	Cover Story
	Finding Peace A story of spiritual survival En Español
By Goyo López Photos By Guillermo Sosa & Courtesy You cannot be a peacemaker until you are at peace with yourself and with our Lord. The precept finds similarity in the notion that you cannot love someone until you can love yourself. Luciano “Butch” Flores knows this firsthand. His story, shared for the first time ever with the public, broaches these subjects as well as the intertwined elements of sadness, despair, tragedy, anger, betrayal, fate, destiny, purpose, compassion, peace and faith. “The majority of people don’t realize that I was ‘the’ person. That I was the driver of the car,” begins Butch Flores as he is known to most people throughout the diocese. “And every once in a while I’ll be in a restaurant or some other place and they’ll start talking about it and I get overwhelmed with emotion.” In the early morning hours of April 5, 1968, Butch Flores, Cesar Hall and Dario Hinojosa, Jr. were returning from a three-day excursion to Houston, Texas. McAllen native and professional baseball player Ted Uhlaender had extended an invitation to old friend and hunting buddy, Hall, to come see the Minnesota Twins and hangout with the ball club while they were playing the Houston Astros. As any camarada would do, he in turn invited Flores and Hinojosa to join him for this golden opportunity to meet professional ball players and to checkout the new eighth wonder of the world in the Houston Astrodome, which was still relatively new at the time. The trip also served as an opportunity for Hinojosa, a senior at Martin High School who had already signed a letter of intent to play football at the University of Houston, to visit the campus, meet the coaches and players as well as a feel for his soon to be new environment.
Although Hall played quarterback for the Nixon Mustangs in its formative years, it was Hinojosa who was a larger than life figure and ranks among the best ever to play football in Laredo. His jersey and helmet remain enshrined at Martin High. “We didn’t get much sleep during those few days we were there,” admits Flores. “We hung out at the hotel with ball club and players like a young Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Graig Nettles, Tony Oliva and Uhlaender. We were young guys having a good time.”
Ironically, the festive reunion between the Laredoans and the Minnesota Twins came to an abrupt halt as the final game of the series was cancelled as a result of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968. “That day, Major League Baseball decided to cancel the game because of King’s death. That was a very painful day for our country. There was looting and violence happening in some of the bigger cities in the US and I guess they figured it would be best to cancel the last game of the series,” explained Flores. And they decided to come home that night. Sober, but fatigued, Flores took the helm and began the trek home from Houston. “Honestly, one of the last things I remember was stopping in Beeville to stretch my legs and wash my face to stay awake,” recounts an emotional Flores. “The next thing I know, I wake-up in a hospital in Three Rivers and nobody would tell me why or what had happened.” Four people died during the pre-dawn accident about 10-miles outside of George West headed towards Freer. Hinojosa, asleep in the front passenger seat, and Hall, asleep in the rear passenger seat, died instantly. An elderly couple in the oncoming vehicle also died that night. Flores escaped with a small nick to his upper right cheek and a shoulder injury.
“That’s it,” says an anguished Flores. “How can four people die and I walk away with minor injuries? It wasn’t fair? Why couldn’t I have died, too?”
According to Flores, the police report stated that he had more than likely veered onto the oncoming traffic and struck another vehicle. The vehicle driven by Flores was crumpled accordion style from the front to the back only on the passenger side. Flores was later convicted of Negligent Homicide and sentenced to four-years of probation as a result of the accident. This is part of the torment haunting Flores all these years. He cannot remember the events of that evening. “Some people speculate that I had fallen asleep while driving and remained unconscious as a result of the crash,” he explains. “Others think that I saw the dead bodies next to me, and because of the trauma, that my brain blocked it all out. You know, I still don’t know exactly where the accident occurred. I have an idea but no one has ever taken me to see exactly where it happened.” Eventually, and while still at the hospital, Flores was informed of the tragic occurrences that occurred. “How do you think I felt,” Flores asks rhetorically amidst sobs. “Four people were dead. Two of my closest friends were dead. I remember my mother telling me to thank God that I was still alive. I know she meant well and was trying to support me. But I kept thinking, ‘I’m gonna thank God that I’m alive while those people are dead.’ Instead, I kept asking why I wasn’t dead. I said, ‘what kind of God does this?’ “It’s much easier to die than to live,” he continued. “I found that out after the accident. And I also realized that anytime something goes wrong in our life, we always blame Him. We constantly question why God allows these things to happen, when we should have faith in Him.” Fortunately for Flores, he was not alone during this difficult time. His family, his girlfriend and countless friends consoled, comforted and supported him throughout the ordeal.
