By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio’s longest tenured youth football organization paid homage to its roots on the day it celebrated its 50th anniversary of existence.
The Del Rio Youth Football and Cheer League opened its 2023 season Saturday morning at the Del Rio Middle School football field. Six pee wee and prep teams from Del Rio and Brackettville and three tyke teams took part in the ceremony to kick off the league’s fifth decade of activity. Part of the opening ceremonies was dedicated to lauding a pair of men who helped start the league in Bobby De Leon and Hector Flores.
De Leon began his coaching career as a 25-year-old 1969 as the head coach Sam Houston Jets alongside Armando Fernandez and Mando Villarreal. He then listed the coaches who joined him including Ramon Bravo, Robert Chavarria, Joe Frank Martinez, Ruben Resendez and Danny Flores when De Leon transitioned to coaching the Garfield Cowboys.
Flores, who was 18 when he began coaching, remains with the league as an assistant coach with the Ponies.
De Leon credited many different people with the success of the league in its infancy including his wife Bea and the late Martha Galindo who helped on the cheer side of the league.
He also thanked former Del Rio News-Herald sports editor Carl Guys whose column, Guys Guff, ran weekly in the newspaper. “Carl Guys played a big role in promoting pee wee football in our community, just like Brian (Argabright, former News-Herald sports editor and current 830 Times Editor) has done. I would always thank Carl Guys … you were the one who made me famous because he had a weekly sports column and I gave him a lot of credit for promoting pee wee football in our community and in its early stages,” De Leon said.
Hector Flores also addressed the teams and parents. He explained that the league began in 1964 with teams playing behind the now-defunct Travis Elementary on an 80-yard field. He said only four teams existed when the league began – the Travis Rattlers, the Sam Houston Oilers, Stephen F. Austin and the Lamar Panthers. He said teams would play championship games at the San Felipe Memorial Stadium in what was known as the Turkey Bowl since it occurred around Thanksgiving.
Flores, who was joined by former players Victor Santos and Hector Calderon, also thanked the parents for helping keep the league alive and helping to make it what it is today.
“You are the backbone. You are the backbone of this organization. You support your kids and that’s beautiful. That’s what I had in mind back in 1964 when we were only four teams,” Flores said.
The league has undergone a variety of changes in its 50 years. Teams are no longer tied to schools and the league has expanded and shrunk from time to time. At its apex, the league consisted of nine teams including the existing teams plus the Longhorns, the Jets, which was comprised of youth from or near Laughlin Air Force Base, and two teams from Mexico – the Vaqueros and the Broncos. The league recently added a tykes division for its smallest and youngest members and has gone from playing its weekly games at Memorial/Marion Russell Middle School to Del Rio Middle School as well as at Tiger Stadium in Brackettville.
And while De Leon hasn’t been associated with the league for many years, he said he still gets a sense of pride when he sees today’s young people carrying on what he helped begin so many years ago.
“I get goosebumps when I see a young football player in his uniform and a young girl in her cheerleading uniform. What a blessing,” De Leon said.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
