Hall of Fame
A member of the 1971 National Championship Football team at Westchester Community College (WCC), Joaquin "Jocko" Garcia proved to be a force to be reckoned with both on and off the football field.
By way of background, Garcia was born in Havana, Cuba and emigrated to the US in 1961 when he was just nine years old. He played High School football at Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx for legendary football coaches, Howie Smith and Al Kull. Garcia played on the Mount's 1969 Catholic High School Football League (CHSFL) Championship team which in 2025 was honored by being inducted into the Mount’s Hall of Fame. Garcia was an All Conference and All City Defensive Tackle on that team.
After High School Garcia received several football scholarships and chose to attend West Texas A&M (WTAMU). After his freshman year of play, there was a coaching staff change and a downgrading of WTAMU's football program. Garcia decided to return home and joined one of the best Viking team to ever compete at WCC. This undefeated 1971 National Champions football team was inducted into WCC’s Hall of Fame in 2010. Garcia became part of an impenetrable D-Line (Kent Gumina, Tom Powrie, John Dadabo and Robert Api) known as “Sic’s Freaks”. This outstanding unit was named in honor of D-Line coach, Fiore Sica, and ranked #1 in the country in quarterback sacks and allowed rushing yards. Garcia was named first team All-Conference Defensive Tackle. An All American team was not named that year due to WCC’s dominance and the creation of the powerhouse new East Coast Football conference. Garcia and the other All Conference players on that Championship Team would have received that honor had they selected an All American Team.
The next year Garcia received a full football scholarship to the University of Richmond (UR), where he was first redshirted and then played on the 1973 and 1974 University of Richmond Football teams. In 1973, the Richmond "Spiders" were 8-2 and ranked 20th in the Nation by the Associated Press (AP) during the sixth week of play. Also in that year, Richmond defeated the University of Southern Mississippi in the 25th Annual Tobacco Festival Bowl (42-20).
After graduating with a BA in Liberal Arts in 1975, Garcia played Semi-Professional Football with the 1977 New York Football Conference Champions (NYFCC) Jersey Oaks, while working as a Counselor at Union College and later as an Investigator with the Union County NJ Prosecutors Office
In April,1980, Garcia was appointed Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). Garcia served as an Undercover Agent for 24 out of his 26 years of service and was involved in over 100 major undercover operations including his successful infiltration into the Gambino Crime family. Garcia retired in 2006 and in 2008 released, "Making Jack Falcone: an Undercover FBI Agent takes down a Mafia Family," a book detailing some of his undercover cases and experiences. The book became an instant New York Times Bestseller. Garcia was also featured on 60 Minutes in a segment titled, The FBI's Wiseguy. Garcia is one of the FBI’s most highly decorated FBI Agent and in 2024 was honored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association (FBIAA) with the Distinguished Service Award.The FBIAA consist of more than 14,000 active and former FBI Special Agents.
Garcia now spends much of his time with family and friends and volunteers as the Director of Investigations for the animal rescue group, Guardians of Rescue. Garcia is the proud recipient of WCC's 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Voyager Award.
