‘Dr. Texas’ And His Boots

The sounds of Texas.

By Joy Diaz & Caroline CovingtonMarch 25, 2021 2:11 pm, ,

Dr. Scott Selinger wasn’t a cowboy boot fan when he was a kid. He had to wear them at ranch camp while riding horses and found them uncomfortable. But he got a little older, and his opinions changed when a girl came into the picture. She invited him to go country line dancing. His parents warned him not to show up in sneakers. Now, he wears boots all the time, so much so that his patients call him “Dr. Texas.”

“We moved out of state and it’s hard being away from home. … I thought, I still have all these boots. Why don’t I just wear them on Tuesday along with this belt buckle I’d gotten at the Texas State History Museum? And my favorite part was on the days I would wear it, the halls are so long with the floors, it would echo all the way down.”

 

“Texas Tuesday spread throughout most of the rest of the week because it was just more comfortable. And then it was almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy – the more I wore them, the more people said, ‘Oh, there’s Dr. Texas.'”

 

Selinger’s infant daughter in his cowboy boot. Courtesy Dr. Scott Selinger

“These are the same pair of boots I put both my my daughters in when they were born for their their infant pictures.”

 

“Patients sort of knew most of my story and where I was from, and a couple of them like that connection. So I had one fella who, as I was getting ready to say I was moving back to Texas, he said, ‘Hey, my dad left these to me when he passed and my feet … never really fit into them. So I thought maybe, maybe you could give them a shot.’ … It’s just it’s nice to keep that that connection to other places in your life.”

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