I ran quite a few miles with Ricky Garcia back in the day. And although I remember nearly all of them quite fondly, Ricky doesn't remember any of them. He doesn't remember anything from his days running at PSU!
Following his exuberant 4 years running for Coach Groves, Ricky suffered at least two strokes, the last of which left him with no memories of his time with us.
In speaking with him recently with the help of the internets, I promised I would do what I can to bring back some of those memories by appealing to all of you. We would love to get some feedback of anecdotes, stories, pictures, videos or memorabilia from those who knew him back then to fill in the gaps in his memory. Please contribute.
Ricky relates that hearing of some of his exploits seems alien to the person he has become since his mishaps. He is amused when told how he battled Coach Groves every step of the way. Coach Groves chuckled the last time I brought up Ricky with him! Ricky really has lived 2 separate lives. Faith, family and friends predominate his life now, which is a pretty good way to end up no matter how you got there! Let's help him bridge the two lives.
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| Ricky in High School (with Ted Lyon) |
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| Tom Rapp, John Zishka, Ricky Garcia (in back of Zishka), Dwight Stephens, Jeff Adkins. |
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| Ricky leading steeple at PSU ahead of past American Record Holder. |
Hope that the stories and photos shared with him will help him recover his memories of those good times he experienced at Penn State. And thanks to those alums who are helping with this.
ReplyDeleteTrey Jackson (An indirect product of Coach Groves)
His head-to-head battles with Coach were legendary. Two headstrong individuals not willing to give an inch makes for popcorn-munching frivolity! Ricky says he never ran more than 5 miles before coming to PSU. He blossomed when he stopped doing longer runs and made everything short and fast, ala Horace Ashenfelter. Not a bad mentor, BTW!
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