Gold Medalist Helps Fight Drugs, Gangs

Nothing is more important to Oscar De La Hoya than telling kids that dreams come true.

“I made a dream happen and they can do the same,” he said.

De La Hoya, who won an Olympic gold medal in lightweight boxing in Barcelona, is the guest of honor Saturday in Montebello for the city’s annual Mexican Independence Day festival, held throughout the weekend in Montebello City Park.

The celebration traces its history to Sept. 15, 1810, when a poor parish priest launched the peasants’ revolt against Spain from a tiny church in Dolores, Mexico.

Montebello’s fiesta, sponsored by the city’s Hispanic Coalition, will raise money for college scholarships for local students. It features dancing, Mexican food and music, including the romantic ballads of Tierra, the tropical tunes of the group Malo, and Pancho Sanchez’s Latin jazz band.

De La Hoya also will be there, talking to children and signing autographs. “I’ll go out of my way to help little kids stay in school and stay away from gangs and drugs,” De La Hoya said. “I grew up with lots of kids who got into gangs and drugs. Some of them are in jail now and it’s really sad.

“I was never like that,” De La Hoya said. He grew up in the same East Los Angeles neighborhood as his friends but led a different life. He credits hard work and his family’s support for helping him realize his dream. “If you really want something in life and you work for it, you’ll get it,” he said. “It’s all about dedication and work and support from your friends and family.”

De La Hoya continues to live with his father, a machinist, who came to the United States from Mexico in the late 1950s looking for work. His mother recently died of cancer, and he said he won the gold medal in her honor. He graduated from Garfield High School, made famous several years ago by Jaime Escalante, the math teacher featured in the movie “Stand and Deliver.”

Before winning the gold medal, De La Hoya had won several championships, including the National Golden Gloves tournament in 1989, a gold medal at the Goodwill Games in Seattle in 1990 and was named U.S.A. Boxer of the Year in 1991. He will become a professional in November, and sometime in the next year he plans to enroll in college, he said.

“My pro career isn’t going to last too long,” he said. “But an education lasts forever.”

De La Hoya’s belief in education is the main reason the Hispanic Coalition invited him as guest of honor, organizer Maria Chavarria said. The coalition hopes to raise more than $20,000 to support students at universities, including Brown, Stanford and UC Berkeley.

“These are kids with real careers ahead of them. It used to be they said they wanted to be a beautician, something like that,” she said. “Now they want to be doctors and lawyers. They want to go all the way.”

The festival begins Friday and continues until Sept. 14 with carnival rides, pinatas, free balloons, a small children’s zoo, a psychic and crafts at the park on Whittier Boulevard between Wilcox Avenue and Montebello Boulevard in Montebello.

Saturday’s concert includes: Tierra, Soto, Live Wire, Connection, Chico, Aztlan, Garcia Brothers, Miguel Angel, Los Paseos, Keeper, Nano Valdez, Jalapeno Chillin and Primo. On Sept. 13, concerts include: Pancho Sanchez, Malo, Johnny Martinez, La Gran Familia, Rudy Macias, Los Generales, Del Norte, Los Diablos.

Throughout the weekend, mariachis and Aztec dancers will perform. Children under age 11 are admitted free; admission to the carnival and concerts is $3. Senior citizens are $1. On Friday and Sept. 14, the festival starts at 3 p.m. and continues until 10 p.m. On Saturday and Sept. 13, it opens at noon and continues until 10 p.m. Information: (213) 728-3488.