PRESIDIO — On Tuesday, Presidio ISD held an official naming ceremony for the district’s softball field in honor of Daniel G. DeAnda. The school board had voted in favor of the dedication on February 15, and celebrated a few weeks later with an emotional program of tributes to a Presidio sports icon.
Coach Cesar Barriga offered a biography of DeAnda, who was a Presidio High School graduate from the Class of 1960. DeAnda left town for a few years, but returned to spend the rest of his life serving Presidio ISD students and budding athletes — he served on the district board of trustees for 12 years and coached Little League, bringing a team to the state championships in 1983.
DeAnda was devoted to youth sports in numerous ways. Beyond his coaching career, he raised money for uniforms, donated hamburgers and hotdogs for the concession stand and tended the grounds of the district’s facilities. “When it was 110 degrees outside, you would see this individual outside taking care of the field,” Barriga said.
Generations of DeAndas young and old attended Tuesday’s ceremony. Marcus DeAnda flew in from Marina del Rey, California, to support his mother, wife of the field’s namesake. “Guys I grew up with will come up to me and say, ‘Your dad taught me everything about sports, he made me the man I am today,’” he told the crowd. “It means a lot to the family to see this park now and know that it was cared for by someone who loved baseball and loved kids and loved teaching.”
The fierce young women of the current Presidio High School softball teams were present at Tuesday’s ceremony, carrying the torch for the town’s next generation of athletes. Freshman Kesara Olivas was too young to remember much of DeAnda’s coaching career, but said that his legacy had left an impression on herself and her teammates. “This is more than just a softball field — there’s meaning behind it,” she said.
For her, softball isn’t just an afterschool activity — it’s a lifestyle. “There’s hard days — but being out there with your team, it changes everything,” she said. “We push each other to play better, to be better.”
Olivas and the team had been looking forward to a game after the ceremony to ring in the newly-dedicated field, but the games were postponed due to the muddy weather. They’re looking forward to the next opportunities to play on home turf: first against Kermit on March 28, then hometown rival Alpine on April 4.
Bonding with the team — and taking part in the legacy of Presidio sports — is what makes all the training worth it. “We’re a family — a family that loves playing softball,” