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"Captain Rudy De Leon put a boxing ring in the basement of the Hollenbeck police station. Officer Al Stankie challenged me to come to the station and learn to box. I loved boxing, but a kid from the neighborhood could not just walk into the police station without being labeled a snitch. I sneaked in through the back door and discovered that several kids I knew were working out."

"Every morning I would get up, focused and looking forward to my run through the 'hood.' When I ran I had to block out the gangs, violence, and peer pressure. Nothing was more important to me than boxing at the Olympic Games. Officer Stankie had taught me the CBAs: Conceive, Believe, Achieve. What I conceived in my mind, and believed in my heart, I could achieve. Soon, I was able to walk through the front door of the station without fear."

Paul went on to become the first ever Mexican-American Olympic champion. He was selected from among several famous boxers as the outstanding boxer in the Los Angeles Olympic Games. Paul succeeded through the help of his coaches and mentors, and by never taking his eye off of his Olympic dream.

"The CBA philosophy helped me to improve and become a junior champion. Captain De Leon and the neighborhood business people nurtured and sponsored my efforts to become an Olympian. The day I won my gold medal, I went back to Hollenbeck and shared the celebration with my friends -- some very old, some very young, but all of us very proud."

The Olympic Spirit in YOU!
Paul Gonzales had to overcome peer pressure and negative influences to achieve his dream. We all face negative influences in sports, school, jobs, and life in general. Paul was able to overcome those negative influences through the help of his coaches and mentors. Use the following lesson to model your most influential person.

• Make a list of at least five people who have qualities you admire.
• Choose the one person on the list who has most influenced your life, and most represents what you admire.
• For the person you picked, write down the qualities that you most admire about that person.
• Write down the qualities you have gained and use from that person.
• Write down how you can use those qualities to influence and help others.

More Athletes

Ann Meyers Drysdale Bart Conner Billy Mills Baron Pierre de Coubertin Gail Devers Greg Barton Henry Marsh John Naber

Karch Kiraly Mary Lou Retton Matt Ghaffari Milt Campbell Nadia Comaneci Nancy Hogshead Paul Gonzales Terry Schroeder

For more great stories about Olympians, ask your librarian for books about Olympic spirit, including Awaken the Olympian Within complied by John Naber, and The Olympic Dream and Spirit, Vol. 1, 2, and 3, with Bob Schaller.