Dale was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and spent most of his life there. His background includes 17-years of law enforcement, 16-years in the United States Marine Corps, and over 41-years of public speaking. When he was younger, he went with his mother and one of his brothers to see the movie “The Legend of Boggy Creek” at a drive-in theater on Poinsett Highway in Greenville. The movie was the beginning of Dale’s curiosity about Bigfoot. For most of his life Dale enjoyed watching movies and hearing stories about this famous cryptid. It was never anything that he took seriously, but more of an entertaining subject.

In 2017, Dale and his family moved to Westminster, South Carolina. Located in the northwest corner of the state in Oconee County, Westminster is within “spitting-distance” of the Appalachian Mountains. Dale’s grandmother was born not far away from Westminster, near Long Creek and Mountain Rest. Dale spent many hours sitting with his grandmother as a young child listening to her stories about the haints in the hollers, how you had to be careful riding a horse or mule at night because a “painter” (panther) might jump on you while trying to get whatever you were riding, and how they were always told to not go into the woods at night because the boogeyman might get you. Dale loved the stories, and moving to Westminster brought all of those stories back to the forefront of his mind.

One night while sitting with his wife and good friend Kyle Brown, they began brainstorming about doing something for the town. Dale said jokingly they should put on a Bigfoot Festival. The joking got serious when a little research revealed this was doable. So, in 2018 the South Carolina Bigfoot Festival became a mission and he, along with his wife, and less than 10-people, formed the South Carolina Bigfoot Committee. The first festival was held in 2019 and has continued successfully every year since, except one due to COVID. Dale will prep the audience with some general South Carolina Bigfoot history, and why this is no longer an entertainment topic for him. He will cover a lot of information and present he was introduced to as a child.