Theresa Najera | Valley Morning StarRaymondville head coach Alex Leal celebrates his 200th career victory after a win against Brownsville St. Joseph's Academy last season. Leal enters his 29th season as a head coach this year.
By the Numbers: Living Legend
Raymondville's Alex Leal entering 29th season on Valley sidelinesJuly 29, 2008 - 10:49PM
By PAUL CONATZER | Valley Morning StarEvery coach has a few stock phrases he likes to use.
Raymondville's Alex Leal is no different.
"Once a coach, always a coach," he has said on more than one occasion.
This season, Leal will start his 29th season as a head coach. And with 29 days to go until the start of the 2008 Valley high school football season, Leal is the subject of today's "By The Numbers."
Leal has had a good run as a head coach. Make that a very good run.
In the 29 years he's been the top guy on the sidelines, his teams have a 205-94-6 record.
He's the only Valley coach to win more than 200 games and he ranks among the top active coaches in Texas. He's won 11 district titles, including one in 2007, which was his fourth at Raymondville.
He's also a member of the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame and a member of the Texas High School Coaches Hall of Honor.
He's loved every minute he's spent at a stadium, in his office or on the practice field.
"I'm tremendously happy. I've never wished I had done something else," he said.
"I've had some beautiful moments. I've coached my son. I've had a lot of good players. If it hadn't been for coaching football, I wouldn't have been able to go to Europe."
He lectured for the WFL-NFL in Spain in 1993 and 1994.
Leal got his first head coaching job at Raymondville in 1973. In his first seven seasons as the head coach of the Bearkats he went 51-18-4 with trips to the playoffs in 1975, '76 and '77. Back then only one team in each district earned a playoff spot.
After Raymondville he went to Rio Grande City where he suffered his only losing season.
After a year out of coaching he returned to the sidelines at Port Isabel and had continued success as the Tarpons went 32-5 in his three years there.
And it was from his stint at PI that Leal draws one of his best memories.
"In 1984, we played Refugio, which was ranked No. 1 in the state at the time, in the playoffs at Javelina Stadium," he recalled. "It was a great game, we won 28-26."
After PI, Leal decided to try his hand at the Class 5A ranks as he went to McAllen and then to Harlingen South when the school opened in 1993.
Leal took the Hawks to the playoffs for the first time in school history in 1995. South won its first two playoff games, including a thrilling 31-27 victory against Valley-killer Victoria.
The Hawks ended that season with a 27-17 loss to eventual state champion San Antonio Roosevelt.
Leal retired from coaching in 2000 and for six years he was able to stay away.
But in early 2006, Raymondville was looking for a new football coach and the school district turned to a familiar face.
At first Leal wasn't sure whether he should come back. But after some prodding from some former players and members of the school board, Leal decided to pick up a whistle again.
"It's hard to get it (coaching) out of your system," he said at the time.
After a couple of seasons in the wilderness, Leal brought a sense of purpose back to the Bearkats and they responded to the veteran coach.
In 2006 the Bearkats made the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and returned in 2007.
But 2007 will always be remembered as the year that Leal won the 200th game of his illustrious career with a 48-0 romp past Brownsville St. Joseph.
Leal, as he always does, was quick to deflect attention away from himself and on to his players.
"It's just something that happened because the good Lord blessed me," he said.
Leal said coaching has changed over the duration of his career.
"A lot of boys come from one-parent families now," he said. "Sometimes we have to serve as coach, counselor and parent, too. Sometimes, we have to give them tough love. That's the challenge we face today."
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