Walter Reyna’s San Diego roots shaped his success

 

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 Walter at St. Francis de Paula Catholic school, where he received his education through 6th grade. In 1957-60, he transitioned to San Diego  Junior High, where he became acquainted with basketball. Ironically, he failed to make the track team, a sport that molded his life for years. 

He attended San Diego High School from 1960-64. He started his basketball career during his first year, playing in the Junior Varsity team. Also, that year, Coach Modesto Garcia, known to his players as Coach Mo,  discovered Walter’s natural stamina while running the 600-yard dash as part of President Kennedy’s physical fitness program. Later, he defeated the school’s mile record holder, who was a senior. That Freshman year, Walter set the school mile record with a 4:41 run at the district meet. 

The following year, he made the varsity basketball team as a reserve shooting guard on the district championship team. At the same time, as a sophomore, he set the state record in the mile for 2A schools with a 4:27.3 time at the district meet in 1962 and was ranked 5th overall in Texas. The following year, Reyna was recovering from the flu. He lost the district race by 1/10 second to Benavides’ Delfino Garza.

Walter Reyna at Hall of Fame
induction ceremony in Laredo.

Photo by Idalia Davila

As a junior, he moved up to a varsity starter in basketball and, playing on the district championship team, was selected as an all-district guard. Then came the providential 1963-64 basketball season. Reyna was a varsity starter at guard and made the all-district team again. After going undefeated through district, bi-district, and regional, the Vaqueros found themselves in Austin, competing in the state Final Four tournament, and came home with a Bronze medal. 

Texas A&I, Lamar University, and Stephen F. Austin offered basketball scholarships to Tommy Molina, Manuel Esparza, and Reyna as a “package deal.” Coach Mo turned all three schools down. The coach felt that each had unique talents: Molina was the only college-level basketball player, Esparza was a stellar football athlete, and Walter was a “track guy.”

“Coach Mo hand-picked Howard County Junior College for me so that I could ‘mature,’” Reyna said. Howard County was the National Junior College Track Champion. Coach Mo told me, “I want you to be a ‘big fish’ in a small pond.” In 1965-66, Reyna won the National Junior College 2-mile championship and was runner-up in the mile, being nipped at the tape both years. “I did not receive any training for distance racing, as the math teacher was our coach, but more like a babysitter,” Reyna said. 

In 1966-69, he moved to Baylor University on a track scholarship. As a junior, he had the fastest time in the Southwest Conference in the 3-mile run and broke the Baylor record. However, he finished 5th at the Southwest Conference meet in mile and 3-mile due to Coach Hart “doubling me” in 102 heat and with 45 minutes rest between the two events. 

In 1968, Reyna was voted captain of the track team and won the Southwest Conference 3-mile race, setting a new conference record. He became the fastest Southwest Conference 3-miler in history up to that time, with a time of 13:49.6. Others have bettered the time since then. After being undefeated in the 3-mile run and winning many mile races, Reyna received the Outstanding Track and Field Athlete award at Baylor in 1968. That same year, he received an invitation to the NCAA Track/Field Championship in Berkeley, California. 

Reyna received a BS degree in Kinesiology/Education and stayed an extra year at Baylor to assist Coach Hart with the middle and long-distance runners. The following year, he received a junior high teaching/coaching job at Spring, Texas. Subsequently, Coach Mo lured him to Robstown with a pay raise, where he taught and coached 9th-grade football, cross country, and track. Corpus Christi ISD attracted Reyna to Carroll High School two years later with another raise. He was head of the cross country and girls’ track and assistant for boys’ track. Finally, in 1974, Brownsville ISD offered Reyna the head track and cross country position and another raise. He coached at Brownsville Hanna High for two years, leading his team to the Regional Cross Country championship. 

In 1976, Reyna took a different life turn when former Abilene Christian College track coach, now retired, lured him to the private sector as a financial adviser, offering 403b programs to school employees in Brownsville ISD. Five years later, in 1981, Reyna opened a business with retirement portfolios for individuals. Today, the company manages $100 million. 

Reyna muses on what he took away from those championship years at San Diego. Mostly, he says, “was the creation of trust, depending on each other’s abilities and friendships from my teammates.”

“It is my view,” Reyna reminisces, “all of us had an ego and fear of judgment or disapproval from others. We had an attitude of perfectionism and set very high standards for ourselves. We practiced to obtain flawless output. There was some ‘sprinkling’ of narcissism in all of us.

“Mistakes drove us crazy. In addition, many of us had God-given traits to build on—things like reaction, size (Tommy), strength (Manuel), agility, and quickness.”

Reyna added that the team had good backup, as evidenced by Luis Barrera when he took over from Manuel Esparza when the refs “fouled” him out of the game at Regionals against Tuloso Midway. “Our coaches set good examples for young men, taught us the fundamentals, and conditioned us to the max,” Reyna added. “Finally, I can say that we played like we had a ‘chip’ on our shoulder.”

His consejos for the young Vaqueros is simple, “Be true to yourself in your academic and athletic school years. If you work in academics and athletics, be consistent, practice, and practice more to perfect what you wish to accomplish. My approach was, I must practice even if I don’t feel like it because if I don’t, ‘they’re gaining on me.’”