A post from Jose Francisco Garcia about our Gente, this is what FB is about!!! : Kansas City Chicano sports teams, from basketball, to softball and baseball, since the early 40s, have been in the forefront of youth involvement, a true American story. This American history is what charges my batteries every day, knowing that our RAZA, NUESTRA GENTE, have never stood on the sidelines of life, in sports, in work, in Community. It just so happens that it is left to us, the Mexican American, to document this history of our Gente, living in a great Nation, our Nation. You know, I did not have time to become involved in this tournament in any capacity, let alone to assume the duties and responsibilities of an event photographer. But when I went to the event site at Gross Catholic High School, I was rewarded for my presence in unbelievable ways! I met Andrew J Perez Jr, a Kansas Citian whose Facebook posting I found interesting. I hooked up with Jimmy Valdepena, a friend from my grade school days at Our Lady of Guadalupe, on the West Side, who now lives in North Platte ! I hooked up with a man called Jesse Rivera, my age, worked and retired for the same railroad, and who I found out may be related to my wifes Father, Tony Rivera, thus a member of the family I never knew about! To top it off, I also met Lupe Gomez Montes, the matriarch of the Gomez Family, whose Mother I found out was a Flores, with people living in Kansas City. Well, my MamaGrande, married into the Flores family in Kansas City, so off I go into another Family connection quest! All in all, I was meant to be at the tournament. The level of Basketball was fantastic with the Championship going to the best coached team in the tournament whose coach Mike Garcia, told me he was related to all those people I went to grade school with!!! For crying out loud, the 60th Annual Mexican American Basketball Tournament , run by Frankie Gomez, was so much like a life-jacket, that I will continue wearing with honor and pride as I head towards horizons set by so many wonderful people proving that in fact WE ARE ALL CONNECTED, to each other. SOMOS LA GENTE.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 20:35:44 +0000
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