Victor Torres leans back while arm wrestling Kevin Nguyen,14, a student who is using two hands against Torres, at Morada Middle School on Monday during the school's lunch break. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Morada Middle counselor teaches confidence through arm wrestling

Victor Torres was bullied from kindergarten to his senior year in high school, and he vividly remembers the night he decided to buy a set of weights.

The small, thin teenager was working as a gas station attendant in Willits, a small town near Ukiah, the summer after his freshman year in college. One night after he had locked up the pumps for closing time, one of his former adversaries pulled up and started demanding that Torres unlock the pumps so he could get a tank of gas.

The guy reached through the convenience store's window, tried to grab Torres and threatened to beat him up.

Shortly thereafter, Torres bought a 100-pound weight set from Sears and started ferociously working out. On his down time, he and his friends would arm-wrestle for kicks.

Then one day a friend told him, "Vic, we think you have a gift, because we're a lot bigger than you and you never lose."

Decades later, Torres, now 50 and a middle school counselor, is 5 feet 8 inches tall and 152 pounds, not much taller or thicker than many of the middle schoolers he works with. But he makes every ounce count.

He has won 20 world arm-wrestling championships and 110 first-place titles.

As part of his work out, Torres does 120-pound bicep curls. He used to do 100 one-arm push ups, before he trimmed his routine down to six sets of 40.

Now, the counselor has taken his gift to the school yard to teach students at Morada Middle School the importance of abstaining from violence, working hard and believing in themselves.

The son of farm workers, Torres spent most of his days defending himself from the racial slurs hurled at him.

Bullies pushed him against lockers, told him to "go back to his country," and in seventh grade a group of 10 students jumped him on his way home from school.

School counselor Victor Torres sits in his Morada Middle School office Monday surrounded by dozens of trophies, photos and articles from his arm wrestling matches. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

"Fortunately, all I got out of it was a nose bleed," Torres said, recalling the incident as he sat in his trophy-lined office.

As if the bullying weren't enough, academically he was a failure. In the fourth grade Torres' teacher told his father that he had potential, but still he brought home D's and F's on his report card.

Soon after, Torres' father brought him out to work in the fields of Ukiah.

"I used to call it the killing fields because that's where a lot of people's dreams died," he said.

Together they picked fruit in 100-plus-degree weather.

It was then, Torres said, that his life flashed before his eyes.

"That scared me half to death," he said.

Torres started applying himself to his schoolwork, and soon realized that he was just as smart as the other kids in the class.

His senior year he earned 14 scholarships to pay his way through California State University, Sacramento.

However, that year his mother's health took a downturn. She had leukemia, and doctors said she wasn't going to live.

His mother was on her death bed, comatose, when he told her that he had earned straight A's for the first time in his academic career. He's not sure if she ever heard it or not.

One of the last things she said to him was "Sigue la escuela," or "Keep going to school."

Though at times Torres wanted to drop out, he fulfilled his mother's wish.

"That voice wouldn't let me drop out. It was amazing," Torres said.

Today Torres holds bachelor's degrees in Spanish and social work and master's degrees in marriage, family and child counseling, and school counseling.

He also holds three community college credentials.

To date, he has won seven national awards for demonstrating leadership in counseling.

He says his passion for helping others stems from the same life experiences that led him to arm-wrestling.

In the year he has been at Morada Middle, he has started an arm-wrestling club, through which he hopes to channel students' energy and teach them that success comes from hard work and determination.

"I believe everybody has a gift. It's just a matter of tapping into it," he tells them. "It's all about using your strength in a positive way."

Monday afternoon, Torres carries his portable arm-wrestling table out of a cafeteria storage room during lunch. He said he keeps it in the room until students have had a chance to eat. Otherwise, they'll just skip lunch.

Within a minute of setting the table down, eighth-graders swarm Torres, asking for a turn at the table.

A crowd of students is cheering the competitors on as their faces contort into grimaces and their arms struggle against each other.

Alfredo Juarez, 14, one of the first at the table, beats three opponents in a row before he's too tired to go on.

Philip Maghoney, 14, challenges Torres to a wrist-wrangling duel. Maghoney hangs on for a little while as Torres coolly holds his own arm inches away from the peg. After a few seconds of struggle, Maghoney tires out and gives up.

Later he said he knew he wasn't going to beat Torres, but it was fun to try.

"It's fun just to push yourself," Maghoney said.

Contact reporter Amanda Dyer at amandad@lodinews.com.