A few months ago, Barbara Gonzales called her father, Simon, to let him know she had a tennis match. What Simon told her daughter was not unusual.
 
“Give them hell,” he said.
 
That's the answer Simon Barrera always gave her daughter during her college years at UTPA when she called before a tennis match.
 
“It brought back memories because my mom and dad to this day do not know how to keep score in tennis, as much as they watch me play,” she said. “I would just go thumbs up if I was winning and thumbs down if I was not winning. I have a very good family. I'm just really lucky.”
 
Gonzales was part of the UTPA tennis team from 1987 through 1990 and is one of the most successful female tennis players UTPA has ever seen.
 
Tennis and UTPA are full of memories for Gonzales, who has made the Rio Grande Valley her home for 25 years. Today, Gonzales strives to keep creating those memories for current UTPA student-athletes.
 
“We better remember we were in the shoes of those athletes. We can't take it for granted that most of these athletes have a scholarship. There's still a lot of money that needs to be paid out of pocket and that's still people struggling,” she said.
 
TENNIS GAL
 
Barbara Gonzales, then known as Barbara Barrera, first picked up a racket when she was seven. Her family lived near a high school that had tennis courts, so her dad taught her to play. However, Gonzales didn't take actual lessons until she was in eighth grade.
 
During her first year at Denver City High School, Gonzales defeated a senior in the District Finals. That summer she attended her first actual tennis camp and qualified for the state tournament in doubles her sophomore year. 
 
According to Gonzales, that is when she actually started to fall in love with tennis. Her “true loves” during high school were volleyball and basketball, and she was also part of a very successful band.
 
Her junior year, she missed the state tournament by one spot, but during her senior campaign, she ended up finishing second in the state.
 
During her high school career, Gonzales developed a close relationship with her coach, Clinton Bowman, who Gonzales said saw her as his “Mexican daughter”. The appreciation was such that when Gonzales' father had an opportunity to take a job with an oil company in Colombia before Gonzales' senior year, Bowman and his wife offered his home for her to live in so that she could finish high school in the United States.
 
Although her father did not end up taking the job, the Bowmans' offer showed her how important Gonzales' wellbeing was for them.
 
“He really was interested in me not just as an athlete because I was the one taking him to state, but he was just that kind of person. He wanted to make sure that I was doing okay,” she said.
 
Bowman is still a very important part of the Gonzales family. Bowman attends family celebrations and is one of the first people Gonzales turns to during good or bad times.
 
BRONC IN THE MAKING
 
At the state tournament she got recruited to play at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, but after the college unexpectedly dropped the tennis and golf programs, then-UTPA tennis head coach David Cross, who was at UTPA from 1986 through 1993, contacted Gonzales to become part of the Broncs.
 
“He talked about a Division I school, talked about the beach, the [proximity to] Mexico, and I'm like, 'I'm there,' she said. “I talked to my mom and dad. I signed the papers, the letter of intent and then we looked it up. We had no idea… and I was like, 'Where am I going to?'”
 
Luckily, the principal of her high school found out she was going to UTPA. His wife had attended UTPA, so when they had a trip to Edinburg, they videotaped the campus to show Gonzales where she was going.
 
“Wow! I can't wait to be there,” she said.
 
But when she arrived in Edinburg, not everything was as she expected it. First, although she was raised in a Mexican family, the culture was different than she was used to. She also got picked on for having a north Texas accent.
 
“All I knew was Coach Cross from his voice… so I met him, young, energetic, and I'll never forget the second day: we go to the airport because it was a large recruiting class and we were picking up our recruits and Coach Cross goes like, 'Gosh, your accent's really bad… don't talk anymore,'” she said. “And I was like, 'What did I get myself into? I'm 10 hours away from home. I'm at a whole different place and my coach told me not to talk because of my accent. What am I doing here?”
 
After the first month, the cultural shock, the weather and being alone took a toll on Gonzales, so she picked up the phone to call her dad and let him know that she wanted to go back home.
 
“My dad told me, 'You're going to come home and go to school?' and I said, 'no'. 'You're going to come home and work?' and I said 'no.'
 
“'Then you're not coming home' and he hung up,” she said. “That's when I realized I'm the one who made this decision to be here. I had to make the best of it.”
 
