GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
Twice each year, former UTPA soccer players try to get together for an alumni game.
Turnout varies with families and obligations constantly looming, and the level of competition isn’t what it once was for a group now 25 years removed from its playing days in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Still, when the alums met for their most recent game on Dec. 26, the player pool numbered about 20 to 30.
“We stay in touch, reminisce about the past, have a good time, and show ourselves that we can still run a little bit,” La Joya High coach Alex Davila said. “And mainly, just have fun.”
Nowadays, most of their meetings happen from opposite sidelines of the pitch rather than on it. As the 2016 boys soccer season gets underway today, eight Valley teams are coached by players who once suited up for UTPA.
Four of those coaches will be in District 30-6A. Davila played in 1997, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln’s Victor Ramos played in 1992-93, and La Joya Palmview’s Mario Ribera played from 1992-94, earning an upcoming induction to the UTRGV Hall of Fame. Ramos and Ribera were coached by Eloy Moran, now the coach at McAllen Rowe, who was with UTPA from 1987-94.
“It’s pride, and friendship at the same time,” Ramos said of the matchups between coaches from UTPA. “We’re coming from the same school. We’ve played together for so many years. Same system, and same coaches. So it gets interesting.”
In many cases, the coaches maintain something of a friendly rivalry. Ramos remembers losing to Ribera just twice in eight years when Ramos was at Edinburg Economedes and Ribera was at Mission High.
Ramos said he likes to keep quiet before games so as not to give anything away. After the final horn, he’ll exchange advice and tips with his old friends.
Moran said he always looks forward to the opportunities. He’s also faced Luis Cardenas of Edinburg High, and he said he regularly reminds Brownsville Rivera coach Salvador Garcia to have hot chocolate ready for him. Cardenas played at UTPA from 1994-95, and Garcia played from 1987-89.
“I greet them with a hug, and some I greet with a kiss, if they’re Latin American,” Moran said. “I remember how they were when they were players. I know Luis, he yells a lot. I tell him, ‘You better take care of yourself, because you might find yourself at UIL, if you haven’t already.’”
UTPA soccer and high school coaching run in Cardenas’ family. His five brothers also played at UTPA, and four of them went on to coach at high schools. Jose and Alector are assistants in the Edcouch-Elsa program, where Arnoldo used to coach soccer before becoming solely a football assistant. Jesus is an assistant with the girls team at Sharyland High.
The other Valley head coaches to come through the UTPA program are Jose Luis Alamazan, who played in 1993 and works at Mercedes, and Reveriano Hernandez, who played from 1987-89 and works at Sharyland High.
Hernandez won a state title at Sharyland in 2012, and his longtime friend Garcia picked up a championship of his own last season at Rivera. The two have been friends dating back to childhood, having played together at Hanna before rooming at UTPA.
“He’s my compadre,” Hernandez said. “I talk to him whenever I have a chance. We scrimmage every year, so we’re always in contact.”
The coaching tree rooted at UTPA extends beyond just Valley boys. Juan Romero, the girls coach at Edcouch-Elsa, played at UTPA from 1994-95. Sammy Zavala, who played from 1987-90, formerly coached the girls team at Harlingen South.
Outside the Valley, Fredy Sanguinetti, who played at UTPA from 1987-91, coached the boys team at Katy Morton Ranch to state in 2007, then guided the Katy Cinco Ranch girls to state in 2014 and 2015.
Shane Hurley, a UTPA player from 1990-93, coached the girls team at Harlingen High before taking the head coaching position at NAIA school Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio.
Each is on the short list of all-time letter winners from the 11-year UTPA program that fills just one page of the UTRGV soccer media guide.
“How do you think I felt, to see my ex-players at state?” Moran said. “Now, you see how they are touching other lives.”
RGVSports.com Boys Top 10