The Can-Do Kid : Charlie Arango Becomes Starter at Wide Receiver Despite Having Only One Hand

Charlie Arango watched a pass bounce off his left arm for the last time.

He was acutely aware of the problem and decided it was time to eliminate it--forever. When Arango arrived home one day after playing in a junior high flag-football game, he took off the rubber prosthesis that covered his three-quarter-length arm and never wore it again.

“One day he told me, ‘Daddy, I don’t need it. I feel more comfortable like this,’ ” Hugo Arango, Charlie’s father, recalled.

Hugo Arango had mixed emotions. He had brought his family to Los Angeles from Guatemala in 1981 specifically to get an artificial limb for his only child.

But Charlie saw no need to wear a substitute hand on his left arm, especially if the device would hinder his football career. His father reluctantly agreed.

“To me, this is normal,” Arango said, pointing to his left arm during a practice session. “This is how I was born. I don’t feel different.”

Five years have passed since Arango tossed his prosthesis into a closet. And he doesn’t miss it, now that he is a starting wide receiver for Birmingham High.

“Charlie’s a tough kid,” said Paul Prince, the Braves’ quarterback. “He dives for all the balls. He puts 110% effort into every single route he runs. He wants to prove to everyone that he can catch.”

Arango proved long ago that he was a football player, according to Birmingham Coach Chick Epstein. The 5-foot-9, 150-pound senior started three games at cornerback and half a dozen others at outside linebacker last season, besides playing on special teams.

But if Arango feels the same as any other athlete on the field, he cannot escape the visible difference that some opponents ungraciously point out.

In one recent game, he said, “I went in for a punt return and (an opponent) said, ‘Oh, I got the guy with no hand. . . . I got the one-armer.’ ”

Being the focal point of stares and rude comments is nothing new for Arango.

“I just smile because it doesn’t hurt me,” he said. “I went through it in junior high.”

Until he was 10, Arango shied from sports. He had given in to his classmates’ assumption that he could not play traditional American sports such as basketball, baseball and football.

But one Saturday, Arango had a change of heart. A friend, Elden Henry, persuaded him to play in a pick-up football game. Arango’s ability to catch Elden’s passes surprised many, including himself.

Before long, Elden and Charlie began envisioning themselves as Joe Montana and Jerry Rice.

“(Elden) used to always say, ‘Montana to Rice,’ ” Arango said.

And a wide receiver was born. Arango redecorated his bedroom with pictures and posters of Rice. Catching passes and running for touchdowns was all Arango wanted to do.

Certain he was too small to play football as a freshman at Birmingham, Arango waited until his sophomore year to try out for the team. He was a wide receiver on the Bee team that year, even though skeptical teammates doubted he would be able to contribute. He soon proved them wrong.

“He’s the hardest worker out here,” assistant coach Dave Lertzman said.

Arango is motivated by the nonbelievers.

“If there is something you could do and you have both hands and I can’t do it, I’m going to keep trying until I do it,” he said. “I won’t give up.”

Ask Arango what is impossible for him and he will quickly answer, “climbing a rope.” But feats beyond that, he said, have yet to be identified.

He bench presses 195 pounds with the help of three spotters and has a daily workout routine, including push-ups and biceps curls. He learned to tie his shoes when he was 5 and can do it as quickly as a two-handed person. And the car he drives has a stick shift.

Arango, who brings in the play to the huddle, has started in each of the Braves’ victories over Canoga Park, University and Reseda, and last week’s 17-15 loss to Taft. But his dream of catching a touchdown pass has yet to be fulfilled. In fact, he is still waiting for his first catch. But, according to his coach, it’s only a matter of time.

“He will catch a touchdown pass, no question about it,” Epstein said.