When it comes to the debate of the best quarterback of Brownsville football, the question likely will come down to just two names.
On one side is Desi Najera of the legendary two-loss 1969 Brownsville High Eagles who were arguably the best Brownsville team in city history.
On the other end is the quarterback some knew as Billy “The Kid” Garza from the 2003 Porter Cowboys, which came out of nowhere to become one the Valley’s best offensive squads that season.
The question of Najera’s speed and pure athleticism versus Garza’s well-rounded game and size likely won’t be settled since getting both teams on the field for a hypothetical quarterback duel is not in the cards.
But some believe even that wouldn’t solve anything.
“Desi was good in his time and Billy was good in his time,” said Jim Helms, Porter’s football coach in 2003. “It’s like some running backs were great 20 years ago and if they could play today would still be good. I think Desi would be good if he played today and Billy would be good if he played back then.
“It’s hard to compare them, but they were still great players.”
But Brownsville will continue to debate.
Fourteen years after leading the Cowboys, Garza wears the green of the Pace Vikings as an assistant football coach. He still hears the comparisons, but won’t give his own take on the debate.
It’s a humble approach but it’s also due to Garza not having the means to form a true opinion on the matter since most of what he knows about Najera is community hearsay.
“Obviously, I didn’t see him play or know much about the history of exactly what he did, but I’ve heard a lot of things through my dad and people who grew up when he was around,” Garza said. “It’s always cool to be compared to or talked about in that way of who’s better. It doesn’t mean all that much to me, but it’s cool that people get to talk about it.”
Ironically, Garza said his students at Pace likely view him in almost the same way he views Najera.
“They just see me as a coach,” Garza said. “I think they hear from people, family, friends and those in the community what they tell them about me. So as far as them knowing about me, they don’t — they just see me as coach Garza.”
BECOMING BILLY THE KID
Garza’s road going from standout player to coach was one filled with fun, success and uncertainty.
At his peak, Garza was known for his size as a quarterback, standing at 6-feet, 1-inch, and weighing in around 230 pounds. But when he first began playing pee wee football in Brownsville, his size almost kept him from playing under center altogether.
“I started playing when I was eight, turning nine, and I didn’t play quarterback. I was the backup quarterback because I think I was too small,” Garza said. “I was an 8-year-old playing with 9- and 10-year-olds so I was a little shorter. I sat out the next year, but when I was 10, turning 11, I joined the team again and have been playing quarterback since then, so I have been doing it for a while.”
Eventually, Garza grew into a pure athlete, playing several sports over the next few years as he and his father, William Garza, often spent time working on different areas from tossing the football to swinging a bat.
“We were always doing drills and practicing. If it was football, we’d go out into the front yard and we’d be throwing passes,” Garza said. “If it was basketball, he’d take me to Oliviera Park and have me play and with baseball, it was batting practice. It was always just kind of work on your skill and when I competed in these (sports), I did well.”
Through middle school and into high school Garza would excel as a guard in basketball, a pitcher, third baseman and shortstop in baseball and a quarterback on the gridiron.
But with all the talent, Garza never once thought about turning his talent into a chance at playing at a higher level.
In hindsight, he believes he should have considered it, especially when it came to football.
“Did I know it was going to turn into a college scholarship? I don’t know if I did until it was kind of happening,” Garza said. “Things like arm strength, quickness and all that stuff are things that I know now and I can see how I was marketable, but when I was going through it, I wasn’t as aware as I probably should’ve been. I feel like I could’ve gone to play any sport after high school, but football was probably the most promising.”
As Garza entered Porter High School in 2000, he found success almost immediately by winning an undefeated district title with a freshman squad that would ultimately be the foundation for the 2003 playoff team.
But before that, Garza and his teammates endured two varsity seasons in which the Cowboys were a combined 4-15.
And up to that point, Porter had never won more than four games in a season, resulting in low expectations for the program going forward.
“Despite what we did our freshman year, we didn’t win our sophomore and junior years,” Garza said. “And then we got into this ‘Oh, we’re Porter’ mentality.”
Then, Helms fell into Porter’s lap in the spring of 2003 after leaving an assistant coaching job at the University of Illinois to come to the Valley for family reasons.
In gearing up for that season, Helms knew he had some players.
“I saw we had quality receivers, some excellent offensive lineman and it all fell together,” Helms said. “They were all good players and defensively it all came together.”
