Jimenez giving a speech in 2016 at San Jose State University, photo taken by Gabriel Nuanez

Santa Maria High School, home of the Saints, is also the home to 7 well-known Saints.

The first well known alumnus is Dr. Francisco Jimenez. Francisco Jimenez who was born in Tlaquepaque, Mexico in 1943, was fifteen years old when he attended Santa Maria High School in 1958 and was student body president before he graduated in 1962. Even after he graduated high school he was not a naturalized U.S. citizen until 1965. He then later become the successful author of two children books and three autobiographical short stories. You may known these books as “The Circuit,” “Breaking Through” and “Reaching Out.”

The second alumnus is Abel Maldonado who was born on August 21 of 1967, in Santa Maria, CA as the eldest son to two immigrant Mexican farm workers who grew strawberries and ended up marrying a woman named Laura. Maldonado attended our high school around 1991 through 1995 and then later became the 48th lieutenant governor of California. In the 2012 elections he ran for the California’s 24th congressional district but lost to Democrat Lois Capps.

Then we have John Rudometkin who was born here in Santa Maria on June 6, 1940. After he graduated from SM, he attended Allan Hancock in 1958 through 1959 and USC in 1959 through 1962. He then later went on to become a American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks and the San Francisco Warriors in the NBA. Chick Hearn who was the LA Lakers broadcaster nicknamed him “the Reckless Russian,” when he broadcast the USC men’s basketball games before going to the NBA. But sadly on August 4, 2015, Rudometkin died from chronic lung disease.

Next is Owen Wesley Siler who was born on January 10, 1922 in Seattle, Washington and died on July 17, 2007 due to heart failure. After graduating from SM, Siler attended Allan Hancock College in the 1940s and soon transferred to USCGA but due to WW2 he graduated a year early. Siler then served as the 15th Commandant of United States Cost Guard.

Terry Allen Hermeling was an American football offensive lineman at the NFL for the Washington Redskins and won in 1972 NFC Championship. Who was born April 25, 1946, as of right now he is currently 77 years old. He also played football for the University of Nevada. He currently owns a bar/restaurant named Yur’s in Portland, Oregon.

Steve John Patterson was born in June 24, 1948, Riverside, CA and died in July 28, 2004, Phoenix, Arizona. During his school year he played football in is senor year and attended UCLA between 1968 through 1971. Patterson then later on became an NBA basketball player and coach who ended playing in the NBA for five seasons.

Most recently, we have Carlos Zenon Balderas Jr. or how he spells it, Karlos, is an American boxer who competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics which was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was born in 1996 and his uncle, Mr. Balderas, teaches here at Santa Maria as an 9th and 11th grade math teacher. We asked Mr. Balderas some questions about Carlos:

What was Carlos like?

Carlos was very energetic when he was a little kid, he would always play any sports. And I remember we use to have a punching bag hanging outside of our house and he use to came out and start punching the punching bag. He was very energetic and we took him to the boxing gym because he started getting in trouble and the reason was because he was a little gordito and the kids were bullying Carlos all the time. So, he started fighting since a young age, and my brother didn’t want Carlos to go wrong or take the wrong path. So, he decided to take him to the boxing gym because he wanted Carlos to spend his energy in a more positive way. To do something with this energy instead of fighting or messing around.

Do you know what made Carlos start his career?

So, since we use to do boxing ourselves, me and my brother. We took him to the boxing gym without even thinking that he could make it that far. And, yeah, the first thing we taught him was boxing. Why boxing? I don’t know, maybe because we use to do it ourselves, so we just took him to a boxing gym.

Do you know any challenges he faced while starting his career?

The challenges that he faced was the financial challenges. For example, we use to go to tournament or go to fights not only outside of Santa Maria but outside of the state. For example, I remember this time where they kicked us out of the hotel on Thursday and we were supposed to be their til’ Saturday or Sunday because the final for the tournament was Saturday/Sunday. I don’t remember right now, but we needed to stay there and we got kicked out from the hotel on Thursday and reason was because we couldn’t pay the hotel room. So, we decided, you know what we need to eat, so we better just leave the hotel room, so we were sleeping in the car. And that time is where it snows because it was in Reno, Nevada and at the time it snows and somebody drop a drink while we were sleeping and oh my goodness, imagine at that it where it snows so cold and somebody spilling that drink, oh that was so bad. We all got wet and I remember that time nobody could sleep that night.

How is your relationship with Carlos?

My relationship with Carlos is, I’m his uncle and his trainer but in my case Carlos is more like, he’s more than my nephew. He’s like my own son and the reason is because we use to live in the same house, they were living with my parents, I was living there and the relationship is not only like uncle and coach. It’s more like a dad and a coach.

So, it’s more like a father-son relationship?

A father and son relationship, yes it is.