Boxing is in Her Blood

Jesus "Chuy" Vega (right) is seen here during the Olympic Trials, prior to competing in the 1968 Games in Mexico City. He is the father of ARCC's Gaby Pugh.

She knows all about upper cuts, jabs and champion boxer Manny Pacquiao.

When County employee Norma “Gaby” Pugh talks boxing with her husband, she jokingly says it’s like a “man to man” discussion.

Pugh learned the sport from a pretty good source. Her father, Jesus “Chuy” Vega competed in boxing in the 1968 Olympic Summer Games in Mexico City.

Both will be closely following the boxing competition at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, which start July 27. While Pugh’s father, now 66, will watch from their hometown of Culiacán, Mexico, Pugh, 42, will watch from her home in Chula Vista.

Pugh, who works as a departmental technology systems technician at the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk’s office, didn’t follow her father’s path into athletics. Neither did her three siblings. But her father’s success in the sport inspired in her a love of boxing—she never misses a big fight on TV—and taught her many other life lessons.  

“Our Dad is like our hero,” Pugh said. “He’s had a huge, huge influence on my life. A lot of what I am now is because of him.”

Growing up in Mexico in the 1960s, Pugh’s father found in boxing an escape from a dysfunctional, hardscrabble upbringing. One of 11 siblings, Vega was always competing for attention and support, she said. In his late teens, he competed in a neighborhood boxing tournament in Culiacán, the capital of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, and discovered he was pretty good at throwing punches. He kept getting better and better, Pugh said, and eventually ended up leaving home to train hours away in Mexico City.

As Vega rose to higher and higher levels of competition, he got the chance to travel to Cuba, Europe, the US and other international spots. Despite what Pugh described as a climate of social and political upheaval in Mexico City in 1968, Vega made the Mexican National Boxing team and got to compete in the Mexico City Olympic Summer Games. He was eliminated in the first round, she said, but continued to compete internationally. In 1972, he retired from boxing to start a construction business, which he continues to operate. Pugh’s mother, Josefina, retired as a teacher after selling the private school she founded.

Pugh credits her father’s discipline, competitive streak, tall, lean physique, healthy diet and other lifestyle habits with his success in the ring.

That focus has rubbed off on her, Pugh said. She moved to San Diego from Mexico 12 years ago to study a semester at the University of San Diego as part of a Masters program in Business Administration at the Instituto Technológico de Monterrey. Previously, she had also earned a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from the Instituto.  Today she is fluent in English, has a successful career here in San Diego, and is married with a nine year old daughter. Pugh is in the final stages of becoming a U.S. Citizen.

Her father’s Olympic run doesn’t come up very often in conversation—in fact, her coworkers at the County didn’t even know about it until last week. But the experience has certainly left a lasting impression. The most important lesson she learned from her father? If you want to achieve success, expect to make sacrifices.

“If you don’t sacrifice before, don’t expect it to happen later,” Pugh said.

Have an Olympic tale to share? Send it to Communications@sdcounty.ca.gov.