That year Porter had weapons like running back Mike Salazar, who would post more than 1,000 total yards, and receiver Stephen Garcia, who was an All-Valley pick that season with 78 receptions and 1,277 receiving yards, to go along with a talented corps of playmakers.
But Garza had to be the cornerstone to make it all work
“After coaching college, I knew he was a talent — you can see that right away,” Helms said. “You always have to start with the quarterback. He had a pure throwing motion and you didn’t have to coach him up on throwing the football; he realized the mechanics of throwing and he was big, strong and faster than people gave him credit for. He had all the making of a good quarterback. You knew he was going to do what he does best and that’s throw the football.”
While Helms expected Porter to find success in the fall of 2003, Garza and the Cowboys took a while to become believers, despite being able to move the ball during scrimmages prior to the season and a rare 17-14, Week 0 win over Rivera thanks to kicker Emmanuel Gutierrez’s last-minute game-winning field goal.
By halftime of Week 1 against Mission, Porter’s players began to realize their potential, especially after Helms walked into the locker room upset with Cowboys’ first half performance.
“We were up 14-0 at half and it’s like, ‘We’re Porter, we’re feeling confident, this is awesome. Porter should not be beating Mission right now,’” Garza said. “We were feeling pretty good about ourselves and then I remember coach Helms walked into the locker room and he wasn’t as pleased as we were. That was the moment a lot of us — from a player’s standpoint — we just flipped the switch and thought that this isn’t a fluke. Coach Helms thinks that there is something there and we’re talented enough to be better.
“I think it was just getting us to believe that we were capable.”
Porter would roll past Mission 42-7, setting the Cowboys up for a showdown with the Donna Redskins.
The hype of the game brought enough fans to Sam’s Stadium to sell out the venue from end to end. It would be worth it and live up to the hype as another late field goal by Gutierrez would move Porter past Donna 37-35.
The 3-0 start brought excitement and confidence to the Cowboys and enthusiasm to the Brownsville community.
“Given the history at Porter, it was completely different,” Garza said. “We went from having nobody in the stands to being sold out every week. It was a cool experience to go to through. Porter had been good at other sports, but something about football brings this culture to your school. And if you’re successful in football, it bleeds over to other things.”
Porter continued to roll and Garza shined, leading the Cowboy offense to outscore district opponents 286-108 over the next six games.
Against Harlingen South, Garza tossed seven touchdowns and racked up 404 passing yards in a 58-27 win. Against Mercedes, he threw for another 428 yards in a 59-10 win.
The Cowboys would roll to an 8-0 mark before falling short of a perfect campaign and a District 32-4A title. In the regular-season finale, Porter fell to Edcouch Elsa 35-28 in overtime. In the postseason, the Cowboys rolled through PSJA 45-8 in the bi-district round before losing to Gregory-Portland in the area round.
“It was good for those kids because they put a lot into it and it ended up being a good year for them,” Helms said. “That Gregory Portland game, we ran into a good football team, but we played with them. It was a tight ball game and I think we competed well … it was just one of those that didn’t turn out right.”
The Cowboys ended the 2003 season 9-2 and that season still stands as the program’s best to date.
Garza finished the year throwing for 3,185 yards and 38 touchdowns in 11 games and would be named the District 32-4A MVP, the All-Valley Offensive Player of the Year and a Class 4A All-State quarterback.
A NEW LEVEL
Following the breakout season, Garza began receiving looks from division I programs. Since it was after the season, seldom did Garza have scouts around watching over him, adding pressure.
“There were a couple of days where coaches would come to practice and watch me,” Garza said. “A lot of stuff happened at the end of the year. A lot of kids get recruited their sophomore and junior year and I didn’t start until my senior year. I think coach Helms, and he never told me this, might have shielded me from a lot of that.
“I did hear that he had started sending my tapes out to different schools, so a lot of the recruiting just happened after the year.”
Helms went to bat for Garza, which wasn’t a tough sell as he talked about his quarterback’s character and drive as much as his natural mechanics.
“I don’t think Billy was thinking about going to a DI program or anything, I think he enjoyed his senior year and enjoyed playing — he’s a competitor,” Helms said. “That’s what I told his college coaches, ‘Not only is he an incredible talent, he’s a competitor.’”
Garza fielded offers from the University of Houston, Ole Miss and the University of Illinois, but ultimately settled on joining the Fighting Illini by Christmas time in 2003.
After finishing out a memorable senior year, Garza entered a new world of football when he reported to Champaign, Illinois, that summer.
As practices began, he found out quickly that the college game was a different animal as he no longer was one of the biggest players on the field.
