If It Wasn’t True, You Wouldn’t Believe It

Five Mexican American kids who were caddies at a small-town West Texas country club build themselves a couple of golf holes, train themselves to play, start a golf team and three years later win the 1957 Texas state championship.

Get out of here. Even Hollywood wouldn’t expect us to believe something so far-fetched.

But the story is true and very important and you can see it reflected in the new film, “The Long Game,” which is based on the San Felipe High School boys golf team, the school on “the other side of the tracks” in the Rio Grande border town of Del Rio, Texas. The team was formed in 1954-55 and stocked with five self-made players. Three years later, they were Class 1A state
champions.

Their journey — growing up as Mexican Americans in the 1950s, learning how to negotiate the social and golf mores of the day and learning to compete in a game perceived as being strictly for the affluent — is documented in the movie. Based on the book “Mustang Miracle” by Del Rio graduate Humberto G. Garcia and distributed by Mucho Mas Media, it’s directed by L.A. native and current Austin, Texas, resident Julio Quintana. The movie was released in April and as of June 1, it’s generated more than $6 milli in worldwide revenues.

The story centers around five boys — Lupe Felan, Mario Lomas, Felipe Romero, Joe Trevino and Gene Vazquez — all of whom worked as caddies at the Del Rio CC. Their access to the club and its talented players spurred their interest in the game. They were allowed to play the course on Mondays when the club was closed. Otherwise, they developed their games by playing two holes they constructed in an undeveloped part of town.

School superintendent J.B. Peña, played by actor Jay Hernandez (“Magnum P.I.”), was also an avid golfer. When he discovered the boys spending a majority of their free time working on their golf games, he suggested they form a high school golf team. Peña’s guiding hand and common background made him the perfect man to spearhead the project.

No one had any doubt they would be scrutinized, treated as outsiders and occasionally outright cheated. Despite the hurdles, adjustments and having learned on the fly, they were immediately competitive. Rules, etiquette and gentlemanly conduct were all elements of the game they had to learn, and adjust to, or be rejected.

That’s why Quintana believes it’s a classic coming-of-age story, with golf simply serving as the vehicle for the boys’ transition to maturity.

“At some point, you have to make some decisions about how to live as a man or a woman,” said Quintana, who remained in Austin after attending the University of Texas. “How do I leave behind the impulses and anger and immaturity of childhood and figure out how to operate as a man within a system, within a culture, within a society, in a way that I respect myself and respect the people around me?”

There’s no way to watch (or make) the movie without confronting the racism prevalent in the country at the time, and which to a certain extent still exists. One scene depicts the team stopping at a diner while traveling home after a successful tournament and being refused service because of their race. The disrespect left them seething. Joe responded with vandalism. Later in the movie, Joe is baselessly accused of cheating. Rather than responding negatively, he keeps his cool, plays on and wins his match. It’s a prime example of the development Quintana intended to highlight.

“People cheer when Joe breaks the windows at the diner, but then they also cheer later when he doesn’t get violent on the golf course. That’s a little encapsulation, an hour-and-a-half transition, from childhood to manhood,” Quintana said. “That was the idea. You get to watch this kid grow up right before your eyes.”

Romero passed away in mid-May, leaving Felan as the only surviving member of the team. He’s now 86 years old, and living in Yucca Valley after serving more than 30 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He’s currently nursing a broken left ankle but was playing four to five times a week at Desert Winds GC as an active SCGA member in Twentynine Palms.

“We completed our mission. When we won in 1957, we made history. And I still believe that,” said Felan. “Now as I go into my golden years and I see all this that came true with a book and movie, I would have never expected it.”