Touched by an angel?

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Dec. 19, 2002 | 9:35 a.m.

Rafael Garcia may not be the first man to come back to life after being pronounced dead, but his story neither begins nor ends on the operating table.

It includes a mysterious vision, a gift from an ethereal messenger and an unlikely convergence of curiosities, all of which leaves him shaking his head in wonder to this day.

Garcia, 73, is a quiet yet well known figure in the Las Vegas boxing community. He's a fixture at the Top Rank gym and can often be seen at fight cards both here and around the world, usually in a supporting role as either an assistant trainer or cutman.

He also has a reputation as an artisan with an almost unparalleled knack for wrapping a fighter's hands. A number of high-profile fighters, including Floyd Mayweather Jr., swear by his ability.

"I enjoy what I'm doing and teaching kids who want to learn," he said of his lifetime association with the sport. "I'm happy to work and don't have any problems."

Born in Mexico, Garcia was 3-0 as a professional fighter when he was forced to retire due to a rib injury at 17 years old. That decision was applauded by his mother, who, Garcia said, didn't want her son fighting even if he was off to a successful start as a bantamweight.

He kept his hand in the sport as a trainer and moved, with his family, to Las Vegas in 1969. While working at the Frontier as a waiter and showroom host, he would arrange his schedule to catch the weekly fights at the old Silver Slipper and found his talents were in demand.

That led him to begin training fighters at the Golden Gloves gym, and, later, for Top Rank. While not on that firm's payroll per se, he serves as a liaison for the company and the many Hispanic fighters it employs, not only working with them in the ring but frequently squiring them around town for their required medical exams.

Garcia has worked with some 30 past and present world champions, including Roberto Duran, Alexis Arguello, Vito Antuofermo, Lupe Pintor, Iran Barkley, James Toney, Erik Morales, Johnny Tapia, Wilfredo Gomez and Mayweather.

But it was his relationship with featherweight contender Victor Polo that initiated the sequence of events that allows him to feel as if he's a beneficiary of a divine intervention.

Garcia and Polo traveled to Tampa, Fla., for a Feb. 24, 2001, fight with World Boxing Association champion Derrick Gainer. On the Wednesday before the bout, Garcia took Polo to a deserted beach to run.

"I saw this old lady, a woman who seemed to be about 80 years old," Garcia said. "She asked me, 'What are you doing?' and I told her I'd brought my fighter out to run.

"She was holding a plastic bag, like you might use to wrap a sandwich, and I asked her if she was looking for seashells. She said, 'No, I come here and pick up the angels' feathers.'

"That really surprised me, and in my mind I'm thinking she might be a little bit crazy.

"She pointed to some sea gulls and said those were the angels, and then she opened the bag and handed me a feather. She said, 'This is going to help you' and I put it in my pocket. I mean, what are you going to say? It was all so very strange."

Garcia then turned to check on Polo, and in that instant the woman was gone.

"There wasn't anywhere for her to go, but she disappeared," he said. "I told Polo what had happened and he thought I was the one who was crazy."

Nonetheless, Garcia kept the feather and had it with him that Saturday at the fight. But the bout didn't go well from the challenger's perspective and he lost a 12-round decision, which had Garcia boiling in the dressing room.

"I was so angry, I had a stroke," he said. "I had a great pain in my jaw that just kept getting worse and I laid down until the paramedics could come.

"They said they were going to take me to the hospital and I said 'OK' and they tried to keep me alert during the ride by asking me questions. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open but I remember everything, and even saw Gainer (who was there for repairs on an ear injury) at the hospital."

Doctors decided that Garcia needed heart surgery and in the course of the operation they removed his heart from his body. Within a few minutes, the chief surgeon declared Garcia legally dead.

"I feel like I saw everything," he said. "I was looking down and saw myself on the operating table."

But instead of seeing himself entering a tunnel or at the pearly gates as others have reported of near-death experiences, Garcia had a more disturbing vision.

"I saw black, black mountains and faces of devils, almost like they were plastic," he said. "And then I was flying and I saw my arms as feathers."

Garcia came back to life but his surgeon had already filled out a death certificate and notified the coroner, as Garcia would learn a few days later.

"I called my insurance company to check on my coverage and the person on the other end said 'Rafael Garcia is dead,' " he said. "I said, 'No, I'm Rafael Garcia and I'm not dead.' I had to convince them that I hadn't passed away."

As that was being cleared up, Garcia was discharged from the hospital and into the care of a man he barely knew, former Top Rank comptroller Benito "Ben" Bee.

"I didn't know Mr. Bee and I didn't have any intention of staying at his house (in Tampa) but he insisted," Garcia said. "He and his wife were beautiful people and he said 'You must come and stay with us. I have a room for you.'

"When I got there, the very first thing I saw in the house was this pillow that had something written on it. It said, 'I Believe In Angels' and in the room he had for me were all these pictures and drawings of angels.

"Angels, of all things.

"That's when I remembered the old woman on the beach and pieced together what had happened to me. I still had the feather with me, and I said 'Benito, I must go see a priest' and the next day he took me to his church.

"I told the priest what had happened, and that I'd passed away and was happy about it at the time because the other option was that I would live and be a vegetable. 'Why?' I asked him ... 'Why did this happen to me?'

"He said, 'Maybe you have something else to do in this world. Maybe you have another mission.' "

In good health today, Garcia tells his story as a matter of fact and with explicit detail.

"I remember it like it just happened," he said. "I wouldn't lie about something like this. It's a true story and it happened to me."

For emphasis he reaches for a small plastic folder that he keeps in his possession, and holds it up for inspection. There at the bottom rests a single white feather, somewhat tattered but lovingly preserved.

It's an artifact and a remnant of a journey. It's something that will always be with him.