For Andrew Martinez, Manuel Gonzales was — and always will be — one of his best friends. For Rob Yardman, he was a Capital football legend who transcended that status to friend and mentor. But what friends and fellow coaches said about 1991 Capital graduate Manuel Gonzales they will remember most was how he gave a lot of his time to youth football players in Santa Fe and Rio Rancho as well as to his family.
Gonzales suffered a heart attack and died at his Rio Rancho home June 6, said Martinez, head coach at Santa Fe High who played with Gonzales at Capital from 1988-90. Gonzales never was a head coach, but was an assistant at St. Michael's, Santa Fe High, Rio Rancho Cleveland and Capital during a 20-plus year coaching career.
He most recently was an assistant at Capital under Joaquin Garcia for the 2021 season. Martinez, who was a childhood friend of Gonzales', said he was floored when he learned of his death earlier this week. He said Gonzales seemed to be in good health and gave no indication of any problems.
He is the second member of Capital's first state playoff team to die from a heart attack in the past year, along with Floyd Pacheco. "That was tough for me," Martinez said. "It's crazy, him and Floyd to die from heart attacks.
I guess when it's your time, it's your time. But he lived his life to the fullest." Gonzales filled a variety of coaching roles for a variety of programs.
He was Martinez's first offensive coordinator when he took over the Demons program in 2.