Gonzales and her teammates did just that. The women's tennis team members made a pact stating that they would win conference that year, and that they would not throw up in the process.
 
That year, the UTPA women's team won the American South Conference Championship. Gonzales won both the singles and doubles titles.
 
During her three years at UTPA, Gonzales made the All-American South Conference Second Team and earned spots in the record books. She is tied for second in program history in most single wins in one season with 21 in 1990. That same year, she and Mary Jane Meyer won 18 doubles matches for a first-place spot in the record books.
 
Gonzales is third in program history in most career singles wins with 55 and second in doubles with 52. Overall, she earned 39 wins in 1990 and 107 in her career, the second and third most in UTPA history respectively.
 
AFTER COLLEGE
 
After acquiring a bachelor's degree in education, Gonzales quickly became a special education teacher at Robert E. Lee Elementary in Edinburg. She also became the volleyball coach at Edinburg South Middle School.
 
Gonzales has had several teaching, administrative and coaching positions, and later became a Gear Up Counselor. The Gear Up program guides middle school and high school students onto the college path.
 
She is now an Education Specialist at Region One Educational Service Center, where she helps develop academic plans to promote students' success at the college level.
 
She resides in Edinburg with her husband, Toby, who she started dating two weeks before moving to Edinburg for the first time and got married to after six years. Barbara and Toby have a 6-year-old daughter, Analise Ray.
 
“Everything that has happened to me is because of tennis. It's because of being an athlete at UTPA,” she said. “I cannot tell you how lucky I've been.”
 
Besides giving Gonzales the opportunity to follow her students for six years from seventh through 12th grade in what she describes as “one of the best jobs I'll ever have” and opening the doors for her to get a master's degree in guidance and counseling, the Gear Up program reunited her with UTPA Athletics.
 
It happened in 2004 during HESTEC, which emphasize the importance of science literacy to young students, encourages students to consider careers in STEM and promotes higher education to children and their parents. She happened to be sitting at the same table as then-UTPA Athletic Direct Scott Street, and when she informed him that she was an alumnus, he asked her if she would be part of the Hall of Fame committee.
 
When current Athletic Director Chris King came on board, Gonzales became part of the Lettermen Club and started hosting an alumni party at her home.
 
“I've been very fortunate that I've had people contact me. I have been so lucky that I have met so many wonderful people that I've been able to stay in contact with,” she said. “I've seen athletes doing all kinds of things and I've just been so proud that I'm part of that.”
 
Gonzales, who also played a very important role in the remodeling of UTPA's Orville Cox Tennis Center, believes in the importance for ex-UTPA athletes getting involved with today's UTPA Athletics.
 
“People like me that have benefited so much from the program… we have to give back,” she said. “The fact that I got my bachelor's and my master's because I played tennis… I have to give back.”
 
According to her, the Broncs earn a lot more than a degree when attending UTPA.
 
“We gained so much. Not only education, but I think we gained honor, pride, discipline, and if anything, the camaraderie of our teammates because those are life-lasting relationships,” she said.
 
“To top it off, to do what you love and then to get your education on top of it, that's priceless. I just think it's very important for us not to forget that and really reach out and give back.”
 
Gonzales said that one of the questions she gets from alumni when she asks them to get involved is what is it that they get in return from putting their time and effort into UTPA athletic programs.
 
“What do you mean what do you get? You already got what you needed to get,” she said. “You're teaching, you're coaching, and you are where you are at because of the experience that you had. Let's not forget that.”
 
She said she's passionate, to say the least. She also said she's “blessed and very lucky” to have been part of the UTPA tennis team.
 
“I owe so much to the university, but I really owe a lot to Coach Cross because he took a chance on me, on some girl from a little 3A town. He got my name and threw out an offer,” she said.
 
But most importantly, Gonzales is thankful for have been given the opportunity to belong to something that is great.
 
“The great thing about when you came to be an athlete at Pan Am, we all lived in the dorms together… we all hung around, all of us athletes,” she said. “We all hung around because we're family, because we knew we belonged to something that was great, and the opportunity that we get to do what we love and we're getting our education at the same time.”
 
(Note: None of the members of the UTPA women's tennis team threw up from 1988 to 1990)