or even ran as a child on the grounds that would one day be Burr Park and would eventually have a modern athletic facility built on it, little did he know that he would one day be immortalized by having said facility carry his name. “I feel great. I could hardly believe it. When the mayor (Ramsey Cantu) and Councilman Rudy Villalpando came to my house (on Monday), I saw them and my mind started going 100 miles an hour thinking, ‘Well I’m not behind on my taxes, so it’s gotta be something else…’, ha ha,” said a proud Muñoz in an exclusive interview on Wednesday, “Then they came in and told me, and it’s Wednesday and it still hasn’t sunken in, I’m still in the clouds right now.”
The good news has traveled all the way to the West Coast as Muñoz, who’s coaching career began n the 70’s when he was named Coach of the Year in 1977-78, had a race named after him by the Boys Club and was the first baseball coach at Memorial Junior High, says he and his wife are so happy to have received this honor that one of the first people he notified was this reporter’s cousin Joe Ibarra who lives in California.
“The mayor told me that the reason for this honor was because of all those years that because I served as a volunteer coach in the Parks & Recreation Department for all that time, now it was time for me to get something in return.
I did it for all those years without thinking I would ever get rewarded.” When asked about the gratification one gets from seeing his athletes excel at the higher levels of athletics, Muñoz said, “That is the
greatest thing that can happen to a coach to see some of his ex-students excel and do good in life. That was one of the things that I always taught them and got after them, notably to be good in sports, but to be good in life and try to do something better for themselves.”
When asked of some of his highlights in his coaching career, “When coaching flag football in Parks and Recreation, we finished undefeated that year at 10-0, but nobody scored on us that year.”
“Cruzillo” as he is known to his closest friends and colleagues said they ran a 3-4-1 defense which accomplished this feat with three rushers, four linebackers and a free safety. “I also coached atOLOR and it was very challenging because we didn’t have that many kids to choose from, it was a very small school, but we had some outstanding athletes. I was there when they got their mascot which after an election at the school turned out to be the Raiders.” Cruz was a member of the Eagle Pass Evening Lions Club, the KC Club, the Boys and Girls Club, served on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and as a member of the Planning & Zoning Advisory Board. Coach Muñoz and his lovely wife Rosalia wee very gracious in inviting us into their home and they informed The News Gram that the official naming ceremony will be held sometime in late May.