By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Since it was founded in 1985, the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame has honored athletes, coaches and others from a wide range of sports and recognized both men and women for their accomplishments and impact upon athletics in South Texas.
The newest class of nine such individuals will be enshrined at the organization’s 28th annual induction banquet today at the Port Isabel Events Center. Doors open at 4 p.m. with the banquet set to start at 5 p.m. and the program to follow at 6 p.m.
Also to be recognized is the 1965 Brownsville High baseball team, which 50 years ago went 30-8 and advanced to the Class 4A state final.
Organizers say the RGV Sports Hall of Fame, particularly in recent years, has made a conscious effort to go beyond the traditional sports of football, basketball and baseball to recognize deserving individuals. Along with that intention there has been a desire to honor females, those who have distinguished themselves as athletes, coaches and athletic administrators, along with their male counterparts.
This year’s group represents a prime example of worthy inductees from a variety of sports.
Among them are former Hanna soccer coach Juan de Dios Garcia, who owns the most victories (437) as a high school soccer coach in the Valley, and Stacey Siebert Banks, a former basketball standout at Harlingen High and Texas Tech. She becomes the 29th female inductee into the RGV Hall of Fame as the organization’s list of enshrinees increases to more than 200 with this year’s class.
The other seven inductees are Weslaco’s Tommy Barker (basketball), Edinburg’s Alfonso “Knot” Garcia (baseball), Harlingen’s Harold Hees (football), Mission’s Jaime Peña (basketball), Mission’s Aaron Ramirez (running), and Mission’s Lupe Rodriguez and Nati Valdez (former football teammates).
The induction of Juan de Dios Garcia brings additional recognition to Valley high school soccer, which has become one of the most successful sports in South Texas. Five different Valley schools, including three from Brownsville, have won UIL state soccer titles going back to 2004, and the coaches of three of those state champions were players at Hanna under Garcia, who stepped down from coaching the Golden Eagles in 2012 after 30 years.
Only one person with an involvement in soccer previously has been inducted into the RGV Sports Hall of Fame. He is the late Joseph Gerlicki, a 2002 inductee who is credited with starting youth soccer in McAllen.
“As the first high school soccer coach at Hanna and a pioneer of the sport in Brownsville, being inducted into the RGV Sports Hall of Fame means the world to me and our Valley soccer community because it opens the door for many other successful coaches to follow,” said the former Hanna coach, who was inducted into the Matamoros Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Texas Association of Soccer Coaches’ Hall of Honor in 2012.
“I am the only Latino in the TASCO Hall of Honor and only the fourth soccer player to be inducted into the Matamoros Hall of Fame,” he added.
Siebert Banks, a tall post player, averaged 23.1 points as a Harlingen High senior in 1986 and led the Lady Cardinals to a district championship. An All-Valley selection, she finished her three-year varsity career with the Lady Cardinals with 1,499 points and 843 rebounds.
She then played four years on scholarship at Texas Tech as the Lady Raiders posted winning records each season from 1987 through 1990. She earned All-Southwest Conference honors during her last two seasons and was named team MVP by her teammates in 1989.
Siebert Banks has spent the past 20 years teaching history at McAllen Memorial, serving at times as a varsity assistant in girls basketball. She now is a department head in history at Memorial and has stepped away from coaching to concentrate on raising her two teenage daughters.
Siebert Banks said she is honored to be inducted and added she is very happy to join past female inductees such as former McAllen High girls basketball coach Teresa Casso (1996) and just retired Memorial swimming coach Roxanne Balducci (2004).
She would like to see her induction serve as a motivation to other females, especially her daughters.
“As far as women’s or girls sports getting recognized, every year I see subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle strides being made to level the playing field (with males),” Siebert Banks said. “In society, women are viewed as stronger, more active and physically fit. Being physically strong is seen as something to strive for. The ‘Strong is the new Skinny’ is a movement that I am 100 percent behind. My girls are taught to stand up straight, look people in the eye and strive to be the best at whatever they set their sights on.
“It’s a joy to see their generation accomplish things with less of a struggle than the generations before,” she added. “Having said that, I believe you grow and strengthen through and because of struggle, so in that way, fighting some of those battles (in athletics and elsewhere) made me and other women of my generation stronger.
“I feel extremely honored to be among the ranks of strong and successful women like Coach Casso and Coach Balducci .”
For more information regarding the banquet, call (956) 227-6563 or (956) 495-4687.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.