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 Despite having outdated and inferior equipment, no professional lessons or instructions, four young golfers with self-taught swings from the border city of Del Rio, captured the State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.
Sprache
Dateigröße
ISBN-13
978-1-4772-6990-9 (9781477269909)
Schweitzer Klassifikation
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.
