An Angel Will Light Your Way

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How does a Mexican boy lose his dominant right hand in an accident at the young age of 7?  How does he then proceed to become a star athlete in grammar school, high school, and earn a basketball scholarship to a Division 1 College?  Is he the world’s greatest, all-around one-handed athlete/coach?   The record speaks for itself-- He was inducted into his high school athletic  “Hall of Fame”.  His passion and determination for life will inspire you.  This is his amazing and true story--.

It seems like yesterday but fifty years have passed since I first met an enthusiastic Mexican lad with eager eyes in the Madigan gym at St Mary’s College of California.  Although he was just a couple of years my junior, he respectfully asked me to borrow a basketball and to keep the gym open.  That presented a dilemma because I had the keys, but had to leave with the command that the gym be vacant and locked.  Ah, the power of the keys to the gym--a concept that coaches and gym-rats everywhere know all too well.  Luckily, I trusted my instinct and that has been the beginning of a lifelong friendship with Sal Gaytan.

Actually, I knew of this young man because over the previous four years, I had read articles from the Cathedral Chimes and the Los Angeles Tidings on his remarkable athletic feats.  The fact that he had lost his right hand in an accident at the tender age of seven only enhanced his accomplishments.  But little did I realize the spiritual and emotional depth which was the foundation of his spirit.  Over the next years, I was to learn that the Lord touched him and blessed him with a passionate confidence and optimism that was based in the Lord, a spirit that refused to be broken.

This discovery gradually unfolded as our paths crossed after college during teaching and coaching careers even though we were at competing schools.  Despite that natural barrier, we became fast friends, playing basketball games, sharing golf, tennis, dinners, ocean days at Laguna Beach and family outings.

During successive years he shared his dreams with me, his challenges, his losses and his successes.  I smiled when he told me that I seemed to intuitively know those dreams and challenges as I reflected their meaning back to him.  It soon became clear to us that his fascinating story was far too important to stay in the confines of a few friends and acquaintances.  Thus the decision to share his story, “An Angel Will Light Your Way”, inspired by Cierra, his young granddaughter, whose encouragement first prompted him to speak publicly to her second grade class about the loss of his hand.  To her, his stub was beautiful, awesome, and cool.  She wanted to share his story with her classmates.  And now the book you are reading--

Welcome to Sal Gaytan’s “gym” and life where he has the key which opens the door to you.  Of course, everyone is welcome to join his exciting and challenging journey.  You will not be disappointed.  It will make a difference in your life!  I guarantee it!

Pat O’Brien

July 2003