GULF SHORES - Dan Scott wanted to be a police officer from the time he began to think about what he wanted to do with his life. He said as a youngster he didn’t think much about a career, but that changed in the seventh grade. “I did my seventh grade career book on law enforcement,” he said.

Dan stayed on course to become a police officer. In 1967, at age 21, he achieved his goal in his hometown of Rockford, Ill., a city of approximately 150,000 about 70 miles northwest of Chicago and 16 miles south of the Wisconsin border. “Things have changed a lot since then,” Dan said. “When I started we were still walking a beat in downtown Rockford.”

Two years after he became a police officer, Dan married his wife Linda, a first grade teacher. For 29 years, the couple kept their noses to the grindstone and made a success out of their respective careers.

In 1981, they took a fateful vacation, according to Dan. “We started coming to Gulf Shores in 1981,” he said. “Not long after that we decided this was where we wanted to end up.”

“I finally retired from the Rockford Police Department in 1996 as a detective,” Dan said. “Linda taught for many years in the local school system and then moved into a supervisory position in a reading recovery program.”

Dan didn’t stay retired for long. After he left the Rockford PD, he accepted the position of Chief in the Cambridge Police Department, approximately 60 miles north of Rockford in Wisconsin. Cambridge was a much smaller town than Dan was accustomed. Web sites on the area refer to Cambridge as a “village.”

“Cambridge had a population of about 1,100,” Dan said. “But it was a popular tourist destination.”

His description of the town is reminiscent of downtown Fairhope, an area ripe with artists and quaint shopping establishments.

While Dan found success as the village police chief, he said Linda was unable to find a job locally on par with the one she had in Illinois. “She decided to stay at her job in Illinois, so she commuted 55 miles each way every day,” Dan said.

He remained Chief of the Cambridge PD for three years. But, at age 53, he decided to make a career change. “I had the opportunity to buy a business,” he said. “It was a convenience store called Bamlett’s Gas & Stuff.”

Dan said when he bought it, he decided there was no need to keep the Bamlett name on the business, so he decided to rename the store Dan’s Gas & Stuff. “I had someone approach me about making T-shirts for the business and we decided to put ‘Dan’s Got Gas & Stuff’ as the slogan on the shirts,” he said. “Although these shirts became very popular, I wasn’t sure if we would sell any to begin with.”

Cambridge is not far from a popular concert venue called Alpine Valley, and a Jimmy Buffet concert at the venue was the catalyst of the shirts becoming very popular in the region. “We sold a couple of the shirts to people before the concert,” Dan said. “By the next day we were completely sold out.”

Dan said he has seen photos of people wearing his shirts all over the U.S. and even in foreign countries. “Our local newspaper had a contest where people would send in photos of themselves from the places farthest away from Cambridge,” he said. “I saw one photo in the paper where someone was wearing a Dan’s Got Gas shirt in Ireland.”

Dan said living in Cambridge was a different experience than living in Rockford, but the small town atmosphere was wonderful. “The store was right next door to the fire station,” he said. “I wanted to become a member of the volunteer fire department, but they were a really close-knit group and most of the members had been in for a long time.” Dan said when he approached them about joining, they accepted him with open arms. “It was an honor to be asked to join,” he said. “I was a member for 10 years.”

“We finally bought a condo down here in 2001 and stayed in it for three years,” Dan said. “We sold it after Ivan in 2004 and bought this house.” The house backs up on one of the holes of the Golf Club of The Wharf, formerly the Gulf Shores Golf Club.

After the move, Dan and Linda became members of the Mystic Order of Shiners Mardi Gras Society through a friend, Tim Hayter. Dan said they have met many of their closest friends down here through the Shiners.

“You meet such a wide variety of people through the Shiners,” he said. “You have such a nice mix of people - everything from lawyers to plumbers to retiree's like us.”

While Dan and Linda may be retired, they remain active members in the community - something Dan picked up from his years on the Cambridge VFD. They volunteer to help the Gulf Shores High School Band Boosters sell drinks during concerts at The Ampitheatre at The Wharf. They have been members of the Shrimp Festival Committee for four years, taking charge of one of the Alabama Gulf Coast Area Chamber of Commerce’s concession booths. Linda is even the secretary of the Gulf Shores Woman’s Club.

“You just get a sense of camaraderie from volunteering,” Dan said. “Besides, you’re helping many worthwhile causes and having a good time doing so.”