Treviño shared his talents with future Vaqueros

 

Starters in the 1964 Vaqueros basketball team that played in the state tournament were
Carlos Treviño, Walter Reyna, Tomas Molina, Manuel Esparza, and Lupe Ibarra.

(Photos courtesy of Carlos Treviño .)

Like the rest of his teammates in the 1964 San Diego Vaqueros state basketball team, Carlos Treviño began his academic career at St. Francis de Paula Catholic School. And like the rest of them, he was exposed to various sports at an early age. 

Treviño attended St. Francis from 1952-1956 and then transferred to the San Diego public schools in the third grade. He got his first exposure to sports when he joined Little League and played at a Little League Park built at Plaza Alcala by Duval County Commissioner Tomas Molina, Sr. “I couldn't catch the ball, but I learned to work hard at it to get better to be able to get playing time, Treviño said. 

In time, he got the hang of the sport and, at the age of eleven, made the All-Star team. At about the same time, he met Coaches Anthony Cubriel and Modesto Garcia, who were very active in Little League. “I checked back a few years ago and noticed in a roster of the Little League that all eleven of the San Diego Vaqueros state basketball team played baseball,” Treviño noted. 

Besides playing baseball, he had to help at home, especially during the summer. His parents, Humberto Z. Treviño and Florence S. Treviño, had six children, of which Chale was the fourth. The family lived in a 2-bedroom, 1-bath home, and nine-year-old Chale had to help provide for the family. “I was a shoe shine boy working the Main Street and at times helping at the U-Take-M drive-in store,” he recalled. “I also picked cotton and worked what we called ‘la sandia’.”

As a 5th grader, Treviño was exposed to organized basketball with Mr. Milton Freisenhan, the 7th-grade basketball coach and physical education teacher. Mr. J. M. Garcia was the 8th-grade coach and invited seven 7th- and 6th-grade boys to participate; they called themselves the “C Team.” It was here that he learned the fundamentals of the game. He soon moved up to play with the 8th graders, who were now coached by Mr. Loreto Trejo. “He taught us the old-fashioned one-step set shot, which is not used anymore, but the state basketball team did use it," Treviño noted.

 “I wanted to be just like my brother Ventura,” Treviño said, referring to his older brother, who was a basketball standout in his own right. “My brother was fast, quick, and could jump. Well, I was too slow and couldn't jump very high. There was one track meet in San Diego that I participated in the Long Jump and High Jump.” Coach Michael O'Grady forced him to run the 2.5-mile race. Treviño took it easy the first mile, but his coach was not having any of that and told Treviño that “if I did not step it up, I was getting hell in P.E. At the time, I was in 18th place and running scared because of the punishment that I was to receive. I picked up the pace, and by the last lap, I was in second place.” 

In 1961, as a Freshman, Treviño joined football, but when he took his uniform to get it washed at home, his mother was having none of it. He was 5' 4" and weighed 95 pounds; his mother made him return the uniform. He continued hanging around football practice when Coach Mo asked if he planned to play basketball. After he responded that he was, the coach told him that basketball was a running sport and he needed to be in good condition. “So I joined the Cross Country team but was not too happy about it,” Treviño said. Since there were not many schools at the time participating in this sport, San Diego got an invitation to the state meet, where Treviño finished in nineteenth and the Vaqueros placed fifth. 

At the start of the basketball season, Treviño was on the B team. At the end of my first game, Coach Mo informed him he was “a terrible defensive player" and needed to get better if he expected to see any playing time. 

However, he did much better running the mile in the track season. While he was not doing well at first, he placed second behind Walter Reyna in the last competition before the district. He ran a 4:49 mile and came in fourth at the district meet. At the state meet, however, Treviño placed second in the long jump. 

He gained strength in his sophomore year of cross-country and could stay up with Reyna in practice. Reyna won the state cross-country meet, and Treviño came in fifth out of about 160 runners. 

Carlos Trevino
during playing days.

When the next basketball season came around, Treviño improved as a defensive player and had some 25-point games with the junior varsity team. By the start of the district games, he was moved up to the varsity and got to play alongside his brother Ventura. 

At the start of the track season, at the McAllen Relays, Coach Mo moved Treviño to the 880-yard run, and he won the meet with a time of 2:06. He went on to place first in regional with a 2:02 and eighth place in the state. In cross country, the Vaqueros dominated most of the meets, especially the meet at Texas A&M College Station. However, the state meet was postponed because of bad weather, so he switched to basketball.

“I was not a starter until the fifth game at the Hebbronville Tournament against Solomon Coles,” Treviño pointed out. “I was nervous when Coach Garcia told me I was starting. I had to take two aspirins. However, I did very well and scored 18 points. That was the highest I scored that year with the state-bound team, and my average was around 11 points per game.”

In early December, the state Cross-Country Meet was back on in the middle of the basketball season. Reyna placed second, and Treviño came in seventh. Meanwhile, the 1964 track season started late because the Vaqueros basketball team made it to the state tourney. He only attended five meets but still managed to win the district in the 800-yard run, place second at the regional, and place fifth in the state with a time of 1:59.6.

In 1964, the basketball season did not go as well as the year before, but Treviño was a unanimous all-district selection. The 1965 track season went very well for the Vaqueros as they now had a 1-2 punch in the 880 with Treviño and Frank Aguayo. Both made it to the state meet, placing third and fifth, respectively. Plus, the San Diego Mile Relay team was undefeated until regional, where they came in second in an almost tied race. They placed fifth in the state, and their school record still stands from 1965 at 3:25.8. San Diego did not have enough money that year to field a Cross Country team. 

Treviño went on to Blinn Jr. College on a scholarship and decided to transfer to Texas A&I University in Kingsville. He joined the National Guard and returned six months later from training in Ford Ord, California. He was an insurance agent for five years, married, and had three children with his wife, Evita: Carlos Homero, Juan Oscar, and Florence Selina. Subsequently, he married Ruth Rodriguez from Corpus Christi, and they have two children, Rowena and Reynaldo. 

He joined the San Diego ISD as a teacher assistant and coach. He coached basketball, track, and cross country under Rupert Canales for 13 years. In 1995 Treviño stopped coaching for three years but returned as the school district's food service director and resumed coaching. He sent several athletes to the state meets as a cross country and track coach. Several school track records from those years still stand in long distance (400 meters to 3,200 meters). 

“I was not a very gifted athlete,” Treviño admits. All it took was hard work and staying ahead of the competition. "I got up early and ran three miles before school started, and I was the last to leave practice by putting in that extra work.”

While Trevino got a plan to play in the state finals, he also took another San Diego team to the state track meet in 1984. The members of the team included Roel Garcia, Ernesto Flores, Marty Ramirez, Polo Perez, and David Vasquez.