Garza felt somewhat unprepared to handle it all at first.
“I really didn’t know too much about my athletic ability, nor did I know too much about how colleges work, but I knew I was good enough to get recruited there so I wanted to do as well as I could while I was there,” Garza said. “I remember walking in and taking some snaps under center, going through my drop back and it just looked like there were five trees in front of me that I had to kind of see through. I was used to seeing over my line and now I had to kind of see through them.”
Garza would adjust to the culture shock and was red-shirted his freshman year, but his chances at hitting the field for the Illini took a hit in 2005.
Then coach Ron Turner, who recruited Garza, would be fired and replaced by Ron Zook his new staff.
Garza, however, believed he could stick around and show what he could do, but ultimately lost out to system quarterbacks.
Tim Brasic would lead the Illini under center in 2005 and Isiah “Juice” Williams would come along to take over in 2006 and 2007, leaving Garza out of the picture.
“Those guys would be able to run the offense well and they were good, but I felt that they fit the system that we were running well,” Garza said. “I feel that I could’ve done it, but if it was a different system tailored to my skill set, it may have been possible (for me to play). Coaches recruit their guys to start for them and that’s what happened.
“I should’ve transferred right away, but I wanted to stick it out and I wanted to be there. I also didn’t want to forfeit what I had done academically”
Garza wasn’t complaining because by 2007, the Illini turned things around as they marched their way to the Rose Bowl behind a solid Illini squad led by Williams and future NFL running back Rashard Mendenhall.
“It was a good time and my last year there we beat Ohio State, went to the Rose Bowl to play USC and saw people that we see play on TV now,” Garza said. “It was a cool thing to say that I was able to do.”
A REBIRTH
Garza planned to be done with football and graduate from Illinois in the summer of 2008, but with some eligibility left, Division II schools came calling.
The Texas A&M Kingsville Javelinas, under the direction of then-second-year head coach Bo Atterberry, would eventually lasso Billy “The Kid” in hopes of not only giving the a 3-8 program a shot in the arm, but maybe revitalize Garza’s playing career as well.
Being on the sidelines for four years, however, made Garza question whether he could still compete.
“I remember coming into Kingsville asking if I was any good and if I could compete and if I‘m capable,” Garza said. “Coach Atterberry said that there was nothing guaranteed, they had a guy do well last year and we’ll see how it went through camp. I said that was fair and I came in and I did well.”
He showed he could still sling the ball around in camp and Atterberry had little doubt about Garza’s ability to lead an offense. Atterberry recalls that being one of the turning points for the program.
“At that point, he was still involved and was able to practice (at Illinois) and he dang sure didn’t lose that arm because when he came to us, he had every throw in the book,” Atterberry recalled. “He was elusive in the pocket, could make guys miss and had a quiet strength about him as well — he led by example. I got asked before what I felt the biggest difference was going from three wins to seven wins and Billy was the first guy that came to mind to be quite honest. I tell people that he decided to transfer so we were fortunate to have him.”
Garza took the field for the Javelinas in Week 1 against North Dakota of the Football Championship Subdivision, but left the game with an injury after racking up just 95 yards on 9 of 22 passing.
The Javelinas lost 40-14, but it would be a minor hiccup.
Garza returned to the field the next week to throw a pair of touchdowns to help lead TAMUK to a 44-14 win over East Central (Oklahoma).
Garza quickly got his feet under him over the final nine games, finishing the season with 2,787 yards, 23 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, fueling the Javelinas to a 7-4 record in 2008.
Despite falling short of the DII playoffs, Garza was just glad to have a chance to showcase his talents.
“It was fun. I enjoyed playing, I enjoyed being out there playing for Kingsville,” Garza said. “I spent four years just practicing at Illinois and I learned a lot watching the starters play. So getting to use some of the stuff I had learned scheme-wise was fun.”
It looked like Garza had reached the end of the road in football pads, but a DII rule stating that an athlete has 10 semesters to fulfill four seasons of eligibility, as opposed to the DI rule which gives athletes five years to play four seasons, changed that.
With Garza’s red shirt 2004 season at Illinois, he had recorded just nine semesters after playing in the Fall of 2008.
In the spring of 2009, Garza became a part-time student and did not participate in any team activity, including workouts in order to be eligible for the 2009 season.
