By TRACY RENCK
There is plenty of turnaround in head coaching jobs at the high school level.
At East High School, that’s not a worry for the girls’ softball and basketball programs.
Both squads are in good hands with Ben Garcia.
Garcia, an East alumnus, has guided the Eagle softball program for a 18 years and he has been in charge of basketball for 11 seasons.
“I have been blessed with many great memories coaching, but the two that stand out are coaching my own daughter (Amanda), and secondly having the opportunity to be involved in a small part of some great young women’s lives and watching them grow to be great adults,” said Garcia, who was inducted into the Greater Pueblo Sports Association Hall of Fame in 2007.
“East High School has been great to me and my family, to give me to the opportunity to coach at one place for so long has been a dream come true. Actually, my job as a coach has been easy with all the help from my assistant coaches, who do a lot of the dirty work. I would have never been in the coaching business this long, so a big thanks to them,” Garcia said.
In softball, Garcia’s Eagles finished second in the Class 4A softball ranks four times: 1996 and 2001-2003.
For years, East hoops had been a run-of-the-mill program, but that changed not long after Garcia arrived.
The Eagles have been one of the top teams in the South-Central League and in the state for the past several years. In March 2004, East finished with a 25-1 record with its lone loss against Mullen in double overtime in the Class 4A state semifinals.
Garcia also coached East’s volleyball team for one season in 2006, and guided the Eagles to a surprising second-place finish in the S-CL.
If coaching wasn’t enough, Garcia also is a standout referee, respected throughout the state.
Garcia initially garnered attention because his own play on the field.
He played for the then-University of Southern Colorado baseball team from 1974 to 1978, and in fastpitch softball he was one of the top infielders in the nation. He has made more than 30 appearances in the Amateur Softball Association and the International Softball Congress world tournaments. He was selected to the all-world team in 1982 and inducted into the Colorado ASA Hall of Fame in 2005.
Garcia also was selected to the ASA Masters 45-over all-American team for his play at shortstop in the 2006 national championships in Chicago.
“My dad founded those Nefi Garcia Leagues. It seems like we never stopped playing games,” Garcia said in a 2007 article in The Pueblo Chieftain. “Everything I’ve ever done, I owe to him.”
When Garcia thinks about his decorated career as an athlete, he had a couple of moments that stuck out for him.
“I have a ton of memories but the two that stand out most are when I was 8 years old my dad (Nefi, the coach) let me suit up with my older brothers to play in an all regional church (18-and-under) tournaments. I didn’t get to play but I can remember just sitting on the bench and that was the best thing in the world for me,” Garcia, 56, said. “Secondly, when I was selected for the all-world fastpitch softball team in 1982.”
Legendary fastpitch player Alan Colglazier said in a past Chieftain article that Garcia’s passion for softball is unmatched.
“He has a genuine love of the game and a passion for the sport,” said Colglazier, a former pitcher who also is in the Colorado ASA Hall of Fame. “Ben always wants to be the best he can be, no matter what he’s doing. At the same time, he is very humble. You don’t see the kind of humility he shows very much in sports these days.
“Defensively, I didn’t see very many people better than Ben. He was fast and a great infielder. I played against him and with him and he was always a class act.”
Although Garcia is a native of Pueblo, coming back to the Steel City was not a given for him.
“After college, I became employed with the government and soon signed a mobility agreement that had my family moving on a frequent basis,” Garcia said. “The last place we lived before Pueblo was South Korea, and it was fate that we came home because while on leave to attend my grandmother’s funeral, I made a visit to the (Pueblo Chemical) depot and Lt. Col. (Carmen) Spencer, the commander at the time, asked me if I would be interested in taking a management position there at the depot. So I called back to my wife (Beth) who was teaching in Korea and couldn’t make the trip. Her comment was ‘It’s your choice,’ and although it was a tough decision at the time, we decided to come and be with our family and friends. It was the best decision I ever made. It just so happened that the softball coaching position had just opened up at East when I got to town and I have been there ever since.”
Garcia’s life also has not been void of adversity. In February 2007, Garcia was diagnosed with lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the lymphatic system. Specifically, Garcia was diagnosed with follicular cancer, which is a slow-growing cancer, and the doctors believed it might have been growing for some time — it just hadn’t been detected.
“My last checkup said I was negative and I didn’t show any symptoms of the cancer, but, with the follicular cancer sometimes it hides and has a tendency to come back,” Garcia said recently. “I have been negative for the last 2 years and that’s really what I ride on. I’m now seeing my doctor every year and the next appointment I have is in September.”
Presently, Garcia is embracing a new challenge.
Last month, Garcia left Pueblo and is overseas in Kuwait assisting in the United States military transition out of Iraq.
“(President Barack Obama) eventually will be moving the troops out of Iraq, and what I will be doing is helping in the transition of headquarters from one location to another and making sure the troop support is available,” said Garcia, who works as director of operations of emergency management at the Pueblo Chemical Depot. “The commander in Pueblo had to approve me leaving and that was no problem. I’m just getting called up as a civilian in the military effort.”
Garcia is expecting to return to Pueblo at the end of July.
“It was very difficult at my age to leave my family and coaching position at such a critical time,” Garcia said. “But to be here and be able to witness our military firsthand and the things they do day-in and day-out to make us a free country is beyond words. I made the right choice and as corny as it may sound — but not to us here — I’m proud to be an American.”