Soy de Duval

Tommy Molina (#28) with the 1964 South Texas All-Star team that won the Texas High School All-Star game. (Photo courtesy of Tommy Molina)  Tommy Molina led the 1964 San Diego Vaqueros state basketball finalist team, but he and his team members will no doubt give credit to the entire team, including the reserves and coaches. Still, at 6’4 ¾”, Molina was the big man on the court and provided much energy to the squad. During the pre-district games, Molina was the top scorer with 297 points, averaging 17.5 points per game, although the starters played only the first half in seven of those games. Tommy Molina practices for the Texas All-Star game in 1964. (Photo by Alice Echio-News) In the bi-district game against Donna, Molina was the leading scorer with 18 points. At the regional opener, he scored 32 points. In the regional championship game against Sweeney, Walter Reyna and Manuel Esparza each scored 20 points and Molina 18. Molina and Esparza controlled the backboards throughout th...

Hall of Fame Vaqueros were honored at the game in San Diego on Friday, February 9. Pictured, from left, are Lupe Ibarra, Walter Reyna, Roel Perez, Carlos Treviño, Ruben Escobar, Manuel Esparza, and Tommy Molina. Luis Barrera, Raul de Leon, and Homero Rosas were not able to attend. (Photos by Angelica E. Maldonado.) Rubén Escobar played where the coaches needed him with the 1964 San Diego Vaqueros basketball state finalists. “Bench players–called BWA-Bench Warmers Association–practiced defense,” Escobar said. “Coach Mo (Modesto García) would use us as needed. I would go in for Tommy (Molina) or Meme (Esparza). I even played one game as a point guard; my instructions were to feed the ball to Tommy, who scored a bunch of points that game.” The BWA played that position because Walter Reyna and Carlos Treviño participated in a cross-country race the next day, and Coach Mo did not want them tired.  “We were used mainly if one had foul trouble,” Escobar said. “But we took the games seriou...

  Walter Reyna, left, works out with Manuel Esparza. Growing up in the small town of San Diego had its positives, says Walter Reyna, a member of the 1963-64 Vaqueros basketball state finalists. “Closeness among our friends, a feeling of family, and being around our teammates and friends gave us a feeling of safety and security and the notion that ‘less is more,’” Reyna said. “On paper, we had less, but we created our world with fewer distractions and more creativity.” Reyna was the son of James S. Reyna and Inez Viola Tobin-Garcia. His dad managed the Regis Theater & later sold cars for the Oil Belt Chevrolet Co. Walter grew up in his great-grandparents’ home and always had other relatives who might have needed a “helping” hand at some point in their lives living with the Reyna family. “So, it’s like I had brothers and sisters,” Walter, an only child, said.   At the center of this family-oriented world were faith and education. In 1952-53, his parents enrolled Wal...