Pancho Gonzalez: He Could Overcome Anything

As a young man, Richard Gonzalez learned he could overcome anything.

Young Richard Gonzalez was always very active. He went to the Los Angeles River often to skip rocks and catch frogs. He was handy, too. He liked to build toys and carve cars out of wood. He built stilts and pole vaults that he and his younger brothers and sisters played with. Whenever possible, Richard was outside.

“Prisoner” was Richard’s favorite game. It required speed, and speed was something the seven-year-old boy had in abundance.

The object of Prisoner was to “capture” members of the opposing team. One day as the neighborhood kids played, Richard caught his brother Manuel. But Manuel broke loose and Richard threw a rock at him to stop him. The rock cut the back of Manuel’s head, and Manuel ran home screaming as blood poured from the wound.

When Mr. Gonzales heard what Richard had done, he took his son to the garage and beat him with an electrical cord. Then he tied a string to each of Richard’s thumbs and pulled his arms upward until they were straight over his head. He attached the strings to the ceiling of the garage and left Richard…