In Mexico, soccer players are idols and kids learn the game at an early age. When he was eight years old, Garcia organized a soccer team of his neighborhood friends. "I thought we could have a good team," he said, "and I was not shy. To be part of a league, we needed a coach, a representative and a referee. I was everything, playing and coaching at the same time."
Garcia immigrated to the United States in 1971 and made his home in Walla Walla. His enthusiasm and initiative once again brought the sport of soccer to life. He organized the first amateur team in the area, the Walla Walla Aztecs, who scrimmaged with Whitman College, Walla Walla College and other local schools.
In 1976 Garcia organized the first Cinco de Mayo soccer tournament in the local area. Whitman beat the Aztecs 5-0 in the inaugural championship game and the tournament remains a much-anticipated yearly event. Garcia also helped create a local Mexican-American adult soccer league that has grown to include 18 teams.
Whitman pulled Garcia onto its playing field in 1990, and his organizational skills and solid knowledge of the game have transformed its soccer team into a successful program. "The team has improved so much every year," Garcia said. "It's the new freshmen and their winning attitude. They love the sport from inside the heart. To be a Whitman soccer player you must love it because it takes time and time is gold here. Every year brings a fresh new generation of good athletes and scholars."
The number of talented newcomers has increased in recent years as word of Whitman's soccer success has spread. Garcia said his players play a key role by promoting the program in their hometowns and at their former high schools.
Brady Bennon, a sophomore from Tucson, Arizona, who played for prestigious high school and club teams, said soccer at Whitman has been a new experience. Never before, he noted, has he worked with a group of people so mutually supportive and committed to a common goal. Garcia's character helps mold that positive atmosphere, Bennon said. "He's a friend for the team. Santos is a great guy who cares for each individual player. He'd do anything for the team."
Garcia and his players began their 1995 fall season with a high degree of optimism. "Everyone is out there to improve the team," Bennon said. "Everyone is filling roles really well and it's amazing how everyone wants to work."
Garcia echoed those sentiments. "This soccer team is very united," he said. "It's a great feeling to see the bond between seniors and freshmen. They all help each other, support each other, take care of each other. There is great unity. We're going to do great this year."
Garcia is a man dedicated to the sport of soccer but he does have a second passion as well -- saddlemaking. Garcia began his saddlemaking career as an apprentice at the age of six. "I wanted to be a saddlemaker so badly I spent four or five years learning, learning, learning after school," he said.
Garcia, who owns a saddle shop in nearby Milton-Freewater, Oregon, believes his occupation is not just a job, but an art. He fondly remembers finishing his first saddle when he was 12, and he sadly shakes his head when he admits he did not keep it.
"Making a saddle is like building a castle," Garcia said. "The people who make castles never get to live in them, and the people who make saddles never see them again."
With all the time he must share between the Whitman soccer team and his saddle shop, one wonders how he does it all. Garcia shifts the credit to his family. "Everything I do is because I have an incredible lady for a wife and four incredible sons aged 21, 18, 17 and 9," Garcia said. "My sons all play soccer. There are two things they must learn at home: chess and soccer. Because of my saddle shop, they also learn the basics of that art."
Garcia is a craftsman, an artist. Whether it is on the soccer field or in his saddle shop, he commits himself to excellence and brings it out in others.
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