Mustang Miracle

Mustang Miracle

Mustang Miracle

Mustang Miracle

Paperback

$13.95 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
    Choose Expedited Shipping at checkout for delivery by Wednesday, April 3
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

In 1957, when very few Mexican-Americans were familiar with the game of golf, and even less actually played it, a group of young caddies which had been recruited to form the San Felipe High School Golf Team by two men who loved the game, but who had limited access to it, competed against all-white schools for the Texas State High School Golf Championship. Despite having outdated and inferior equipment, no professional lessons or instructions, four young golfers with self-taught swings from the border city of Del Rio, captured the State title. Three of them took the gold, silver and bronze medals for best individual players. This book tells their story from their introduction to the game as caddies to eventually becoming champions.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781477269893
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Publication date: 09/21/2012
Pages: 156
Sales rank: 69,474
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.36(d)

About the Author

Humberto G. Garcia was born and raised in the San Felipe area of the City of Del Rio. He attended the schools in the San Felipe Independent School District and would have graduated from San Felipe High School in 1972 but for the consolidation of the district with the Del Rio Independent School District by a federal court order in the summer of 1971. In fact, his witnessing of the events in the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas involving the battle between the San Felipe and Del Rio school officials served as a factor in his seeking of a legal education. Following graduation from high school, he attended the University of Texas at Austin where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Government in 1975. He then attended the University of Texas, School of Law and received his Doctorate of Jurisprudence in 1978. While in law school, he developed a strong interest in golf, having been introduced to the game by two of his study partners. He is quite familiar with golf as he has competed in several professional tournaments and continues to do so today. While as an undergraduate he took several courses in Mexican-American studies where he learned the history of the treatment of his ethnic group by American society. He also experienced firsthand discrimination and unfair treatment while growing up as a migrant farm worker with his family. His tripartite knowledge of the subjects covered in this book gives him a unique perspective into the experience of the San Felipe High School 1957 Golf Team. It is with the clear understanding of this experience that he is able to describe the significance of a bright moment in American history for a people who were otherwise deprived of an equal opportunity.

Humberto G. Garcia was born and raised in the San Felipe area of the City of Del Rio. He attended the schools in the San Felipe Independent School District and would have graduated from San Felipe High School in 1972 but for the consolidation of the district with the Del Rio Independent School District by a federal court order in the summer of 1971. In fact, his witnessing of the events in the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas involving the battle between the San Felipe and Del Rio school officials served as a factor in his seeking of a legal education. Following graduation from high school, he attended the University of Texas at Austin where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Government in 1975. He then attended the University of Texas, School of Law and received his Doctorate of Jurisprudence in 1978. While in law school, he developed a strong interest in golf, having been introduced to the game by two of his study partners. He is quite familiar with golf as he has competed in several professional tournaments and continues to do so today. While as an undergraduate he took several courses in Mexican-American studies where he learned the history of the treatment of his ethnic group by American society. He also experienced firsthand discrimination and unfair treatment while growing up as a migrant farm worker with his family. His tripartite knowledge of the subjects covered in this book gives him a unique perspective into the experience of the San Felipe High School 1957 Golf Team. It is with the clear understanding of this experience that he is able to describe the significance of a bright moment in American history for a people who were otherwise deprived of an equal opportunity.

Read an Excerpt

Mustang Miracle


By Humberto G. Garcia

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Humberto G. Garcia
All right reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4772-6989-3


Chapter One

It was the summer of 1953, and opportunities to remain occupied in nonschool activities were minimal at best. For young Mexican American boys in the border city of Del Rio, they were practically nonexistent, except for what thirteen-year-old Felipe Romero was about to be introduced to. He had just arrived at his friend Manuel's house to see if Manuel could join him at play, but when he walked up to the door he found Manuel ready to leave.

"Where are you going, Manuel?" Felipe asked. "To the country club," he replied.

"What's that?"

"It's where they play golf. I'm gonna do some caddying," he explained. "You need to come too. We can make some money!"

Now this caught Felipe's attention. He had no idea what Manuel was talking about, but he knew he had to go with him. "Okay, but I have to ask my mom first!"

With that they both ran to the Romero home two blocks away. When they ran in, Felipe found his mother in the kitchen and proceeded to ask for permission. "Mama, puedo ir con Manuel?" he asked.

"A donde mijo?" she inquired.

Felipe turned to Manuel, who was standing next to him, and asked, "Where are we going?"

Manuel was caught off guard for a second but then stated, "The country club. Tell her we're gonna make some money!"

"Al country club a ganar dinero, mama!" he said convincingly to his mother.

