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S*n Antonio SXPSES5/NEWS — Sunday, May 14, 1967ilCook♦ • - •.STourWith DAN COOKExecutive Sports Editor1vEForgoUcn FighterHIS FACE LOOKS AS THOUGH It might have been chipped from marble but the stone crumples well when he flashes a warm smile. You have to look hard to find the tiny sears thatcircle his deep-set eyes. TheCARLOS GARCIAyears have creased them with wrinkles so that now they’re hardly visible.Carlos Garcia was at work in the Municipal Auditorium basement when I located him the other day. He seemed happy to see me.Nine years had passed since Carlos and I last sat down to review the stormy highlights of his life. He hadn't changed much. Oh, the handsome head of silver hair he wore nine years ago is thinning out with a path up the middle but for all of his 55 years he's still catlike quick with a Jot of bounce In his little legs.As a janitor at our auditorium for the last 20 Years Garcia hasn’t needed! his gift of speed too often. Rut he oncepulled hard from the supply to become known' as one ’of the fastest fighters ever lo don gloves.Ills hands carry huge !unips from fractures improperly, the chieftreated many years ago. TJicy also carry a broom tool of his trade.Carlos has no complaints to offer but throughout his life he's either been too early or too late with his careers.Some folks suffer from bad times but Carlos has been a victim of bad timing. Yet, he stays healthy and happy, t, .£mrteon years after he was bom in Mexico City he began fighting professionally. In 19 years of campaigning he totaled almost 400 fights, A humble but proud man, as he looks back it now seems important to Garcia that he won his first and last bouts. He quit a winner, something most boxers fail to accomplish.Yd, allhough his entire youth was absorbed by boxing and he enjoyed some great moments, Carlos failed lo find much of a place in the pages of ring history and his jinest needs have been remembered by only a few.Iilo ?racdmwa.1strSpcseenlnSpjmlsecBoxing buffs arrive early and stay laic on the nigh Is when there's a program at the Auditorium. They discuss the old-timers who thrilled them long ago and the names of Kid Atleca, Barney Ross and Kid Ranch o are often tossed about.Nobody notices the little guy with the broom, checking In with the clean-up crew after the lights are dimmed. And it’s just as well because it would only start an argument If you tried lo explain that he whipped all tho.se fighters mentioned above.sin.P—3theBr.1inwhNi«fieWhipped Barney RossthisBto:IT RTIRREl) A LOT OF MEMORIES when Barney Ross cashed ’em In a few months ago. Writers throughout the nation .sang high praise for the one-time champion who became a Marine war hero.But my mind drifted tn the Auditorium. Barney, you see, was a point of great pride for Carlos.ro3uhenBThe man who’s been toiling as a Janitor here for 29 years was the first boxer to whip Ross. And that made him one of just four to do so In Barney’s kwig career.hesc\That high point in Garcia’s life came in 1930 when Ross was three years away from winning the world's lightweight title.Barney paid great tribute lo the Mexican's speed and stamina when it was over. His handlers, disappointed over losing the perfect record, questioned Ross after the fight.Why didn’t you get Lo him, Barney?they asked.And Ross replied, “Hell, the only time I got a good look at him was tot ween rounds when he was siltin' on his stool.MiFAAc i TCI Cai MJr*rCBiMULe.-Nlci*Beat Kiel PanchoABSENCE, THEY SAY, MAKES the heart grow fonder. So perhaps that’s why local boxing fans stilt rave about Kid Rancho and Kid Azleca, a couple of all-time San Anlonio favorites.Nobody raves about Carlos Garda, the fellow who whipped them both when they were In their primes. But then, they’re both gone from these parts and Carlos Is no farhlcr away than a brooni handle.It was in 1933 that Garcia slrajpcd it on with Pancho here at old Beethoven Hall. A capacity crowd left the arena that night swearing they’d never forget ihe tout. But they forgot the winner.Missed by FameTHE HEAVY HANDS OF FAME and fortune never reached for Carlos and some find ft incredible that such a fighting man with such a record could visit boxing shows here with no recognition.Carlos waits in the wings, silting far in the back, watching the bouts alone.And then, when the last fighter leaves and fans file out he stirs inlo action once again. Not in the ring, around it. Not with gloves, with a broom.Tronic as it seems, all sorts of bums have been introduced from ring’s center here in the last 20 years. Bui nobody’s given a tumble to the little janitor with the brightest boxing record in Uio house.oAtlcPL1IE-LO t li. TorSpMLtnN?clPIJCMlk Me tF-'tK-K L «*r A—IVG1UnhewilsioasPc\aittheyeofbe
Newspaper Details
San Antonio Express and News
San Antonio, Texas, US
Sun, May 14, 1967
Page 79
Full Page
Clipped by
Renee L.
USA 23 Apr 2021
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