One Umatilla County man was so set on coming back to his Eastern Oregon roots that he took a job demotion to do it.

Lino Cruz Garza, 37, is the manager at the new Big 5 Sporting Goods in La Grande. He said he moved around a lot when he was young, but he moved to Umatilla when he was 11 years old and stayed there.

Cruz Garza said he went to Eastern Oregon University in 2000, and he liked La Grande. When he had an opportunity to become a fitness consultant in Portland, he couldn’t pass it up.

“It was sad to leave the area,” he said.

He’s been trying to get back ever since.

From Portland to Arizona, he continued to work as a fitness consultant until the economy declined.

“It’s hard to do personal trainings when people can’t afford their mortgages,” Cruz Garza said.

That’s when he started his career at Big 5.

“I like the outdoors,” he said. “It’s a sporting goods store. With my sports background, it was the perfect fit.”

He was living in Phoenix, Arizona, when he joined the company, he said. The 128-degree summers and the lack of seasons started to grate on him.

He began to make a two-year trek back to Eastern Oregon.

From the Big 5 in Phoenix, he moved to Portland, then Walla Walla, Washington, Hermiston and, now, finally La Grande.

“I actually had to self-demote to get back home,” he said.

Cruz Garza had been an assistant manager in Phoenix, but he voluntarily dropped down a position to get to Portland and Walla Walla.

It was tough to move back up the ranks once he got to the smaller towns because there’s not a lot of upper level change in employees in rural areas.

For the complete story, see the Dec. 13 edition of The Observer.