Robertson coach honored for making a difference
Gonzalez, waiting for kidney-pancreas transplant, receives Heart and Soul of the Game award
Leroy Gonzalez has been going toe-to-toe with diabetes since he was 17.
So, competing with 180 other worthy coaches was not much of a problem for the Las Vegas Robertson head football coach.
The website MaxPreps.com honored Gonzalez on Wednesday with its first Heart and Soul of the Game award during a pep assembly in Robertson’s Michael Marr Gymnasium. The award honors a football coach dedicated to making a difference in players’ lives and the community beyond coaching.
Gonzalez, who completed his ninth season at the school, had a kidney transplant in 2011, but is waiting for a kidney-pancreas transplant as his replacement kidney has started failing. Throughout the season, Gonzalez and Robertson coordinated his work and coaching schedule to accommodate his three-times-aweek dialysis treatment.
The Cardinals made a spirited run to their fourth straight state championship before losing Saturday to Dexter, 22-12.
“Most high school coaches recognize that the job is more than winning on the field,” said Andy Beal, president and founder of MaxPreps. com, in a statement. “They understand that the real value in being a coach is the opportunity to positively influence the lives of the young people they touch. With their words, and more importantly, through their actions, the coaches we are honoring reflect the very best attributes of their profession. These coaches are the caring adults who help to mold the young men and women that they touch through their sport.”
Gonzalez said former New Mexico Highlands University cross-country coach Ron Maestas nominated him to MaxPreps.com, and Gonzalez was one of three finalists out of 180 nominees. Gonzalez said he got to know Maestas while taking his business classes at the university.
It wasn’t until the week before the Cardinals played St. Michael’s in the Class 3A quarterfinals that Gonzalez learned he was the winner. A camera crew followed him around over the past few weeks of the season, into the 3A title game, for a story that will be aired later. Gonzalez did not know when it was going to released.
“That week [of the St. Michael’s game], they told me they were going to have somebody come and follow me around with a camera,” Gonzalez said. “I thought I was just going to do some interviews, kinda like Channel 13. But it was a whole dang production.”
The production team put a mic on Gonzalez and followed him around the locker room before, during and after games. He admitted it was a bit awkward because he considers the locker room a place of sanctity for he and his players.
“It wasn’t really bothersome,” Gonzalez said. “It was just that a lot of that stuff is kinda private — some of the stuff I say and the coaches say between us and the players. It was just something we had to deal with.”
While Gonzalez was the centerpiece of the feature, he couldn’t help but acknowledge his coaching staff for taking on additional responsibilities.
“I couldn’t do this without my assistant coaches,” Gonzalez said. “I gave them a little more than I usually gave them. I don’t think we would have had such a successful season if they didn’t take it on and do such a good job.”
Robertson athletic director Juan Carlos Fulgenzi said Gonzalez is an excellent role model for the community and his players.
“Despite any health issues, Coach Gonzalez gives his best day in and day out and expects nothing but the same from this athletes,” Fulgenzi said in a statement. “He has conveyed the message to his athletes that in life you will have your obstacles and challenges, but you must show up to work, give it your all, and find a way to succeed.”