By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
Meme Garza’s life is perhaps best described as one filled with devotion to his faith, his family, his school and those around him.
It’s been that way for considerably longer than half a century, and now, the 68-year-old St. Joseph Academy coach is transitioning into retirement.
For the first time since the 1980s, he’s no longer there coaching the Bloodhounds in track & field and cross country.
It’s a big change for those familiar with SJA athletics.
Garza’s association with the school goes all the way back to 1956 when he was a first-grade student at St. Joseph’s former location in downtown Brownsville. He graduated from SJA in 1968 and returned to his alma mater to work upon graduation from St. Edward’s University in 1972.
He’s served in various capacities at SJA as a teacher, coach of many sports, counselor, dean of discipline and assistant athletic director. His ties with SJA as an employee officially ended before the start of the current school year.
Garza, who was inducted into the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 2006, is best known as the head track & field coach at SJA for 40 years and the head coach in cross country for 38 years.
“It’s just been precious moments,” said Garza, reflecting on his years at SJA. “I’ve got so many memories, enough to last me a lifetime.”
In Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools competition and previously the Texas Christian Interscholastic League, Garza’s teams captured 20 state titles in track and cross country. In track, the TCIL state titles for his girls teams came in 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998 along with a 2007 TAPPS girls team state title. There were TCIL boys team state titles in 1992 and 1997.
In cross country, there were TCIL girls team state crowns in 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994 and 1997 along with a TAPPS girls state title in the sport in 1998.
He has coached countless individual state champions in TAPPS and TCIL.
A good number of Garza’s athletes at SJA have gone on to compete in college. Some of the ones who signed NCAA Division I scholarships over the years include Tony Flores (Texas State), Tom Rusteberg (Houston), Jason Gulley (Houston), John Zavala (Baylor), Cyndi Espinoza (Houston), Ceci Gonzalez (UT-El Paso), Louie Tijerina (TCU), Vanessa Zavaletta (Houston), Jenna Vaughan (University of Texas), Nadia Elfarnawani (Houston), Chuck Zavala (Texas Tech), Sara Hernandez (UTPA), Nicky Garza (Houston), Ruben Marin (Boston College), Gaby Cantu (Fordham), Marissa Shinsky (Incarnate Word), Kate Dawson (Trinity), Taylor Gloor (Trinity), Dani Robertson (Lamar), Gaby Garza (Cornell) and Bill Conner (SMU).
Garza’s replacement as SJA’s head coach for track and cross country is Teddy Lopez, one of his former athletes who has been an assistant specializing in the pole vault for quite some time.
“Meme’s passion, knowledge and his teaching techniques are beyond anything I have ever seen by any coach in any sport,” Lopez said. “Together, these qualities make him revered by his former athletes, students, peers and anyone who just comes into contact with him. He exuded a feeling to his athletes, his assistant coaches and his fellow teachers that they could be great, that they could achieve and that they could be better than they ever thought they could be.
“Our athletes would work their tails off so they wouldn’t disappoint him,” Lopez added. “The coaching staff would work ours off so we
wouldn’t disappoint the athletes. His teams would just fall in love with the entire environment (of practice and competition) he created.
“He is revered and held in esteem by the entire track community of South Texas. I have never been with him at any track function here in the Valley and not seen people just wanting to talk to him and be around him because of how he makes them feel.”
Brother Francis Garza, currently a religion instructor at SJA, was the school’s principal back in the early 1970s and was the one to hire Meme Garza out of college. He said the coach’s contribution to the school has been immeasurable.
“Meme always went beyond the call of duty in terms of being here at school 24 hours,” Brother Francis said. “Of course, he wasn’t here actually 24 hours a day, but it felt like it. He was dedicated to the students and never gave up on them. He gave them a vision, and it was always a positive vision. He encouraged them to take that extra step.
“Meme’s personality is such that he got along quite well with everyone on the faculty,” Brother Francis added. “He just motivated us to do better and support the students in what they were trying to do.”
Garza said he had been considering retirement for a while.
“I didn’t want to hang on just for the sake of hanging on,” he said. “I thought after the past school year it would be a good time to step away. (But) I didn’t realize how much the school and the students were so much a part of me, so there was a sense of grieving that I went through initially. Now I’ve kind of gotten used to it.
“I had the mental capacity to do what it takes to keep coaching, but I just didn’t feel I had the same energy level to do it any more,” he added. “It just felt like it would be a real good time (to step away). There was a lot of thought about it. The decision didn’t just come off the top of my head all of a sudden.
“It’s like a (parking) meter. I had been doing it for so long, I just didn’t have any more nickels and dimes to put in the meter when it said expired. I felt like I needed a break and the school was nice enough to give me that break.”
Garza said he continues to have a lot of respect for those in coaching.
“I don’t care what sport it is or what the gender is, I admire every coach in Brownsville because I know what they go through, especially the head coaches,” he said.
The hall of fame coach said it’s nice to know his school has left an open door for him.
“Stepping away from St. Joe truly was a loss emotionally for me (at first), but just like anything in life, there are new beginnings, so now I’m looking forward to what the next challenge might be,” Garza said.
“All I know is St. Joe has an open door policy for me that I could come back if I ever wanted,” he added. “It’s not like they took away my keys.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess