About a hundred people, including former UCLA water polo players, coaches, parents and friends, gathered at Spieker Aquatics Center on Sunday to celebrate the life of UCLA alumnus Marco Santos, who passed away at the age of 28 on June 24 after battling Lou Gehrig’s disease for three years.
Santos, known as “Manga” by his friends, was a UCLA water polo player from 2004 through 2007, winning an NCAA title with the Bruins as a true freshman in 2004. In his senior season, Santos earned second-team Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches All-American honors and second-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation honors.
Sunday’s memorial commemorated Santos’ accomplishments in the water, but a majority of its focus was on the contributions he made to people’s lives out of it. As Santos’ coach at UCLA, Adam Krikorian, and three former UCLA teammates took the podium, they spoke of Santos’ character, his selflessness and his overall love for life.
“Manga taught us to really live. He made sure we slowed down and really took a moment to enjoy each other and enjoy life,” said Russell Simpkins, a UCLA water polo player from 2004-2008 who was Santos’ freshman-year roommate.
During his time at UCLA, Santos enjoyed life with many different people on campus, not only his UCLA water polo teammates.
“While most of us on the team stayed in our own little athlete bubble, Manga had friends on every corner of campus,” Simpkins said. “He really valued meeting new people, and taking time to learn from them.”
In addition to branching outside of the water polo realm to befriend students from different areas of campus, Santos spent many of his Fridays in the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center, taking several hours to donate his blood platelets, motivated by a desire to help contribute to medical research.
“He learned how valuable the platelet donations were to research centers for discovering cures to disease, and made a point to go all the time,” Simpkins said.
“Almost every Friday, when the rest of the guys already started cracking beers, Manga would go down to the platelet center and donate platelets. And it’s not like donating blood for 15 minutes, this is a two-hour process, and he literally would go three out of every four weeks.”
Santos made these platelet donations and worked to improve medical research years before he ever discovered that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurodegenerative disease that leads to physical immobility and difficulty speaking, among other symptoms. When Santos was diagnosed with ALS in June 2011, he was forced to retire from water polo, but kept doing all he could to make the most of his life.
While battling ALS, Santos finished graduate school, earning his MBA from Florida International University. When his friends came to visit him at his home in Miami, Santos continued to greet them with a loving smile.
“I’m sure if you’ve talked to anyone else, one of the first things that I think most people will (talk about) is his smile,” Krikorian said.
About a year ago, when Krikorian and a few of Santos’ former teammates at UCLA went down to Miami to host a water polo clinic, Santos’ smile was as bright as ever.
“We had a blast with him. And although he had a difficult time speaking and couldn’t move around much at all, he still had that devil of a smile and that sense of humor that never went away,” Krikorian said. “For someone that was fighting with this nasty disease, and to keep his sense of humor, his strength was an inspiration for me to be able to witness in person.”
Krsto Sbutega, a UCLA water polo player from 2004-2008 and regarded by many as Santos’ closest friend, remembers Santos most for the little things that he did to make other people’s lives better. When Sbutega spoke at Sunday’s memorial, he said he will always remember the selfless sacrifices that Santos made throughout his life – sacrifices he said Santos never asked to be acknowledged for.
“He was someone that always thought about others … in a way which is rare – when you’re not looking for recognition, you just do it because you like to do it,” Sbutega said.
When Sbutega was down in Miami about a year and a half ago, he helped Santos put on his shoes, as Santos was unable to use his hands. As Sbutega was lacing up Santos’ shoes, Santos told Sbutega something.
“He looked down at me, and was like, ‘When you get sick, I’ll take care of you,'” Sbutega said.
Sbutega said he has no doubt that Santos will continue to be by his side, providing a helping and loving hand in years to come.
“I know he will (take care of me), and all you guys, too,” Sbutega said.