My day at the Templo de la Fama de la Provincia Espaillat

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Today I attended the I Ceremony of the Templo de la Fama de la Provincia Espaillat.

One wonderful event. I was the guest of Damaso Garcia and family. It was well planned, had the technicle glitches normal for these things, but very emotional.

There were seven persons exaulted to the Temple of Fame: Damaso Garcia Sanchez, Catalina Jaquez, Julio Jaime Julia, Fabio Francisco Fiallo Cabrera, Jose de Jesus Sanchez Perez, Ramon Antonio Garcia Pacheco (Papa Molina), Angel Felix Garcia.

-For those do not remember, Damasito Garcia was the second baseman for the Yankees and Torondo Blue Jays (1980-1986), a two-time All-Star. I was lucky enough to have recruited him for the PUCMM f?tbol (soccer) team, winning a couple of nation titles with him in the defense. We played around the Caribbean and Damasito was recognized as a potential big league soccer player. He was a good student (Chemical Engineering). His wife, Haydee Benoit Savi??n was on our volleyball team!! In later years, Damasito was president of the Dominican Professional Baseball Players Federation...

-Catalina was a lyric soprano, called the Alondra Mocana (Moca's Lark). Her I did not know.

-Angel Felix Garcia was a Central American and Caribbean and Pan Am weight lifting medalist, well spoken wonderful guy who used his fame to help others.

-Jaime Julio Julia is a writer, commentator. He is one of the most published historians along with Balaguer, Bosch and Rodriguez Demorizi..major league intellectual, well known and loved here in Santiago, too.

-Fabio Fiallo is a lawyer and ballplayer who played in the Dominican Winter League with Juan Marichal....In one game he, with Marichal pitching, he joined Felipe Alou and Jesu Alou in hitting a homerun...final score 3-0! In another he drove in the winning run to give Escogido the Championship!! To give you some idea how relations are important in this country, get this: Juan Marichal, a Baseball Hall of Famer, landed at 4:00 in the morning to be in Moca and serve as the escort for Fabio Fiallo. Tells you a lot about Marichal, an old pal and golf buddy....

-Jose Sanchez was one of the pioneer Phys Ed instructors and a great volleyball player. Hundreds, no thousands of kids benefited from his teaching. His escort was Nelly Do??, a long-time member of the Dominican Olympic Movement.

-Finally, Papa Molina, 87, the great musician and composer, the husband of Josefina Mini?o, the soul of the Santo Domingo Folklore Ballet and he is the father of Luis Molina the pianist, director of the National Symphany Orchestra and famous musician in his own right.

An incredible show of support from persons such as Luisin Mejia and Antonio Acosta from the Dominican Olympic Committee and Jose Joaquin Puello, former Olympic Committee president and who was recently named Man of the Year 2010 for his work with indigent patients and the best neurosurgeon in the Caribbean.

The luncheon served by Damasito's family was a Dominican specialty: Moro de habichuelas negras, puerco asado, pollo asado, ensalada de papas, ensalada verde, yuca sancochada...y un pudin de pasa....una delicia!!!

I do hope to put up some photos of the event asap....this was what makes living here so wonderful...

HB
 

SKing

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Sounds like a great event. Oh, to be Hillbilly for one day....... :)

SHALENA
 
May 12, 2005
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Wow, that seems like a really cool event to have gone to. Looking forward to the fotos. I remember Garcia when he played for the Yankees and the way he choked up on the bat.
 

Hillbilly

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Teatro Don Bosco, next to the church!

If you click on the photofeeds on the right of that website you can see a lot of what happened..the alegorical dance with the cornucopia, and the "knighting" of the Immortals....and in one the VERY long legs of Sara Garcia, Damaso's daughter!! 6'5" of woman!! And several shots of Marichal, Dr. Puello and Luis?n Mej?a of the Olympic Committee...

HB

HB
 

Hillbilly

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Yes, unfortunately he is bed-ridden and barely able to say "Yes" which is the only thing he can say. He suffers from heart issues, and was rushed to the ICU last Friday. His wife, Haydee, kept him alive with heart massages...It has been a rough time for the family, but fortunately his upbringing and his wife have kept the family fortunes fairly intact so they are comfortable. Along with Julian Javier, the Alou's and Winston Llenas and Marichal, Damaso was a real gentleman in the sense that he was brought up strictly, had manners and was a great sportsman...

HB
 

Hillbilly

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Some pictures of the family

The first picture is of Berman Mejia, a former goalkeeper of the PUCMM championship teams of the 70s and the Dominican National team into the 80s.
Damaso Gracia Benoit, the son of Damasito the ball player. He works at Diario Libre.

The second picture is Haydee Benoit, a National Team volleyball player, PUCMM graduate, amazing leader of the Dominican Hemophilia Foundation, and mother to Damaso and Sara, that lovely 6'5" person next to the HB and Do?a Juana, Damasito's mom who opened her house to us.

The third is Mecho Benoit, HB and Haydee. I am a bit over 6' so you can see why I recruited them out of highschool close to 40 years ago!! 1970s....they were part of the Dominican National School Championship team...I got 5 of the starting 6 to go to PUCMM...ahhh, those were the days!!

HB
 

Hillbilly

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How far back do we go? Here is a photo from their wedding day. Me, Berman Mejia, Haydee, Damasito, Mrs. HB, Henry Eli (Tenor).

God only knows when that was!!

HB