Former Apaches petition to rename gym in honor of legendary coach

The Gonzales School board met for its regular scheduled meeting Monday, Aug. 12 at the GISD administrative building.

A petition was submitted by former Apaches basketball players to rename the Gonzales High School Apache Gym in honor of former basketball coach Vic Salazar.

Salazar was the head basketball coach from 1974 to 1994 for Gonzales High School, compiling a record of 517 wins and 147 losses in those 20 years a coach.

“He ran a program that was very well renowned over the state. There's a lot of the ex-members on the basketball team, a lot of guys that I played with … It shows how much Vic Salazar means to all of us,” said Curt Metzler, Gonzales High School Class of 1995 and former Apache basketball player.

During those 20 years, Salazar averaged 20-plus wins per season and received numerous accolades from multiple publications from the San Antonio Express-News, Victoria Advocate, the Austin American Statesman, including several Coach of the Year honors.

“During his time as coach, he was the winningest coach in the Central Texas area, and he is still the winningest head coach in all sports at Gonzales High School. He ended his career actually during my senior year, so I got to see him go from a high school coach to a vice principal,” Metzler said.

“As Americans, we have the issue of not honoring people until they die. And that's harsh. So the opportunity I've given you guys is we have the opportunity now to honor a guy when he's still here, so that he can see it, and then we can see it,” Metzler said.

Jake Pringle, Metzler’s former teammate, said he has never seen a coach dedicated to his craft more than Salazar.

“It scares me to think, if the internet was around in the 1990s, how long our practices would have been, because he would film Stanford and Princeton games on the West Coast and watch it back on his VCR. We probably ran 25 offenses in practice,” Pringle said.

“It's things that I tell my kids. It's like, ‘You don't do it till you get it right. You do it till you can't get it wrong.’ And that's how our practices were, and that's how we did it. So we would run these offenses over and over and over again until we couldn't get it wrong,” Pringle added.

Players knew the expectations entering the basketball program — when they laced up their shoes, they were going to get better, he said.

“I’ve seen a lot of coaches. I've never seen one greater. So thank you for your consideration of putting this on the agenda, to vote for it, and thank you for your time,” Pringle said.

The board approved the following agenda items:

– approved GASB 54 Resolution

– approved on notice of public meeting to discuss budget and proposed Tax Rate

– approved agreement for the purchase of attendance (Option 3 agreement) and to delegate contractual authority to the superintendent.

– approved authorizing the superintendent the sign the Legal Services Retainer Agreement with Walsh Gallegos, Kyle Robinson and Roalson P.C.

– approved on Resolution/Settlement Agreement in Administrative Hearing Cause No.24-0416-K; Gonzales Independent School District vs. Texas Department of Health & Human Services, including Possible Resolution

– approved the Appraisal Calendar and Appraisers for the 2024-2025 school year.

– approved 3 MOUs with Victoria College to bridge instructional services for Plumbing II, Electrical II, and Welding I

– approved changes to Gonzales ISD Adult Breakfast and Lunch Meal Prices.