Parra’s Glide to Gold on Ice Began at Roller Rink

Surging toward the Olympics, athletes ski, jump and skate for glory, for fame, for riches. Derek Parra just wanted a Coke.

That was 20 years ago, when he was 11, long before he dared dream of the speedskating medals he won this week in Utah. Back then, Parra spent his evenings at the Stardust Roller Rink here, just past the tattoo parlors and the graffiti-covered sign for the Hair Masters Universe of Beauty salon.

He arrived each night with three bucks, enough to pay the $2.75 admission fee, but not enough for a soda, too. He skated for his Coke--the prize awarded to any kid who skated two laps faster than everybody else.

Calling those beginnings humble is as much an understatement as calling Parra--who switched from wheels to blades six years ago--an overachiever. And San Bernardino, a city that could use a reason to celebrate, is brimming with pride.

In local schools this week, teachers showed videos of Parra’s races and fielded questions. Yes, they said, he is 5-foot-4, and yes, he did trounce racers a foot taller. Yes, he’s from right down the road, over on Perris Street, where everybody still calls him D.D., for his full name, Derek Dwayne.

In City Hall, the mayor’s office was in a frenzy, planning for a Tuesday parade and stadium rally. A local charter company had already arranged to fly Parra to San Bernardino from Salt Lake City for the event.

It seemed the whole city suddenly wanted one of the “Team Parra” sweatshirts his father had printed for some members of their large family--Parra’s aunt says at least 200 relatives live in Southern California--to wear in support.

Reminiscing About Winner’s Youth

At Roosevelt Elementary School, Parra’s fifth-grade teacher, Jerry Kasinski, pulled out a copy of an old class picture. There he is, the local boy who made good, in the front row, wearing the same grin he put on after this week’s races.

“This is the biggest thing to hit San Bernardino in quite a while,” said Kasinski, now the school principal. “He is a real hometown hero. Everybody is looking at him as an inspiration--for everybody, for the kids, for the city itself.”

Parra, 31, who now lives in the Orlando, Fla., area, captured the silver medal last week in the men’s 5,000-meter speedskating race, then Tuesday topped the surprise victory with a world record that stunned the field in the 1,500-meter race. The first Mexican American to win an Olympic speedskating medal, he will try for a third medal Friday in the 10,000-meter event.

Back at the Stardust, George Cottone and his wife, Virginia, seemed content Wednesday to sit and smile at each other, amazed by their prodigy’s success.

“This is where it all began,” said George Cottone, Parra’s first coach. “That is so cool.”

The couple have managed the Stardust for 28 years. Most weekends, you can hear gunshots several blocks away, and the sign out front is pocked from rocks thrown by passersby. Still, it is considered a haven for local kids.

Parra, whose father worked at a nearby youth correctional institute, first began skating at the rink with his older brother, back when roller-skates were all the rage. Eventually, friends persuaded him to join a roller speedskating team, which George Cottone coached, and he began competing a short time later, with limited success.

Cottone says Parra was always meticulous, rubbing his skates clean after every race and packing them lovingly into his bag, just as he has after his Olympic races. And he was always dedicated, sleeping hard the night before his first national competition in 1985 while teammates threw a party in the hotel room next door.

“The other guys were just going to practice,” Virginia Cottone said. “And they were probably only going because there was a girl there or something. Not Derek. Derek went to work.”

He evolved with the sport, moving from roller-skates to in-line skates while still in his teens. He won world championships on in-line skates, including a gold medal at the 1995 Pan Am Games. But he knew in-line skating would not become an Olympic sport anytime soon.

“He said, ‘If I’m even going to get a shot at the Olympics, I have to go to the ice,’ ” George Cottone said.

It was not an easy transition, and even his most ardent supporters wince at the recollection of his first races on ice. But the pistons that are his legs allowed him to qualify for the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, though he was an alternate and did not race.

He almost retired then, but decided to give it one more shot. He left his wife, Tiffany, behind in Orlando and moved to Utah, where he sold floor tile in a Home Depot and trained relentlessly.

Star Surprises Coach and Father

Folks knew he was good, thought he might have a shot at a medal. But two? And a gold? And a world record? “Nobody anticipated this,” Cottone said.

That includes his father.

Gilbert Parra, 55, who recently retired, was in Utah this week for the races. On Wednesday he was loading his car, preparing to drive home to San Bernardino to drop off some relatives who needed to return to school and work.

Today, he’ll turn around and head back to catch Friday’s race. Between trips, he’s prepared for a taste of the hometown frenzy.

“He won’t consider himself a hero. I know that,” he said. “But I will. He’s my hero now. My son is my hero.”

The Cottones have spent much of this week reminiscing about Parra’s first days on skates--and about how much he has sacrificed. Virginia Cottone remembered that Parra was invited to live in Florida with a renowned in-line speedskating coach when he was 17, but didn’t have enough money to get there.

“We were at nationals,” she said. “After he skated he went into the stands and started selling everything in his equipment bag--his wheels, his boots, anything he could get money for. I said, ‘What are you doing? Why?’ Now I know why. It was just another step. I’ve never forgotten that.”

The Cottones sent Parra a card Wednesday. Tucked inside were two things--a congratulatory message and two yellow tickets, the kind that kids still race for at the Stardust.

“Speed race winner,” the tickets say. “Good for one free soft drink.”