David Carrasco coached American University in Washington, D.C., to the NCAA basketball tournament in the early 1960s and served more than two years in Ecuador as leader of the Peace Corps-directed sports programs
El Pasoan recalls husband's role in '68 Olympics
Charles K. Wilson
El Paso Times
David Carrasco in 1988.
M. Carrasco
Every four years, Marji Carrasco's memories drift to a time filled with vivid colors and pageantry, the echoes of cheers and jeers, and the world's attention.
"I'm watching the (Athens) games very closely, trying to remember a lot of these things," said Carrasco, 80, whose late husband, David, was the United States' first diplomatic attache for Olympic coaches in Mexico City in 1968. "Mexico did a heck of a job."
El Paso native David Carrasco, who died in 1990, has a face that may be familiar to many residents. His likeness is a part of the mural on the front of the David L. Carrasco Job Corps Center on Gateway West.
The native son came home to help work with at-risk youth, Carrasco said, but that came after a long sports career capped by two years of service at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City as "Olympic traffic director" for U.S. coaches, athletes and dignitaries.
David Carrasco coached American University in Washington, D.C., to the NCAA basketball tournament in the early 1960s and served more than two years in Ecuador as leader of the Peace Corps-directed sports programs before taking the Mexico City post.
"It was a very interesting time," said Carrasco, whose modest East Side home is a reflection of the 1968 Summer Games and her late husband's sports memorabilia. At the Mexico City games, riots in the host city and protests by black athletes charged the atmosphere, she said.
"My husband turned to me and said, 'I'm going to have to take them to the airport tomorrow,' " Carrasco said of the raised-fist protests of black sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the winner's stand. "And the next day he took them to the airport."
David Carrasco came home at the invitation of former Mayor Raymond Telles and began the job center in 1970 with former Mayor Peter de Wetter. He directed the job center for 20 years.
And long before the ceremonial dunking of coaches with a cooler full of ice, Carrasco said, her husband celebrated in his own way.
"My husband came home and then I couldn't find him, so I asked, 'Where is he?' " Carrasco said of the party they hosted the day before the Olympics began. "He was in the shower, in his suit! I asked what he was doing, and he said, 'I've done my part.' "
Charles K. Wilson may be reached at cwilson@elpasotimes.com; 546-6137.
