Valley mourns loss of Coach

EDINBURG — Typing these words were much more difficult than I imagined.

I knew it was coming someday, but I tried to hold out as much as possible — hoping that if I delayed writing this it may somehow hold off what many of us had been expecting in the last few weeks. I knew it was foolish to think that, but as long as the idea existed, I prolonged putting my thoughts into the keyboard. If there was a chance it would work, I know coach Robert Vela would have tried it.

At least I tried, I guess.

Robert Vela, who was not only my football coach at Edcouch-Elsa but for probably thousands of players from E-E and Edinburg High, died Saturday morning at the age of 61 because of complications from stomach cancer.

Early Saturday morning, I think a little bit of us died along with him.

Many of us who knew him will always remember Coach Vela as one that always thought there was a way. Everything was possible. That’s why he was successful as a football coach — he believed.

That’s why when doctors gave him 24 hours to live, they probably failed to mention they were referring to the next 24 hours. Instead, Coach fought on and picked his own time frame. He fought on until he couldn’t fight anymore, and didn’t just give up when people thought the game was all but over.

That, in all likelihood, will be part of his legacy. He was the coach that never stopped believing.

But that isn’t only who Robert Vela was.

THE COACH

Robert Vela wasn’t a genius when it came to coaching, but he was most definitely one of the most well-prepared to ever walk the Rio Grande Valley sidelines.

He surrounded himself with coaching talent. From coordinators to assistants, they were coaches who either had been head coaches before, or should have been. With his passing, one of them, longtime assistant Joey Caceres, will now have his turn to lead the Bobcats.

With that coaching formula, Robert Vela earned 14 playoff years from 1988 to 2006. He led Edcouch-Elsa to the state quarterfinals in 1989, when the Yellowjackets failed to advance after tying Gregory-Portland at 13. That same year, the Yellowjackets won their first district title in 23 years, and thus started a run that is still going strong today.

Ten years after making the Elite Eight of high school football with one school, he had the biggest run of his life, and one of only two occasions the Bobcats went one round shy of the state championship game. The Bobcats advanced, after narrowly making the playoffs, to the 5A state semifinals against Aldine Eisenhower in 1999. The game wasn’t event close, but the journey there was what made it a memorable season for the Bobcats.

It certainly placed a stamp on Robert Vela’s career, making him one of the most successful in recent memory.

Throughout his career, Coach Vela’s teams faced superior talent, but never backed down. Perhaps they didn’t win them all, but they didn’t quit, either.

Still, 19 years in coaching doesn’t seem so long after all. I wish we could have had him a little longer.

THE MAN

Robert Vela was also very kind — sometimes perhaps, he was just too kind.

On one occasion, when Edinburg High beat writer Todd Mavreles asked him what kind of football player I was at Edcouch-Elsa, Coach Vela told Todd I was a great athlete, with very good skills.

Thanks Coach, but we both know that wasn’t entirely the truth. I still joke around today, when people ask me what position I played, and I tell them, ‘left-out.’ It takes a while before they realize it’s not a wide receiver position.

Coach, though, decided to hype me up, instead of telling Todd I was more likely to get splinters on my butt than dirt on my uniform. I appreciated it Coach, really, and I hope Todd still has that recording so I can share with my kids.

As you may have noticed, Coach Vela also had a sense of humor. There was the time when the senior class was asked to speak at the pep rally before the big Mercedes game my senior season in 1990. It was my turn at the mike, and Coach Vela stood next to me. Everyone had something emotionally charging to say before me, but I didn’t really play much. What could I say?

I took about two seconds before announcing to everyone there, “I do all my talking on the field,” I followed it by a dramatic pause before saying, “and I don’t talk much.”

I think Coach almost ruptured his spleen from laughing so hard. He gave me a big pat on the back as I walked by, still shaking from laughter.

He shared with us his stories of growing up in Edinburg, and all the pranks they used to play on the underclassmen. But sometimes he’d joke around with his players, too.

Once, while we were ragging on one of our teammates for giving up too many passing plays on defense, coach walked past, but not before kiddingly referring to our teammate as “The Toaster,” because he got burnt so much.

Then, when we went 0-3 in 1990, he told us to cheer up. The E-E school board, Coach Vela told us before Monday morning practice, decided to fire him after the three losses and hire a new coach.

His replacement’s name? Win-won Soon.

What a prankster.

THE LEGACY

Coach Vela will be remembered for many things, though mostly that he was a great football coach, a great man and a great human being.

He had plenty of supporters, followers and fans along the way, extending the Vela family past bloodlines and family trees. It seems everywhere I went, the common question was, “How is Coach Vela doing?”

That was the case especially when I ran into old faces from the Delta Area.

When Edinburg High advanced to the state semifinals in 1999, it felt almost as if E-E, sometimes nicknamed “East Edinburg” because of its initials, also felt a level of pride. After all, Vela got his head coaching start at Edcouch-Elsa, and he will always be considered the greatest coach ever to coach at Yellowjacket Stadium.

Everyone knows Coach Vela was an Edinburg Bobcat, born and bred. But for those of us who grew up with the black and gold colors of Edcouch-Elsa, he was part of us, too. He left Edcouch-Elsa, but the table has always had a place for him, even if he never returned.

Without a doubt, though, his true colors were Blue and Red, and he left this world doing what he always wanted to do — coach the Edinburg Bobcats. And what a job he’s done.

Like a lot of great people, one often wonders what sort of legacy he’ll leave behind. Unlike the great warrior Achilles, who is most often remembered for his biggest weakness, however, the great Coach Robert Vela will be remembered for his strengths.

For those of us who didn’t get to say it in person, we have this: Goodbye, Coach, and thanks for the memories.

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Oscar Gonzalez Jr., who played football under Robert Vela at Edcouch-Elsa from 1987-1990, is the Sports Editor of The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4443 or via e-mail at oscar@themonitor.com.