Domingo Aréchiga, Jr.

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Domingo Aréchiga, Jr.​

(Hispanic higher education administrator)

Born December 14, 1926​
Laredo, Texas, US​A
Died February 26, 1987 (aged 60)

Resting place:
Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Laredo​

Spouse Emma Garza Aréchiga​

Children:
Dennis Domingo Aréchiga
Jo Emma Aréchiga
Alberto Aréchiga
Parents:
Domingo, Sr., and Elvira Elizondo Aréchiga
Alma mater:
Martin High School (Laredo)​
St. Edward's University​ (Austin)

​ Domingo Aréchiga, Jr. (December 14, 1926 – February 26, 1987),[1] was an Hispanic educator and adminiistratior who was from 1974 to 1985 was the president of Laredo College in his native Laredo, Texas.​ During Arechiga's presidency, the institution was known by its original name, Laredo Junior College. It has subsequently been known as Laredo Community College until the current name, Laredo College, was adopted.

Background

Aréchiga was the third of four children of Domingo, Sr., and Elvira Elizondo Aréchiga (1895–1973), both natives of Mexico.[2][3][4] He graduated in 1945 from Martin High School in Laredo,[5] at which he played basketball, ran track, and was the captain of the football team. His classmates called him "Mingo."[6]​

He studied thereafter at the Roman Catholic St. Edward's University in the capital city of Austin, Texas, from which he graduated in 1950. Ten years later, he received the St. Edward's Alumni Achievement Award.[7] He held the degrees of Bachelor of Philosophy, Master of Science,[8] and Ph.D., granting institutions unavailable.​

Career

Aréchiga succeeded Ray A. Laird as the college president. Prior to his eleven year time as president, he had been the dean of institution. In that capacity, he named Crispin Sanchez to dual positions of dean of student services and the college athletic director, with oversight over the creation of basketball (since disbanded) and baseball teams.[9] The LCC Palominos basketball team, while it lasted, was highly successful, particularly in matches against arch-rival San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas. It also reached No. 1 nationally in 1983 with a 20-1 season. The teams were popular within the community, particularly among young people, and even with out-of-town visitors. The players were promised an academic education along with their sports success. Arechiga referred to the team's success as "a beautiful thing, it's very meaningful. It's what Laredo represents. It's a blending of two cultures."[10] Under part of Arechiga's time as president, the basketball coach, athletic director, and head of the physical education department was Russell David "Dave" Segler (1929–2007), who was on the faculty from 1972 to 1981. Segler was an inductee of the Gateway to Mexico All Sports Hall of Fame.[11]

Before he was LC president, Aréchiga had been vice president of his institution. He worked in articulation, the process of bridging the transition of high school graduates into higher education and accepting transfer credits from other institutions.[12] In 1964, a master plan was devised to accommodate a college of at least 1,500 students. The enrollment was nearly four thousand students by the time that Aréchiga succeeded Ray A. Laird (1907-1986) as president.[13] In 1977, Aréchiga hired the University of Texas at San Antonio to conduct an archeological survey of the campus to determine what historical artifacts if any would be damaged by construction of athletic fields near the Rio Grande. No prehistoric occupation of the campus lands was found in the survey. None of the artifacts uncovered pre-dated 1860.[14]​

Aréchiga was a charter member of the Texas Community Colleges Instructional Administrators[15] and the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education.[16] He is included as a "Leader of Color in Higher Education" in a book of that same name by Leonard A. Valverde.[17] He was active too in the Border College Consortium encompassing six community colleges along the Mexican border.[18]

In 1978, Aréchiga co-authored with Vernon M. Briggs, Jr. (Cornell University), Thomas Deliganis, and Hiram Goad The Feasibility of Bilingual Vocational Training Through the Border College Consortium Approach.[19]

He was succeeded as the LC president Roger L. Worsley

Family and legacy

Aréchiga married the former Emma Garza (1926-2016), one of five children of José and Sofia Garza. Emma worked for sixty-four years for Horace Hall, Jr., former attorney for the Laredo Community College trustees, and the Hall law firm. She was a member of the Laredo Women's Hall of Fame, worked with her husband in fundraising for the college, and was active in the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Laredo.[20][21]

