The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
It is simple, Hector was and still is a little, but in his day you could say he was MR. SPEED. Hector was probably the fastest man in polo. He was born to run and he had horses who ran faster, but they could have never had the determination of their rider. Hector never went too fast and he never said whoa … just GO. I have known Hector since the 80’s. He was 0 goals for about a month and went from 0 to 3 as soon as they could raise him. Then to 5 and then 7 and he stopped at 9. I don’t know why he didn’t higher. There were a few years when there was no one better than him, but that is polo.
Hector comes from a big city called Midland. Yes, it is in the USA and in Texas. It is a very rich city or was a couple of months ago, as it is a real oil town. It is a big one, about as close to Saudi as you get here in the USA. As hard as it is to believe, Midland produced some very good players and Patrons. Mr. Beal and family may be the oldest and some of the biggest Patrons in the U.S. The Stimmels and Mr. Yarborough, as in Jim, one of Hectors first Patrons. To name a few more … Bart Evans, the Roe and Willie B Wilson. One out of a 100 people do not even know where Midland, Texas is, however, if they ever met Hector, they always knew he was a Texan from a place called Midland He was the flying Galindo. The rest just had to keep up so they got the name. He had a brother named Chongo, who passed away a while back, who made the road but did not have to pave it for Hector. He was flying.
A man with a constant smile, Hector never thought it was over and never quit. He was very fast and had very fast horses. Some were the best in the U.S. for a long time. Kaki ,a brown gelding who was amazing and his gray mare Chantilly. I do not remember all of his horses names. He was one of the best mounted pros in the land and he mounted himself. Hector was about 17 when he met Jim Gilstrap from Dallas and his Los Potros Polo Team. Hector never went back, just straight up and took California by storm. They he headed east at a high rate of speed and did all he could. Hector must have WON almost all of the big tournaments. He hooked up with Mr. Busch, as in Adolphus, and it was big time. I never forget the deal with AB. He said “I like him and his polo, but if he ever drinks another Miller Lite I will fire him”. Hector was a Bud man. He played with a Busch for the next 10 or so years … Billy or Andy and often with both. Together they won nearly every tournament in the U.S.
The rest of the story is Hector was and still is a really good person. The people we never see … the grooms, horse shoers the hay vendors and truck drivers always knew Hector would and did help them. Every time Hector played they were on his side because he was just Hector. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and there is no Doubt ABOUT IT!!!
WELL DONE MR. HECTOR GALINDO
see ya