Tommy Molina, stood tall with '63-'64 Vaqueros roundballers

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 the game. Proof of team effort was displayed in the regional championship when Coach Mo Garcia gave the starters, except for Esparza, a rest with two minutes left in the game. Contrary to the crowd’s expectations, the reserves widened the lead.

 In the opening game at the state tournament, the Vaqueros fell to Lancaster 69-53, with Reyna scoring 18, and Molina had an “off day in hitting the basket but still picked up 17 points.” Molina fouled out late in the game. In the third-place match at state against Jefferson, Molina was the Vaqueros’ leading scorer with 19 points. At the tournament’s end, Molina was the only unanimous pick for the all-state tournament team. 

He was also invited to play in the All-Star Schoolboy Basketball Tournament. While newspapers throughout the state, including the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, picked the north to win, Molina’s south team scored an upset, with him “controlling the boards” and scoring six points, coincidentally the winning margin. Thus, an illustrious high school basketball career came to an end. Molina, went on to play at Rice University on a four-year scholarship and lettered three of the four years he was on the team. 

Molina was born to Tomas and Juanita Molina on April 10, 1946, in Alice, Texas. In addition to a twin sister, Juanita Rosita (Rosie), he has an older sister, Sylvia. He married Veronica Canales in San Diego, and they raised three children: Tomas (RIP), Andres, and Rebecca. They have six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Like many teammates, he started his educational career at St. Francis de Paula Catholic School in San Diego, where he attended K-6th grade. He got his high school diploma at San Diego High School in 1964 and a Bachelor of Commerce from Houston’s Rice University in 1968. He also received seminar training in various fields that later served him in his career as a banker and realtor.

After working for Sears stores throughout Texas and Sears International as a Credit Auditor/inspector in Venezuela, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, Molina returned home to San Diego in 1977, where he took the position of Operations VP at the First State Bank of San Diego. He also served as Loan and Collection officer and Advisory Director. From 1960 to 1991, Molina owned and managed the San Diego Feed & Seed, a farm-ranch supply store. Since 1977, he has been the owner/broker of Duval Real Estate, which deals in farm-ranch-residential sales, agriculture opinions of value/ranch management, consulting, development and sales of ranch land for the Texas Veteran Land Board, and building, Fh.M.A. Homes in San Diego and Duval County.

Molina has also been active in public service as a San Diego Independent School District board member from 1990 to 2002, serving as President (1993 to 1995) and Secretary (1995 to 1997). He was a member of a board of trustees that repaired the district’s credit rating enough to sell bonds for a new high school, which remains the flagship of the San Diego school system. He also served as a Duval County Appraisal District board member and on numerous other civic organizations.

Molina offers his mission statement for those entering the world of work. “Listen, learn, and make decisions based on facts,” he says. “Accept diversity, be sensitive to the opinions of all, and be perceptive to the needs of all factions.” Also, “be objective and goal-oriented. Motivate, inspire, and recognize” those with whom you are working “to accomplish common goals.”