Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 45
In my view, the dreamers that contributed most to our present comfort and affluency are
those who dreamed about improving their own lives without specious claims of altruistic
purposes. They had the common dream of improving themselves with their own efforts,
at their own risk and for their own benefit. I was lucky to be among those who could
enter this state of affairs while young enough to help myself. There is no doubt that my
lot and the lot of my family and close associates were greatly improved by the pursuit of
my dreams in the United States of America. This improvement extended also, indirectly,
to the lots of all those I touched in my efforts to develop my dreams, whether here or
abroad. My experience is but a straw in the haystack of dreams-come-true in this
country.
The Olympic games hold a hypnotizing interest to me. They epitomize what to me is
best in a person and best in society. Myself being a “would-like-to-be-an-athlete” kind of
person even in my mature years, I have a very keen appreciation for the desire,
discipline, sacrifice, tenacity, integrity, stamina, talent and strength of body and
character Olympians have to have. Every Olympian is an inspiration to me and our
American champions are my heroes. I have not had the privilege to meet many Olympic
champs but, through a closer contact with their coaches, I have shared the realization of
the dreams of two of them. At a very personal level, they are the archetype of individual
dreamers who in open competition lift society on their shoulders like Atlas lifted the
world.
As a student at Texas A&M, I came to know a totally dedicated teacher in the Phys Ed
department by the name of Emil Mamaliga; he was my diving coach when I represented
the university in that sport. “Mami”, as we called him, was really involved in the life of his
boys. His specialties were wrestling and weight training, although over the years he
taught just about any sport under his department’s roof. A few years later he became a
key coach to inspire and encourage the great Randy Matson to go after the gold medal
in the shot put. As a freshman in college the towering Matson won the silver medal in
the 1964 Olympics at Tokyo, but many of us who knew him were sure his superior
abilities could be developed even further. He dreamed big and inspired us all to dream
with him.
Mami tracked Randy’s progress with the accuracy of an accountant, the perseverance
of a detective, and the loyalty of a father. By the time Randy won the Olympic gold in
Mexico City in 1968, Mami had filled several books of statistics on every thing from
Randy’s throws, to the perimeter of all his limbs, his body composition, his diet, his
injuries, his schedules, even his moods. He shared some of these records with me and
demonstrated plainly that the road to the top is not just natural ability and determination.
The pursuit of a dream at that level is a complicated and long journey full of logistic
nightmares. Realizing his dream took the better part of 8 years of his life!
Autobiography.doc 45 of 239