"Bien pero tengan cuidado!" his mother admonished as she gave her consent. She didn't know what a country club was either, but as long as her son wasn't going someplace where he would get in trouble, she was okay with granting him permission to join Manuel.

Before she could finish her sentence, Felipe and Manuel were out the door and headed to the San Felipe Country Club.

Felipe, a short, skinny, dark-haired son of a typical poor but hardworking father and mother of Mexican descent, had a strong urge to be constantly active. Everyone said that was the reason he was so slim. He seemed dwarfed by Manuel, who was only two years older but tall and quite muscular.

"Come on, Felipe. We've got to hurry before the golfers begin to get there!" Manuel urged.

"But what is it that we're gonna do?" Felipe wondered out loud as the two ran briskly through the streets of South Del Rio, the part of town known as San Felipe.

"I told you we're gonna work as caddies and make some money!" he answered.

"What are 'caddies'?" Felipe asked in between hard breaths while running alongside Manuel.

"We carry the golfers' bags with the clubs, and they give us money," Manuel stated, trying to be patient with Felipe.

"Oh!" Felipe said, seemingly satisfied with Manuel's explanation. But as they continued running along the dirt streets of San Felipe, his inquiry continued. "But what's a golfer?" he asked.

Manuel could not help but stop running and almost wanted to start laughing but held himself back. "You never heard of golf?" he asked in amazement.

Felipe did not want to admit his ignorance of the game but quickly forced himself to do so. "No!" he sheepishly admitted.

Manuel was so understanding for all his fifteen years of life, and he did not want to make Felipe feel bad. "That's okay," he said. "I'll teach you what you need to know, and you'll like being a caddy."

They continued running toward their destination, passing along San Felipe Creek, the unofficial dividing line between white and brown Del Rio.

Like most other country clubs, San Felipe Country Club centered its social activities around a golf course, but it had only nine holes, whereas many have eighteen. It was situated on several acres of public land owned by the City of Del Rio. The irony of its existence was that, although on publicly owned land, at one time the majority of the city's taxpaying citizens could not benefit from it. Several local businessmen had gotten together with the city politicians and arranged for the club to lease the land from the city for one dollar a year for one hundred years. To add insult to injury, the club was allowed to use all the water it needed for its grasses without having to pay for it. Smack in the middle of the course grounds was the San Felipe Springs, the main source of drinking water for the city's entire population.

When they arrived at the course parking lot, other boys longing for the limited work were already there. Some said "hello" to Manuel, while others were reserved; perhaps they thought he was about to take a job away from them.

"Y este?" one asked Manuel, pointing to Felipe.

"This is my friend, Felipe," Manuel answered. "I'm going to teach him to be a caddy!"

The boy looked at Felipe again but said nothing and walked away.

No sooner had they gotten there than a brand-new Buick Roadmaster drove up to the parking lot. All of the boys, about twelve in all, rushed over to the driver's side door. As soon as the well-dressed white man opened the door, all of the boys queried him in unison, "Need a caddy, mister? Need a caddy, mister?"

The man did not say anything, but he noticed Felipe, who had worked his way close to the trunk of the car, where the man had moved to.

"Need a caddy, mister?" Felipe meekly asked.

The man smiled and commented, "You don't look older than ten to me, son! How much do you weigh?" he asked.

"I don't know, sir, but I'm twelve!" Felipe proudly pronounced.

"Hell, son, my golf bag weighs more than you! Why don't you come back when you're older and heavier?" As he unintentionally disappointed Felipe, he turned to Manuel and recognized him from previous stints. "You're Manuel, right?" he asked.

Manuel quickly stepped up to him and answered, "Yessir!" He too recognized the man as Ken Johnson, an athletically built, tall man who was well known for his golfing skills.

As the man opened the trunk, he issued instructions to Manuel. "Get my bag, son, and come with me!"

Manuel obeyed and quickly retrieved the golf bag from the trunk. He turned to Felipe and signaled for him to go with him. He then asked the man, while pointing to Felipe, "Can he come with us, Mr. Johnson? I'm teaching him to be a caddy!"

The man paused for a moment, looking at Felipe, and then said, "Yeah, but I'm not paying him!" He didn't wait for any reaction or further requests from Manuel and began walking toward the clubhouse as the two boys eagerly followed. When they got close to the clubhouse, they received additional instructions from the man. "You boys wait right here for me. I'll be back in a bit." He then walked into the members only building.

Manuel understood why they had to wait outside, for no caddy was allowed to enter the clubhouse, but Felipe was somewhat puzzled. "What's in there?" he asked Manuel.

"I don't know, but we can't go in there. It's for members only," he replied. "When he comes back, he's gonna play golf, and I'm going to carry this bag for him. That's what caddies do. I'll give you a chance to carry the bag for a few holes to get the idea," Manuel said as he began his teaching of Felipe.

