WHY CROSSFIT “BIG GUAVA?”
In hopes for Bernardino Gargol to establish a guava paste factory in NY, him and friend Gavino Gutierrez traveled from NY to Tampa after being told there were many wild Guava trees here. Without any luck in their search of guava trees, Gutierrez realized Tampa’s potential for an import-export business. Before returning to NY, Gutierrez visited Key West where he met Vincente M Ybor and suggested he move his cigar factory to Tampa. After Ybor visited Tampa it was official that he would build his cigar factory in Tampa and honor Gutierrez to be his civil engineer, architect, and construction foreman. Gutierrez planned out the area where thousands of immigrants would soon live and work; a city that was built thanks to his recommendation to Ybor. Fast forward to the 1970’s, newspaper columnist for the Tampa Tribune and Tampa Times introduced Tampa’s nickname, The Big Guava, by first saying: “we owe it all to the Guava.”
CrossFit Big Guava pays homage to the history of a city we love.
Without a quest for Guavas, would Tampa be what it is today?
#GUAVALOVE
