Coach "V" We will Miss you!

[footballgal]

High School football, especially in Port Isabel has lost a great football coach and a great person. Eliseo Villarreal was a long time def. coordinator for the Port Isabel Tarpons who passed away this morning in his sleep. You can't think of Tarpon Football and not think of Coach "V" as everyone knew him. He coached players and later those player's kids. He was the backbone of Tarpon Football, he build what was know in the RGV as the "Seawall Defense" with one many outstanding season but one season in particular, going 10-0 and no one scoring on them. He will greatly be missed, by all who knew him and played for him and those Tarpons fans who watched his defense play great year after year. We will miss him, and even this new boss Monty Stambaugh formly from Cuero will I am sure also miss him. May you rest in peace Coach "V" we will never forget you!.

[oldbuff78]

Football gal, was he Tony V's brother. It's been awhile since I had seen or talked to them. Sorry to hear we lost a great one!!

[footballgal]

Originally posted by oldbuff78:
Football gal, was he Tony V's brother. It's been awhile since I had seen or talked to them. Sorry to hear we lost a great one!!

No, they are not related but Tony Villarreal was actually head coach & made his head coach debut with Coach "V" as the def. coordinator back in the early nities. People thought they were related cuz of their last name, but they werent but they were a heck of a team as coaches - total opposites in personality but same great football minds. I am sure Tony will agree when I say that he also learned alot from Coach "V". So how do you know either one of them? By the way thanks for your sympathy.

[footballgal]

PI coach remembered as man of God
Football: Villarreal is only assistant coach in the RGV Hall of Fame.

By Russ Goodall
The Brownsville Herald
--------------------------------------------
Eliseo Villarreal, the legendary Port Isabel High School football coach who orchestrated some of the top defensive performances in the history of the Rio Grande Valley, died in his sleep Sunday at his home in PI.

He was 60 years old.

"He had a great work ethic," Brownsville Independent School District athletic director Joe Rodriguez said. "He was a great Christian, one of the outstanding Christian people. That boy went straight to heaven."

Coach Villarreal spent the better part of his 35-year coaching career as the Tarpons’ defensive coordinator, including 1991 when PI pulled one of the biggest upsets in the history of Valley football.

After wrapping up a district championship and several playoff victories, the Tarpons upset the No. 1-ranked Cuero Gobblers. PI was able to pull off a 20-20 tie, and advanced to the next round of the playoffs on penetrations.

"He did a great job stopping those guys," said former PI head football coach Tony Villarreal, who currently is Hanna head football coach. "That was probably one of the biggest victories in the Valley’s history."

Eliseo Villarreal grew up in Brownsville. He played American Legion baseball and attended the Old Brownsville High School, which is now Hanna, and played both sports for then-head football coach Joe Rodriguez.

But even at a young age, Villarreal’s religion played a huge part in his life.

"He practiced his religion," Rodriguez said. "When we played American Legion ball for the state championship we had to start a game late on Saturday night, because he wouldn’t play on Sunday. He was a Seventh-day Adventist."

After graduating from high school, Villarreal went on to Sam Houston State University, where he was twice selected to the All-Texas team — beating out players from Texas, Texas A&M, Rice, SMU and others.

"I was the one that sent him to Sam Houston State," Rodriguez said. "He was one of my boys. He went on a baseball/football scholarship, but only played football. He was that good."

Upon graduating from SHSU, Villarreal made his way back to Brownsville and took a job as defensive secondary coach under Rodriguez.

After two seasons at his alma mater he moved on to Edinburg High School, before taking his one and only head coaching job at Rio Grande City High School.

There Villarreal won a district championship, but he decided after one year that head coaching wasn’t for him.

"He didn’t want to be a head coach," Rodriguez said. "He didn’t want to do all the paperwork. All he wanted to do was coach."

"He was a student of the game," Tony Villarreal said. "He was one of those guys that took his job home with him. He worked on it on Saturday; he worked on it on Sunday. He studied the game, and he worked at it. Nowadays, I don’t think you see that kind of dedication.

"He is probably the most dedicated guy that I have ever been around. I learned a lot from the man."

Eliseo Villarreal landed on his feet in Port Isabel, where he spent most of the remainder of his career. While on the staff at PI, under Villarreal, the Tarpons pulled off the upset of Cuero.

During a career that spanned more than three decades, Villarreal was more than just a football coach — he was a man of God.

"He was a man of his convictions," Tony Villarreal said. "He believed in what he believed in, and he would will it to happen. He was very dedicated to his family, to his profession and to the church. He touched a lot of people’s lives."

While he is the only assistant coach in the Rio Grande Valley Hall of Fame, elected in 1993, he is a man who will be remembered for the way he lived his entire life.

"I would say that he would like to be remembered as a man that played the game," Rodriguez said. "The game includes the whole works — athletics, life, the way he lived and the example he set. He was awesome. This is a great loss."

http://bbs.3adownlow.com/ubb/frown.gif

[Wally Gonzalez]

Coach "V" was about "LIFE"
HE SYMBOLIZED THE OLD SAYING
"PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH"
THAT WAS HIS WAY OF LIFE, HE PRACTICED WHAT HE PREACHED. WE IN PORT ISABEL ARE VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVE BEEN HONORED AND BLESSED HAVING HIM COACHING AND TEACHING OUR CHILDREN.

[oldbuff78]

We spent some time together at clinics and schools.

[footballgal]

Originally posted by oldbuff78:
We spent some time together at clinics and schools.

Oldbuff78 are you a coach?

[oldbuff78]

Yes, I am.