SAN ANTONIO — Orlando Méndez-Valdez says he gets flooded with memories whenever he sets foot on the Inner City basketball court on San Antonio’s West Side. 

Basketball was his ticket to a better life. 

“I think that is where my dad came in hand. He was instilling that confidence, having something to hope for, strive for,” Méndez-Valdez said. 

 Méndez-Valdez’s middle school coach, Abel Valdez, became his legal guardian. 

“He was that guardian angel, came in the right time of my life,” Méndez-Valdez said.

He grew up in the Alazán-Apache Courts on San Antonio’s West Side during a time where the gang wars still plagued the barrio. 

“I was wearing the wrong colors, I guess, and four dudes jumped me. That was the first time I ever got jumped. I was like, what, sixth grade?” Méndez-Valdez said. 

Méndez-Valdez was undersized in his early years of basketball, but that didn’t stop him from having success in high school, college and at the professional level. He boasts a resume worthy of admission into the 2024 SAISD Athletic Hall of Fame. 

He credits legendary Lanier Rudy Bernal and the Voks basketball team that made it to the UIL state tournament finals two years in a row. 

“I didn’t think beyond that. I wasn’t watching the NBA. There was nobody out there I was familiar that I could say I want to be like them,” Méndez-Valdez said. “They (2000 Lanier boys) were those idols for me.” 

Méndez-Valdez became the Latino representation he didn’t see at the collegiate level. At that time, Latinos only represented 4.5% of NCAA athletes. Today, it sits at about 6%. 

He capped off his career at Western Kentucky University with a 25-point performance in the NCAA tournament. Then had a storied professional career in Mexico while also representing the country’s national team. 

“For my mom to have the bragging rights of being able to say, ‘Hey look, I have mijo (son). He plays for La Selecion de Mexico,” Méndez-Valdez said. 

Méndez-Valdez never forgot about the West Side. He said it’s an obligation to give back to the 78207 ZIP code that molded him. 

“I’m greatly indebted to everybody that’s made it possible for me to have my jersey up there and now being inducted into the hall of fame,” Méndez-Valdez said.