By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio showed up and showed out for the premiere of a film based on a once-forgotten part of Del Rio and the barrio of San Felipe’s history.
Friday afternoon, hundreds of people filled the eight theaters at Cinemark Movies 8 to be some of the first in the city to view the film, “The Long Game,” based on the book “Mustang Miracle,” that told the story of the San Felipe High School golfers that overcame adversity to win the 1957 Class A State championship.
The viewing was just the first of a day’s full of activities for members of the San Felipe Ex-Students organization, cast and crew from the film, media and curious fans and on-lookers. The screening was followed by a public question-and-answer session on the front lawn of the old San Felipe High School, now the San Felipe Del Rio CISD’s San Felipe Memorial Middle School; a tour of the San Felipe Exes Memorial Museum by cast and crew, a second question-and-answer session with media members; and a private dinner held at The Good Bar.
People began gathering at Plaza del Sol Mall before 11 a.m., despite the first screening beginning at noon. A sea of purple and gold greeted visitors to the theater’s entrance of the mall, most of whom were welcomed by the Del Rio High School varsity cheerleaders clad in purple and gold San Felipe High colors as they formed a spirit line along the walk-up.
Audience members filed into the theaters about 20 minutes before the first screening began. The first showings began at noon but had to be stopped as the special guests for the film, including director Julio Quintana, screenwriter Paco Farias, actors Christian Gallegos and Julian Works, “Mustang Miracle” author and San Felipe High graduate Humberto Garcia, and 1957 team member Lupe Felan, who is one of three surviving members of the team but the only one able to attend the Del Rio premiere, arrived just after noon.
Once the group arrived, they were broken into smaller groups and provided an introduction to the film in front of the seated audience. Felan, Works and Gallegos were welcomed with cheers as they spoke to the crowd for the first time.
“First and foremost I want to say thank you guys so much for coming out to support. I didn’t realize how much this movie meant to the city of Del Rio until I got in here so I’m kind of feeling all the emotions coming in today. And I just want to say thank you guys so much. I play Joe Trevino. I hope you guys enjoy the movie. This is for you guys at the end of the day so again thank you so much for the love and support and I hope it makes the city proud and I hope you guys are proud to watch this film and everyone involved in it,” Works said.
“We’re very excited to be here and we are really hoping that you guys love this movie as much as we did,” Gallegos, who plays golf team member Mario Lomas in the film, added.
Last to speak was Felan. Felan, who now resides a few miles outside of Palm Springs, Ca., said he hadn’t been back to Del Rio since 2019. As he saw old friends and classmates, Felan admitted he was overcome with emotion at times but was excited to see how the city would react to the film.
“Lupe Felan here. Graduate class of ’57. Viva San Fe! I’m one of the golfers being portrayed in the movie. Born and raised, I’m here all the time,” Felan said to cheers and applause.
At the San Felipe High Q&A session, fans got to hear the special guests answer a variety of questions. The group was on a bit of a time crunch, so the event ended after about 20 minutes and the group headed to the San Felipe Exes Memorial Museum. You can read more about the public session online here: https://830times.com/community-crowd-turns-out-for-the-long-game-pep-rally/
After signing autographs and taking selfies with members of the cheerleading team, Works and Gallegos joined the rest of the group inside the museum where San Felipe Exes President Alonzo Martinez gave a history lesson into the founding of the San Felipe CISD and its role in the shaping of San Felipe.
The group eventually arrived at a display dedicated to the golf team. Works asked if he could pick up the state championship trophy and then ushered Gallegos to join him. It was soon noted that the trophy would accompany the cast and crew to Washington D.C. for a special screening of the film at the White House.
Following the tour, the group was led into the Exes Hall for a press conference featuring various members of the media including the 830 Times, Connect Del Rio, local radio station KVFE 88.5 and the San Antonio Express News.
The group was asked what it was like to see the film finally make it to the big screen and Garcia offered his take on what the journey meant to him.
“It’s very gratifying. It’s a huge relief. I made a commitment, a promise back in 2008 … actually my mouth wrote a check, and it took me 16 years to be able to accumulate the funds to be able to back up that check and the funds represent the effort of Julio and the actors and everybody to put the film together and allow me to fulfill that promise and get that check through,” Garcia said.
“Yeah I think for us it was one thing to read about, you know, the parade at the end of the story and all that stuff and so you kind of from just reading the book you get a sense of the strong community here but then to actually come and see the community come together and embody something that apparently happened 70 years ago but it’s still alive and just as strong as it was back then it’s pretty amazing. It feels like we’re living out the story that we portrayed on the screen, and it really made it all come alive,” Quintana added.
The actors were asked what it was like to portray characters that grew up in a time where it felt like it was them versus the world and all of the adversity they faced, especially the racism that was prevalent throughout the South.
“Well, reading the book helped out a lot. To know the type of things that people were shouting at them, that they were facing … I played soccer when I was younger and played against white kids as well. They’ll throw out some racist remarks. (For these golfers) it was just it was a little … it was a bit difficult because of the age that they had, that they were at, the age that they were in and what they were facing and just to be so mature mentally to continue to play the game and win the state championship. To me it touched me on a very emotional level that I … I think I shared some tears when I spoke to Julia about it, about my first scene that I shot, because I really felt what they probably felt then. And then just to push you, man, to push and to go forward with it and win, you know. So yeah, the book helped out, having Julio there and my little experiences as well,” Gallegos, who added “The Long Game” was his first film, said. “It was a rehearsal scene … it was me putting. And seeing the extras look at me with anger, like with so much hate. Even though knowing that we’re filming a movie, I just, I just connected with Mario and with all of them and I felt it. It hurt me once, even speaking about it now makes me kind of emotional, but I walked to Julio and I was like, man, poor kids, man, but I’m so glad they pushed and they did it.”
Farias, who is from Eagle Pass, was asked if there was any kind of grief or pushback from his hometown for working on a film about Del Rio. He said no and added that the story was bigger than Del Rio and Eagle Pass and was more a reflection of border culture.
“I was just thrilled to be able to expand on this area and to tell these gentlemen’s stories, especially today,” Farias said. “I think what Julio did so beautifully, and my favorite thing about it, is that it’s a golf movie that’s not really about golf. It’s not about the golf. It’s just sort of the vehicle that lets you tap into their stories and how they accomplished what they did, but at the end of the day it’s about them and how they helped each other and grew with each other. I think it’s pretty awesome.”
Felan brought some humor to the press conference. When asked if he was satisfied with who was cast to play him in the film or would he preferred someone more handsome, Felan answered he probably could have played himself in the film.
“It represented what we went through. There was five individuals playing golf at one time or another and because we were organized into a golf team we knew what camaraderie was and how to gel together and so we started gelling together. Originally there was four, but then when it became five we all … let’s put it this way – we were one. We were a golf team but we were one. We all wanted the same thing, we all came from the same place. We didn’t have golf clubs, we had sticks. Not necessarily wooden sticks but old clubs that we picked up here and there. That’s how we got started,” Felan said. “We started winning and said from here on out we didn’t want to lose and I don’t think we lost that many games until we got to regionals … not even regionals, but to state. And then when we won state it was just another one of those things that we realized there was animosity because we were not supposed to be there but we won the state championship.”
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
