“Defying the odds” is something you hear a lot about students that attend University of St. Thomas-Houston. Many of these students know pain, struggle and loss, and, most importantly, from those experiences they have harnessed perseverance, resilience and courage. Graduating Senior and Mr. UST for 2024-25, Ricky Altamirano, has – you guessed it – defied the odds to become the ultimate student-athlete and leader on campus.
“You don't see a lot of kids really make it out,” Altamirano said of his upbringing in South Texas. “Everybody usually stays in the Valley, so, for us, it was just like, ‘How are we going to get out of here?’”
After a busy childhood of being born in North Carolina, moving to Oaxaca, Mexico, then back to North Carolina, and eventually ending up in the Brownsville and Los Fresnos, Texas area, Altamirano and his family strived for meaningful opportunities in education and athletics amid all the transition. With a goal of playing college basketball, Altamirano’s high school basketball film ended up in the hands of UST Head Men’s Basketball Coach Anthony Medina.
“I played a Houston team in AAU, and I played really well against them,” Altamirano said. “Their coach sent the film to Coach Medina. Coach Medina was really surprised when he got my film because he thought, ‘Wow, he really resembles how I used to play.’ We are both Hispanic, 6'4”, so he saw a younger version of himself and thought, ‘Okay, I kind of like this kid.’”
After a get-to-know-you call and discussion about how Altamirano would fit Coach Medina’s system, Altamirano said, "Oh yeah, this is the perfect place for me."
Finally making it to UST did not come without its adversity. From living in Matamoros, Mexico, as a child, Altamirano, his mother and his little sister would cross the Mexico-U.S. border into Brownsville, Texas to go to school every day. Their family would wake up at 5 a.m. and wait an hour or two in line to cross the border to receive education. His family did this through middle school, but Altamirano believes that it paid off as it drove him to continue to strive for excellence in high school – in basketball and education.
“You go through that sort of experience as a child and you don't really understand it,” he said. “Once I got to college and I really understood what everything meant, I don’t take anything for granted."
Now, a UST graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Honorable Mention for his senior basketball season in the Southern Collegiates Athletic Conference (SCAC), among several other campus leadership positions, every challenge Altamirano has faced has been fuel to come back stronger.
A self-proclaimed outgoing person, Altamirano enjoyed being involved, leading younger students and embracing his newfound family in Houston.
“I'm not from here, so when you have no family here, it makes it a little bit harder, but being a leader really gives you community, love and support,” he said. “The UST community shines through the hard moments, and it makes the experience 10 times better.”
Altamirano’s experience speaks to the University’s Quality Enhancement Plan for Educating Students for Purpose. By intertwining Catholic values throughout the university experience, we seek to create an environment that nurtures the holistic development of our students, promoting their personal, academic, and spiritual growth. With Altamirano’s leadership in campus activities and Campus Ministry, he has cultivated a vibrant Catholic culture among his peers and enhanced the whole community by leading by example.
Following graduation, Altamirano hopes to become an assistant men’s basketball coach at UST while applying to universities to pursue his master’s in engineering.