The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Texas Lottery Veteran Recognition: Armando Blanco
09.13.2024 | Longhorn Sports Properties / Learfield
Retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant will be recognized when Texas Football hosts UTSA on Sept. 14.
Armando Blanco credits his 33-year Air Force career, another 12 years of servant leadership at the University of Texas and a life dedicated to helping others, as the culmination of nearly imperceptible blessings he calls "God winks."
"God winks," Blanco says, are those situations when God sees and knows where you are and sends something to bless you in a special way. For example, Blanco was raised in Fort Stockton, a remote West Texas town, by his small, strong hardworking grandmother, Eva.
"How many will take on a baby at 62?" Blanco said.
Blessed by his grandmother's example of making the best of things by always putting forth her best effort, Blanco was grateful for the chance to enlist with the Air Force. At the time, he weighed just three pounds, more than the minimum requirement for his height.
"Another God wink," Blanco said.
Blanco served on active duty from 1970 to 1979, primarily as an aircraft repair technician, and in the Air Force Reserve until his retirement in 2004. As he progressed in rank to Chief Master Sergeant, the highest enlisted rank, he worked as a sheet metal shop chief and fabrication flight chief.
"It was the best decision I ever made," Blanco said of joining the Air Force, which offered the structure and discipline to bring out his natural aptitudes for working with his hands and carpentry.
Blanco gives credit to Air Force mentors who believed in his skills, gave him authority and backed up his decisions. Just as he did with his grandmother as a child, Blanco learned from the example of leadership. One superior, to whom Blanco would talk to and "throw out my heart," typically just smiled and nodded along. When Blanco became a shop chief and had others coming to him with their problems, the quiet leadership tactic made sense.
"People just need someone who will listen," Blanco said.
Blanco also relied on his unique skills in service and listening to form exemplary teams during his work as a carpenter and supervisor at UT from 2007 to 2019. The President's Staff Excellence Award is the highest honor bestowed on a staff employee.
"We had six President's Staff Award winners in my shop," said Blanco, who also received a Regents' Award and multiple others. "I was taught to recognize others for what they do. I had skilled people working for me."
Beyond his military and civil service career, Blanco serves throughout the Austin community and has helped build nearly 50 homes with Habitat for Humanity, beds for the Salvation Army, and wheelchair accessibility ramps. Years ago, as a hobby in his workshop, Blanco began making wooden crosses from scrap cedar and lumber as appreciation for God and all the blessings of his life.
An encounter with a boy and his caregiving grandmother felt like another "God wink" and inspired Blanco to believe his hobby had a higher purpose. As part of his mission to give away a million crosses, these handcrafted gifts of faith hang with elegant simplicity in offices and homes throughout the country.
Blanco says this is his way of "spreading the love God has for each and every person."
"It's the little things–opening a door, saying good morning–these things don't cost us anything," Blanco said. "God gives us certain talents. Mine are woodworking and fixing airplanes, and that is how I give back to people."
Thanks to the Texas Lottery, great things are happening all across Texas. The Texas Lottery now consistently contributes more than $1.9 billion of lottery revenue each year to good causes like public education and veterans' assistance programs. Beginning with the first veterans' dedicated scratch ticket game in 2009, the Texas Lottery has now contributed over $246 million to the Fund for Veterans' Assistance.
Since 1992, the Texas Lottery has generated more than $39 billion in revenue for the state of Texas. Through strict adherence to their vision, mission and core values, the Texas Lottery is dedicated to ensuring that this support continues.