Their son, Father Dennis Domingo Aréchiga (born 1963), is a graduate of J. W. Nixon High School in Laredo and Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, and a Roman Catholic pastor St. Matthew's Church in San Antonio, Texas.[22][23] Mrs. Arechiga spent her last years in San Antonio. The two other Aréchiga children are Jo Emma Aréchiga (born 1960) of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Alberto David Aréchiga (born 1969) of Austin.[20][24]​

Aréchiga had two sisters, Elvira A. Guerra (1923–2004) and Maria Laura Aréchiga (1930–2006), and a brother, Manuel J. Aréchiga Sr. (1924–2007), who worked in the automotive industry in Laredo and then the petroleum business in San Antonio.[25] An Arechiga nephew, Manuel Aréchiga, Jr. (born 1959), manages the family petroleum industry and was a 2010 candidate for the Laredo City Council.[26] Another nephew, Luis G. Guerra, Jr. (1951–2006), reared in Zapata, Texas, was a president of the Laredo Chamber of Commerce, the 2005 "Businessperson of the Year," and the visionary of the Laredo Miracle Field for handicapped children playing baseball.[27]

Aréchiga died at the age of sixty and is interred at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Laredo. Arechiga Hall, the former Fort McIntosh enlisted men's barracks on the LC campus remodeled into offices, is named for Aréchiga.[28] So is the Domingo Aréchiga Scholarship in the amount of $1,200 annually. The scholarship is awarded to a high school student in the top 5 percent of the class who is entering LC as a freshman.[29]

References

  1. ↑ Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Laredo, Texas
  2. ↑ Elvira E. Aréchiga. search.ancestry.com. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  3. ↑ Domingo Arechiga (Sr.) in the 1940 Census. ancestry.com. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  4. ↑ Arechiga. locateancestors.com. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  5. ↑ Class of 1945. Martin High School La Pitahaya yearbook. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  6. ↑ Domingo Arechiga. archive.org. Retrieved on August 10, 2015; material no longer on-line.
  7. ↑ Alumni Award Honorees. advancement.stedwards.edu. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  8. ↑ Officers of Administration. files.eric.ed.gov. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Sanchez carried LJC athletics on his shoulders," Laredo Morning Times, March 19, 2008.
  10. ↑ John Garrity (February 7, 1983). The Rage on the Rio Grande: Show Time! at top-ranked Laredo JC means lights-out for the opposition. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  11. ↑ Russell David "Dave" Segler obituary, The Laredo Morning Times,April 20, 2007.
  12. ↑ Quentin Bogart (May 1972). Proceedings: The Community College Conference. eric.ed.gov. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  13. ↑ Laredo Community College. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  14. ↑ James E. Ivey (1977). Introduction. Center for Archeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  15. ↑ A Brief History of the Association. tccia.org. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  16. ↑ José Ángel Gutiérrez and Natalia V. Gutierrez (2013). The Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing Company. Retrieved on May 22, 2020. 
  17. ↑ Leonard A. Valverde (2003). Leaders of Color in Higher Education: Unrecognized Triumphs in Harsh Institutions. AltaMira Publishers. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  18. ↑ Laura I. Rendon (1983). Mathematics Education for Hispanic Students in the Border College Consortium. eric.ed.gov. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  19. ↑ List of Professor Briggs' Books and Monographs. works.bepress.com (January 2008). Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Obituary and life tribute of Mrs. Emma G. Aréchiga, mother of Fr. Dennis, Jo Emma and Alberto Arechiga. The Laredo Morning Times (February 26, 2016). Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  21. ↑ Emma Garza Aréchiga. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  22. ↑ Honored and A Special Occasion. The Laredo Morning Times (June 18, 2000). Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  23. ↑ Welcome to St. Matthew. stmatts.org. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  24. ↑ Jo Emma Aréchiga. intelius.com. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  25. ↑ Manuel Arechiga, Sr.. The Laredo Morning Times (June 11, 2007). Retrieved on August 10, 2015; material no longer accessible on-line.
  26. ↑ Manuel Aréchiga for City Council District 6. laredobuzz.com (September 13, 2010). Retrieved on August 10, 2015; material no longer on-line.
  27. ↑ Luis Gonzalo Guerra, Jr.. The Laredo Morning Times (November 27, 2006). Retrieved on May 20, 2020.
  28. ↑ Historic Fort McIntosh Campus. Laredo Community College. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
  29. ↑ LCC Dr. Domingo Aréchiga Scholarship. schoolsoup.com. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.

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