A phone call turned into a decades-long football coaching career for Tom Chavez.
That can happen when that call comes from Rio Grande Valley sports legend and then-Brownsville High football coach Joe Rodriguez.
The offer from Rodriguez was for Chavez to run what would become a stout defense for the 1969 Eagles — arguably the best football team the city has ever produced.
That unique opportunity combined with an extraordinary ’69 season to produce a new calling for Chavez, who would soon make his own mark on the sidelines as a head coach. A total of 27 seasons later, Chavez has amassed 139 victories, including four outright district titles and a couple more that were shared. Chavez’s success on the gridiron ultimately led to the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame, as his growing legacy was honored along with eight others during an induction ceremony Saturday in Pharr.
“He’s the winningest football coach in the history of Brownsville football,” Rodriguez said. “The players that stay with his program come in as boys and when they get out, they’re men.”
Chavez’s own transformation — from player to coach — began simply with a connection and a straightforward phone call.
Prior to the ’69 season, Rodriguez was in need of an assistant after Burl Etheridge told him that he was leaving for another job. Prior to his departure, Etheridge promised Rodriguez: “I’ll get you someone as good, if not better.”
Etheridge, who played football and baseball at New Mexico Highlands University in Albuquerque, New Mexico, recommended Chavez, a former teammate and graduate assistant, who happened to be looking for a coaching position. Prior to that, Chavez was a four-year starter at middle linebacker for the then-NAIA school that was one of the nation’s best at the time under coach John Levra.
“(Etheridge) told me about Tom,” Rodriguez said. “I talked to (Chavez) over the phone … and he took a chance.”
Chavez was told during the phone call that if he were willing to come to Brownsville, he would have a job.
“I got in my 1966 Chevy Caprice and drove up here,” Chavez said. “And the rest is history.”
The ’69 team that Chavez was a part of was a special one for Brownsville High. Led by a pair of All-State players in quarterback Desi Najera and two-way player Ruben Fernandez, the Eagles won a district title outright and averaged 37.2 points per game, one of the nation’s highest averages, according to Rodriguez.
The impressive offensive output, however, was just half the story. It turned out that Rodriguez made the right choice in tabbing Chavez to run his defense. The first-year defensive coordinator’s unit was just as good, allowing just 10.7 points per contest.
“I knew the techniques they taught (at New Mexico Highlands). We just left him alone (to be a coach),” Rodriguez said of Chavez’s first year on his staff. “He loved defense so much.”
After a 9-1 regular season, the Eagles faced a heavily favored Corpus Christi Miller team in its Class 4A bi-district playoff game. Brownsville’s defense held Miller, whose squad included three players that would eventually reach the NFL, to 15 points, and the Brownsville High offense scored a pair of touchdowns within a few minutes late in the fourth quarter to complete a 25-15 triumph. The Eagles would be upended by Seguin in the next round, but the team had cemented its legacy and continues to be remembered for what it accomplished.
“I got here, worked with Joe and that team … it kept rolling,” Chavez said of that special season. “It was good to be there and get a little success right away.
“Good things happened to me right away.”
Chavez continued as an assistant to Rodriguez through the 1973 season, when his former boss decided to retire from coaching.
Soon after, the Brownsville Independent School District decided to split Brownsville High into three schools, which saw Brownsville rename itself Brownsville Hanna as Pace and Porter were also erected. Chavez would become Hanna’s first head football coach.
Chavez coached two seasons at Hanna, going 6-12-2 before leaving the school district to begin a sabbatical to work in private business. Some of those ventures even included Rodriguez over the next dozen years.
But fate intervened, so to speak. Brownsville was growing and by 1988, was ready to add another high school to the city’s landscape.
That year, Rivera opened its doors with only freshmen and sophomores. Chavez was hired to develop the football program and become its first head coach. After playing at the sub-varsity level for a couple years, the Raiders were ready for varsity competition in 1990.
Chavez was the first hire for the new high school and that notion didn’t sit well with some.
“I got the job before the principal and there was a lot of controversy over that,” he said of his return to the gridiron. “But it worked out.”
Chavez was ready to blossom as a coach in his second stint, applying the same toughness, coaching style and philosophies from Levra, and what he had learned under Rodriguez to good use. He even utilized some of the same drills from his playing days at New Mexico Highlands in his practices.
