Hall of Fame
A member of the 1971 National Championship Football Team at Westchester Community College, Joaquin "Jocko" Garcia proved to be a force to be reckoned with both on and off the football field.Â
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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 where he was named to the All Conference Team as a Defensive Tackle.
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Initially a football player at West Texas A&M University (WTAMU), Garcia transferred to Westchester CC at the end of his freshman year after a change in the coaching staff at WTAMU. He came back home just in time to join one of the best Viking teams to ever compete at Westchester CC. The undefeated 1971 National Championship football team was inducted into Westchester's Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. Garcia was part of a defense known as "Sic Freaks" named in honor of Defensive Coordinator, Coach Fiore "Tony" Sica, that was ranked #1 in the country. Garcia was named First Team All-Conference Defensive Tackle.
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Garcia then went on to the University of Richmond (UR), where he was first red-shirted 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 New York Football Conference (NYFC) Champions, Jersey Oaks, while working as a Counselor at Union College and later as an Investigator with the Union County Prosecutors Office in Elizabeth, New Jersey.Â
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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 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.Â
