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Mural honors Segundo Barrio war veteran Javier Montez, who represented US at Olympic Games

El Paso Times - 10/19/2021

A new mural at Guillen Middle School honors El Paso's first Olympian, Javier Montez.

Montez was a Korean War veteran and a former track star at Bowie High School and Texas Western College. He represented the United States at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.

In honor of Montez and his accomplishments, a mural by El Paso artist Jesus "Cimi" Alvarado was unveiled Tuesday at the track field that bears Montez's name at Guillen Middle School, 900 S. Cotton St.

Montez grew up in the Segundo Barrio neighborhood of South El Paso and ran track at Bowie High School. He was named to the El Paso Times All Star-Team in 1948, the year he graduated.

Montez won the mile run Texas state championship with a record-setting time and later attended Texas Western College, which is now the University of Texas at El Paso. He was the first UTEP graduate to compete in the Olympics.

While attending college, he set records in the mile run at the Texas Relays, the NAIA meet and the Border Conference meet, where he won three titles in 1952: in the 800, the mile and the 2-mile run. This set him up to compete in the biggest athletic competition in the world.

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Performing well in the 1952 Olympic trials earned him a spot on the U.S. Olympic team for the Helsinki games later that year, where he ran the 1,500-meter race. He made it to the semifinals.

His personal best time in 1952 for the 1,500-meter race was three minutes, 51.1 seconds.

Montez later served as an Army platoon leader during the Korean War, earning the rank of first lieutenant. He earned an electric engineering degree from Texas Western and a master's degree from New Mexico State University. He also was an El Paso Independent School District trustee from 1970 to 1982.

Montez, who died Dec. 6, 2003, a day after his 74th birthday, is buried at Fort Bliss National Cemetery.

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Cristina Carreon may be reached at ccarreon@elpasotimes.com and @Cris_carreon90 on Twitter.

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