Week 55: Eulogio "Lefty" Soto
Some people go through life identified by one name – Elvis, Madonna, and Pele. One of Chandler’s hometown heroes, a softball star, a war hero, and a breaker of ethnic barriers, went by a single name. His given name was Eulogio Soto, better known to everyone in Chandler as Lefty.
Lefty was born in 1924 on the Dobson Ranch, where his father and grandfather worked as agricultural laborers. Not long after, his family moved to Peoria, AZ, where both his mother and father found work. Unfortunately, his mother passed away when he was only 5. His father, unable to care for Lefty and his younger sister, sent them back to Chandler to live with their grandparents. Under his grandparents’ watchful eye, Lefty grew up on Hidalgo Street, seeing his father once or twice a month, and attending the Winn School in the Southside Neighborhood.
At the conclusion of his sophomore year at Chandler High School in 1943, Lefty was drafted. He enlisted in the Army on July 11, 1943, and was immediately sent to Fort McArthur for basic infantry training. From there he joined the 33rd Infantry Division in Hawaii as a replacement in the mostly Illinois based unit. Lefty saw action at Morotai and Luzon during the war. After a brief rehabilitation assignment, the 33rd commenced amphibious assault training in the Philippines in preparation for the planned attack on the Japanese home islands. That’s what Lefty was doing on August 14, 1945, when Japan surrendered. Lefty and the rest of the 33rd celebrated the end of the war in his words with “More beer than you can….I don’t know what!”
With the end of the war, the 33rd was sent to Kyoto as part of the Army of Occupation. Lefty stayed in Japan until the 33rd was inactivated at the end of January, 1946. He arrived home in Chandler on February 7. By February 17, less than three weeks after being discharged, Lefty was back in a classroom in Chandler High, working to finish his high school degree. Many years later he was honored with a Bronze Star for his valor during the War.
Upon graduation in 1949, he married his sweetheart, Josie Noriega, and went to work as a bookkeeper at the Chandler Arizonan. One day, Father Patterson, the pastor at the local Catholic Church, inquired at the bank as to why there weren’t any Hispanic people employed there. The response was that no one had ever applied. Father Patterson convinced the Arizonan’s editor to allow Lefty to apply for a job at the bank. After an interview, Lefty was hired as the first Hispanic employee of the Chandler bank.
After two years at the bank, Lefty heard about a job opening at the post office as a deliveryman. He and his friend, Raul Navarrete, along with three others took the civil service exam. Lefty and Raul were the only two to pass. Raul, who would later be elected Mayor of Chandler, said “I already have a good job at the [Williams Air Force] Base. Why don’t you take the job?” Lefty did take the job, and became Chandler’s first Hispanic mail carrier. During his 32 years as a delivery man he became a friendly, familiar face that everyone in town knew.
Outside of work, Lefty was a star pitcher on the softball field. He made a name for himself playing for the St. Mary’s Catholic Church softball team before joining the semi-professional Haybalers. Lefty earned his nickname as a southpaw on the mound where he was very nearly unhittable on most nights. He became a local legend for his feats on the diamond.
Lefty was a lifetime member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus, and St. Vincent de Paul. A longtime member of the Chandler Historical Society, Lefty visited the Chandler Museum weekly to share his stories and visit the photo of his wife who passed away in 2006. While Lefty is no longer with us, his story reminds us of all the people who have a hand in shaping the place we live today. It takes a very special person to be known by a single name. Lefty was one of those people.