It didn’t take long for Chavez to find success. In his second season, Rivera finished runner-up in the district and earned a postseason berth. In 1996 and 1997, the Raiders finished runner-up in district before winning back-to-back, outright district titles in 1998-99.
During that time Rivera played two of its more revered playoff games under Chavez. In 1996, the Raiders pushed Victoria and its NCAA Division I prospect running back to the brink in the second round, losing a heartbreaking game 44-38 in four overtimes on a pick-six interception to seal (or steal) the game for Victoria. Three years later, Rivera reached the third round against an equally tough San Antonio Marshall squad with a talented running back. The Raiders held the back in check for a half and led by a touchdown at the break. Marshall’s running back, which had totaled over 2,300 yards on the ground that season, found his groove in the second half and helped upend Rivera 27-21. While the Raiders lost those games, the precedent was set. Teams under Chavez could play and weren’t going to be afraid of anyone.
Chavez spent five more years at Rivera, winning another district title and sharing another. In 2005, Chavez was at Donna High for a pair of campaigns before returning to Brownsville for his second stint at Hanna.
In his third season, after a couple years of struggle, Chavez led Hanna to a district title 40 years after helping the 1969 team do the same.
More change was on the horizon. Rodriguez, who returned to BISD in 1991 to fulfill the athletic director position, was set to retire in 2010. His handpicked successor was his former assistant, former business partner and long-time friend, Chavez.
The school district was also set to open its sixth high school: Brownsville Veterans Memorial.
Chavez served his new position for two years before finding the urge to return to the sidelines. David Cantu, Rivera’s coach for two years, became the first coach at Brownsville Veterans while Chavez returned as the Raiders’ coach for the second time in 2012.
Although change was good for a growing school district, Chavez said he longed for the days when every school was similar in enrollment and playing in the same district.
“We used to be all together,” he said. “We had the city championship, but we can’t do that anymore, we don’t all play each other.
“It meant something for pride.”
Since his return to Rivera, Chavez has reached the playoffs twice, including a shared district title and another postseason run to the third round.
In the last year, he has also once again added the BISD athletic director position to his duties on an interim basis. Mark Guess, who held the position from 2012-2016, made his own return to the sidelines, taking over the head coach/athletic coordinator duties at Hanna when long-time Brownsville coach Rene Medrano retired. Chavez is expected to continue as athletic director for BISD as well as coach the Raiders for the upcoming school year.
As his coaching career reaches 35 years, Chavez, 71, has never been one to accept the spotlight. But the success speaks for itself.
In 2014, Chavez was one of 15 recipients of the University Interscholastic League Sponsor Excellence Award chosen from nominations submitted by school principals and superintendents from across the state. According to the UIL, the award was created to identify and recognize outstanding sponsors who enable students to develop and refine their extracurricular talents to the highest degree possible within the educational system.
“That meant a lot because of the kids,” Chavez said of the UIL award. “I wish I could give a small piece of that award to each of them. I’m just there. They’re the ones on the field and are a big part of my success.”
For Chavez, coaching has given him a greater purpose.
“I loved working with the kids,” he said. “I love helping out, being a father figure to the boys. I don’t do that for trophies … well maybe district championships, to win games. But to get (those type of) awards, that’s not worth it.”
The road to the RGV Sports Hall of Fame was one that Chavez actually tried to avoid.
Rodriguez said Chavez was considered for the honor years ago, but Chavez didn’t want the attention.
“Tom is a very humble guy,” Rodriguez said. “I’m very proud of him. He’s the most deserving coach we’ve ever had (in the RGV Sports Hall of Fame), I’ll tell you that … that’s all I have to say.”
For Chavez, it was never his goal. But he finally accepted the honor to have the opportunity to thank those who influenced him and contributed to his success over the years.
“To be honest, it’s not a big part of me,” Chavez said of his induction. “I’m guess I’m getting it because something good happened. It goes to a lot of people I’ve worked with … my coaches, Joe … if he wouldn’t have made that call, I wouldn’t be down here. This is for all the kids I’ve coached. It’s good, but it wasn’t my goal. It wouldn’t hurt me one bit if I wasn’t (a part of the Hall of Fame).
“I look at my career and it’s been great … but it ain’t over yet.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.