in a tragedy that forever altered his life and an entire community. “I still feel the support of others with this 5K and when friends and family visit me at the firehouse. That speaks to everybody who was touched by the shooting. I guess you could say the everyday heroes are those people who help others get through adversity to live their best life.”
By that definition, Golditch is leading by example and raising the bar for the next generation.
The 2023 Hero’s Journey 5K is being held on July 22 in Aurora, Colo. For more information, visit the 7/20 Foundation website.