“My mother, my brothers, my sisters, Bertha, who is now my wife and many friends stayed with me constantly while I was in the hospital and while I was at home after coming back to Laredo,” says Flores. “I’m very grateful to them that they pushed me to return to as normal a life as possible. They didn’t allow me to stop living.” And God’s mercy was also present.
“But I think that one of the hardest moments was when Mrs. [Evangelina] Hinojosa came to visit me in my home,” Flores struggles to say. “Here is the woman who has just lost her son and she comes to comfort me. “To comfort me,” he barely asks incredulously with tears streaming down his cheeks. “She was the one who deserved the comforting. Yet she came to comfort me. And she didn’t blame me.” This compelling and emotional event coupled with Flores’ strong Catholic upbringing eventually gave him the courage and the understanding to continue with his life. “My mother [Tomasa] made sure that all her children were raised with strong Catholic upbringing. I feel that helped me a lot,” he ponders. “Most people forget that I also attended St. Joseph’s Academy and then transferred to Martin High for my junior and senior years. Having that Catholic education gave me strength and understanding.” In the summer months following the accident, Flores began seeking counseling from the parish priests at San Luis Rey Church in Laredo and conveniently across the street from his home. “I would talk to Father Bernadino and Father McKendrick at San Luis Rey. And they would say things like it was ‘fate’ and ‘destiny’ and this was the hand that God had dealt for me,” Flores remembers. “They told me that God had another purpose for me and that was why I was still here. At that time it didn’t make any sense to me. I thought they were just trying to comfort me. Eventually, and once again because of my upbringing, I began to understand what they meant. I needed to place all my faith in God. And I did.” The accident undoubtedly altered the lives of every family involved. They all felt the pain, the sorrow, the agony and the countless additional emotions associated with such a tragic loss. Slowly Flores began realizing that all the self-pity in the world would never bring back his dear friends nor the lives of the elderly couple. He realized that he was not the only one to live with the pain and emptiness. He realized that peace would only come through prayer, worship and faith in our Lord who forgives and heals. “The priests made me understand that this was my cross. Why me? I don’t know. Was He testing my faith? Perhaps. But I’ve had to bear it,” Flores says. Over the last 30-years, Flores has been involved in local athletics as a coach and now as an assistant director of the Athletics Department in the Laredo Independent School District. Through his role as a coach and educator, Flores has been able to shape the lives of many young men women. Being a coach is more than X’s and O’s. It involves being a surrogate father, a friend, a counselor and a role model. The hard lessons of life are often taught on a field, court or track utilizing the sport as a medium to communicate them. However, death has also haunted Flores in his days as a coach. Almost 30-years to the day of the car accident, the former Nixon Head Baseball Coach finds himself in the midst of another tragedy. An up and coming leftfielder named David Cadena is batting for the Mustangs against the Uvalde Coyotes in the Border Olympics Baseball Tournament. From his usual spot in the coach’s box along third-base, Flores gives the sign for Cadena to bunt. Cadena turns and squares his shoulders to face the opposing pitcher in the attempt to successfully bunt the ball. Instead, the pitch misses the bat and strikes Cadena in the chest near his heart. The young Mustang collapses on top of home plate, goes into cardiac arrest and is transported via ambulance to the former Mercy Health Center where he is eventually declared dead. Cadena’s older brother, a paramedic, was watching from his emergency vehicle over rightfield wall and immediately ran onto the field to provide cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
		“I couldn’t believe it,” says a tearful Flores, his voice cracking. “But this time I didn’t blame God. It didn’t make things easier. I remember being at the hospital when they told us he hadn’t made it. I asked my wife Bertha to leave me alone for a little while. And I told Him, ‘I guess you needed a leftfielder up in Heaven more than I did down here on earth.’ But I didn’t blame God this time. I understood it better this time.”
The former coach mourned as we all do but relied heavily on his faith to provide the strength and comfort to move forward and, more importantly, comfort the remaining members of the baseball team. Flores’ leadership allowed the team to eventually have closure on Cadena’s death. Even though Flores to this day still seeks full closure for an accident that occurred more than 35-years ago, he has been able to find enough peace through his faith to live a life in which he has positively affected many people and perhaps fulfilled his purpose. Some of us go through the daily motions without ever knowing or understanding what our purpose is in life.