SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — Port Isabel native Memo Torres holds back tears as he speaks of the importance of his beloved Tarpons football team.
The 78-year-old longtime fan has attended every Port Isabel football game since 1962. Torres’ nephew, Luis Guevara, jokes about why he started going to the games.
“(Torres) said he was going to see his best friend play, supposedly,” Guevara said. “He was really going to see my aunt.”
Torres lights up when speaking about his early fandom days, and putting up a front to see his future wife, Eugenia Lopez Torres, on the pep squad at the time.
He also shines when softly speaking about the close playoff battles, overtime thrillers, comebacks and when he helped secure the inflatable helmet that the players run out of and onto the field. Only San Benito boasted a helmet before Torres and others secured money by fund raising.
“I do not even know who they are going to play, but I am ready for Friday,” Torres said jokingly.
The Tarpons (9-2) defeated Ingleside 28-13 at Cabaniss Stadium in Corpus Christi to advance to an area round meeting with Jarrell (5-6) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Owl Stadium in Odem for a Class 4A DII area round meeting.
“I was there last week,” Torres. “God mighty, it was cold.”
Torres joked about his stubbornness fueling his commitment to the games. His niece, Lily Torres, will be driving him to the game.
Torres joined Port Isabel head coach Tony Villarreal and other longtime fans Gualberto Gonzalez, Daniel Delgado and Raul Loera at Yummies Bistro on South Padre Island for a lunch put on by Villarreal to thank the four for their support and to remember great times.
The four longtime Tarpons fans plan to be at Owl Stadium in Odem on Friday, just like every other P.I. football night throughout the decades.
Gualberto Gonzalez has announced games for the Tarpons for the past 48 years and has not missed a Port Isabel football game since graduating from the school in 1971.
“I love high school football,” Gonzalez said. “I think the kids play with their heart. They do not play for money, that is my deal with that. They put their heart, effort and whatever they have on the field.”
Delgado, 67, played for the Tarpons for three years, graduating in 1974. Delgado is the grandfather of sophomore Daniel Galvan, a Tarpons linebacker and running back. There have been five generations of Port Isabel football players in Delgado’s family.
“My whole family just loves being at the games,” Delgado said.
Delgado shared stories of football during his time playing as a linebacker and defensive end during the early 1970s.
Gonzalez and Loera commented on Delgado’s toughness. The former linebacker cut off his cast on his broken arm his senior year to continue playing, he said.
Loera, 58, coached a majority of the current Tarpons at the youth level. Loera coached the pee-wee football team in Port Isabel for 19 years.
“To me, it is everything,” Loera said. “I have always had Tarpon pride in me … It is in you. It is in your heart; it starts with you. If Coach Tony called me and needs something done for the kids, it is done. Of course, me being self-employed makes it a lot easier.”
Loera and family will hold the inflatable helmet, like they do every game.
“That is Port Isabel in a nutshell,” Villarreal said. “It is pretty easy, I think, to be successful here, but you have to have those old guys. They know the tradition, they know what good coaching is, they know what the staff is. They can go back generations.”
They will also keep you in check, Villarreal said.