"Oh, okay! I can do that!" Felipe confidently asserted.

"You watch me and do what I say," Manuel told Felipe as his lessons began. "You see this?" he asked, pointing to one of the clubs with a dark piece of wood and a red painted square with four screws driven into it. "This is the driver. It's to hit the ball the farthest." He pulled another club from the bag with a piece of dark silver metal with grooves cut along its face in parallel lines. "And this is an iron," he said. "You use it when you don't want to hit the ball as far. This is a putter," he said, pointing to another club with a long and flat piece of shiny metal. "It's used to get the ball in the hole when you get to the green."

"What hole?" Felipe asked.

"Out there," Manuel said, pointing in the direction of the course. "You'll see. Just do what I say and you'll learn! Okay?"

"Okay, Manuel. I will," Felipe responded.

Manuel then opened one of the pockets of the golf bag and pulled out some round white spheres. "These are golf balls," Manuel said, continuing his instructions. "They hit these to try to get them in the holes. You need to watch very closely when Mr. Johnson and the others hit a golf ball 'cause we're gonna have to find it so that they can hit it again until it goes in the hole." As he finished these instructions, Mr. Johnson came out of the clubhouse and walked over to them.

"Let's go, Manuel! We're on the tee box!" he ordered.

Manuel picked up the golf bag and began walking rapidly behind the golfer as he motioned to Felipe to follow. He turned to Felipe and admonished, "Oh, by the way, you need to stay very quiet when they're hitting the ball. If you mess them up, they will never let you caddy for them, okay?"

Felipe nodded affirmatively but said nothing. Now in addition to being confused, Felipe was somewhat scared. The last thing he wanted to do was to disappoint Manuel and lose the chance to learn to caddy. While he did not fully understand everything he had heard from Manuel, he began feeling confident that this was something he could do. He enthusiastically followed Manuel, who moved quickly with Mr. Johnson's bag on his shoulder toward the area where play usually began.

When they arrived at the first tee box, there were three other caddies waiting with their golfers. They were all experienced caddies who regularly worked for the golfers, who had chosen them from among all the eager boys looking for the only work they knew available to them. It was not difficult work, but some people equated the caddies with pack mules who took orders from pushy white men that played a silly game. Those voicing these views simply did not understand the game, and, more importantly, ignored the fact that the boys were doing something honest and productive while they stayed out of trouble.

The first hole was a par three about 135 yards from the tee box to the green. It required the player to hit the ball so that it flew over the San Felipe Creek and up a hill to get to the green where the flag was seen. Mr. Johnson stood at the tee box making some comments to the other golfers that Manuel and Felipe could not hear. He then turned and looked at Felipe and said, "Hey, kid, hand me the niblick, will ya?" Felipe tried hard not to look like he did not know what he had just asked for, but Manuel came quickly to his rescue. He pointed Felipe to the nine-iron in the bag. "The golf club with the nine on it," he whispered, and Felipe reached for it, pulled it out of the bag, and handed it to Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson smiled at him and gave him a wink, showing his approval. Manuel nodded his head to say "good going" to Felipe, thus giving him the satisfaction that he was on the way to learning how to become a good caddy. Mr. Johnson proceeded to place the ball on a tee on the ground while everyone remained quiet. He then took his swing and struck, making it fly high and straight in the direction of the green situated on top of the hill across the creek, landing about ten feet from the flag placed in the hole.

"Good shot, Ken!" one of the other players commented.

"Thanks," Mr. Johnson replied as he gave the club back to Felipe. Felipe grabbed it and instinctively knew that it had to be returned to the bag it had come from. He slipped it into the slot he had pulled it from and waited for the other players to hit their shots. As soon as they did, each caddy grabbed his golfer's bag and began walking to the first green. Manuel told Felipe to pick up Mr. Johnson's bag and carry it like the other caddies. He then looked at the first caddy and said, "Hey, Mario, this is Felipe. Felipe, this is Mario Lomas."

"Hi, Mario," Felipe said.

"Que tal, Felipe!" Mario greeted.

"This is Joe Trevino," Manuel said, pointing to the other caddy walking along his side.

"Hey!" Joe said.

"Hi, Joe!" Felipe said.

"You caddied before, Felipe?" Joe asked.

Felipe shook his head from side to side and said, "No, this is my first time."

"You'll do okay," Joe said confidently. "Just listen to Manuel. He can teach you a lot!"

"I will," Felipe replied with a smile.

"The other kid over there is Julio," Joe continued. "He's being doin' this for a year. We've been doin' it for three years. We also play. Do you play?"