In 2009, however, the Javelinas had the tools to capture a Lone Star Conference title, but Garza would not be the team’s centerpiece as TAMUK boasted one of the nation’s top defenses and several DI transfers. They also brought in Fred “Hollywood” Winborn, a talented running back transfer out of California College of The Canyons, who would explode mid-season and finish with 1,295 yards and 17 touchdowns.
But Garza was fine with that despite a solid 2008 campaign, and his attitude made all the difference.
“Billy had really good numbers and was capable of a lot of things,” Atterberry said. “I think the way he put the team first is what is most important. You don’t make the playoffs in DII without a bunch of special young men and without guys who put their differences aside and have respect for each other to achieve that one common goal.
“Most really good leaders and competitors are going to take the winning over stats anyway and that’s who Billy is — he was a good fit for us at the time.”
TAMUK went 9-2 and were tri-champions of the Lone Star Conference along with the Tarleton State Texans and the Abilene Christian Wildcats. They also made the DII playoffs after claiming the fourth seed in Super Region 4.
That set up a conference rematch with co-LSC champion and No. 5 seed Tarleton in the opening round of the playoffs at Javelina Stadium.
The winner would go on to play top-seeded Central Washington, but the stakes would be the last thing remembered from that game, which turned into an instant classic.
Garza gave the Javelinas a 46-43 lead with under a minute to go on a 1-yard touchdown run, but Tarleton State converted on a fourth and 15 on the ensuing possession on a prayer throw by Texan quarterback Scott Grantham.
Then, it all took a turn as Texan kicker Garrett Lindholm booted an NCAA-record 64-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.
Now trailing 49-46 in the first overtime, the Javelinas passed on a potential game-winning opportunity when faced with a fourth and 1 on the 2-yard line. Despite Winborn already having more than 200 yards in the game, Atterbery opted to send the game into a second overtime with a field goal.
TAMUK opened the second OT feeding Winborn the ball on four of five plays, resulting in an easy 2-yard score and a 56-49 lead.
It would be for naught, however, as the Texans scored on a fourth and 5 on a scramble run by Grantham from 20-yards out for a touchdown to pull within a point. Moments later Grantham ended the Javelinas’ season in heartbreaking fashion, running in a 2-point conversion for a 57-56 double-overtime win.
“We were in position to win with about 40 seconds left and we’re already thinking we’re going to win, we were going to travel and (Lindholm) kicks a 60-something-yard field goal and it was like ‘Are you kidding me?’” Garza said. “It was weird because we played during the day instead of at night. But with all that it was the most exciting and tense game that I have ever been a part of. It was fun because of that, but what wasn’t fun was the fact that we had beat Tarleton my first year and earlier that season.
“I thought we had their number, but for some reason, they came out on top.”
Garza finished the season with 2,711 yards and 17 touchdowns through the air, was an All-LSC South honorable mention and most importantly, the one thing that had previously eluded him: A conference championship.
“I used to see coach Jaime Martinez — our offensive line coach — walk around with his ring and I told myself ‘Man, that’s such a pretty ring, I want something like that,’” Garza said. “So to have a ring with the Javelina logo all decked out is just cool. It’s great to be able to wear it and say that we brought a conference championship to Kingsville is just a great thing to be able to say.”
LIFE AFTER FOOTBALL
After the season, Garza attended a pro day with NFL scouts in Houston but nothing would materialize from the tryouts.
Garza returned to Brownsville and attended a semester at UTB in 2010 to finish off course work. During that time he also volunteered for the Hanna football program as an unpaid assistant
In 2011-12 Garza went on and had a brief stint with the RGV Magic semi-pro indoor football team in McAllen, but even though he would enjoy playing, Garza opted to make a change.
“That time was a maturing process for me,” Garza said. “I was just riding the wave. In my time in McAllen, I became a Christian during that time, but it was a lot of not wanting to take on responsibility. I was playing arena ball but I knew if I wanted to get married and have a family I had to do something that I can pay for this stuff. I started working at the middle school in McAllen to have two incomes in my second year.”
Garza would eventually find himself at Pace in the fall of 2012 as the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach under then-first-year head coach Bill Deen.
Garza married his current wife Elise in 2013. The two have a son, William David Garza, and live in Brownsville.
Garza is still at Pace and helps with the offense as an assistant under head coach Danny Pardo and also coaches freshman basketball, where he hopes to mold character athletes.
“I’ve always had a heart for Brownsville,” Garza said. “High school is an important time in people’s lives and to have the opportunity to speak into kids’ lives not only from an athletic standpoint, but also trying to build their character … that’s important to remember because at some point the game is going to end.”