"Play what?" Felipe answered.

"Golf," Joe said matter-of-factly. "Do you play golf?"

"No," Felipe responded. "But I could do this!" he said with an air of confidence as he struggled to maintain the leather strap of the golf bag on his shoulder while walking behind Manuel.

"Okay. When we get done here, I'll show you how to hit it. You can learn real good from me!" Joe professed as he arrived at the first green. "You can learn to be as good as Mario there," he said, pointing to the other caddy Felipe had just met. "But you can't be as good as me!" He quickly started laughing and walked toward his golfer.

His was not a false bravado. Before his family had moved from San Angelo to Del Rio in the preceding year, Joe had learned to caddy at a golf course in that city located to the northwest. By the time he started caddying at San Felipe, the tall slender, dark-haired fourteen-year-old had also learned to play the game quite well. He had grooved a good swing, even though he could only hit balls in the practice range when he and the other boys could sneak on while the members gathered inside the clubhouse. While only a year older than Felipe, Joe had developed a mature street sense, having spent his early years in the tough streets of the larger city, and this fueled his self-confidence.

Felipe stared in amazement but said nothing until Manuel got close to him. "Is he a good golfer?" he asked Manuel about Joe.

"Oh yeah!" Manuel answered affirmatively. "You'll see!" He pulled the putter from the bag and gave it to Mr. Johnson, who was studying the green.

"What do you think this putt is going to do, Manuel?" Mr. Johnson asked.

Manuel squatted down and looked at the ground between the ball and the hole. He then got up and walked to the opposite side and squatted down again and gazed at the flag and the area around it. "It's gonna move right about that much," he said confidently as he showed him with his thumb and forefinger a distance of about three inches.

Mr. Johnson squatted down and looked at the same ground. "I think you're right," he said as he stood next to the ball and got ready to make the stroke. He gently pulled the putter back and then forward gently, striking the ball. The ball rolled toward the hole while Felipe paid close attention to its movement. He saw the ball take a slight turn to the right and then disappear into the hole. "Yes!" Mr. Johnson exclaimed as the ball went in.

"Good birdie!" the other golfers said in unison. "Thanks!" he replied as he walked off the green.

"How did the ball do that?" Felipe asked Manuel.

Manuel smiled and simply said, "It just followed the grain and the ground."

"But how did you know the ball was gonna move like that?" Felipe asked.

"The ball moved that way 'cause the green has places that are higher than others and the grass is growing that way," he began to explain while pointing his hand to the right.

"What way?" Felipe asked with a puzzled look.

Manuel smiled and said, "I'll show you when we finish. We gotta move to the next tee right now! C'mon." He walked briskly to the next tee where the golfers were headed.

"Okay," Felipe said with resigned patience. He then moved quickly to the second tee box and waited for Mr. Johnson to ask for a club so he could try to learn more about which clubs were used in different situations. Before Mr. Johnson said anything, Manuel had already pulled a four-iron and was handing it to him. Mr. Johnson said nothing when he grabbed the club and began his pre-shot routine. He knew Manuel had picked out the right club without having to say anything. That's the kind of confidence he had in Manuel. Felipe picked up on this and made a mental note that he would one day be as good as Manuel and instill this same type of confidence in the players for whom he caddied.

Mr. Johnson proceeded to strike the ball down the short fairway and didn't wait for the ball to land before turning to Manuel to hand him the club. The next player to go to the tee box was the player for whom Julio was caddying. He was Dr. Bender, an older gentleman who did not possess nearly the same talent as Mr. Johnson. He asked Julio for a four-wood, which caused Julio to question the selection.

"Doctor Bender, why don't you hit the three-iron 'cause you hook the four-wood too much?"

"I know, but I won't hook it this time. I think I figured it out," the doctor replied. "Let me have the four!"

"Yessir!" Julio meekly replied and handed him the four-wood. Dr. Bender set up his shot, made a few practice swings, and then hit the golf ball with a pronounced right to left flight, causing it to land in the creek that was located to the left of the second hole's fairway.

"Damn!" the doctor exclaimed. He dropped the club by Julio's feet and started walking briskly away from the tee toward the fairway.

"Wait up, Doc!" Mr. Johnson shouted. "Paul and Gregg still have to hit!"

Dr. Bender looked back and mumbled something and then walked to the right away from the line of fire. The other two players hit their shots, and the entire group then walked down the fairway to approach the balls they had hit from the tee. Dr. Bender walked toward the edge of the creek about 150 yards down the fairway as Julio moved quickly toward him.

(Continues...)



Excerpted from Mustang Miracle by Humberto G. Garcia Copyright © 2012 by Humberto G. Garcia. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews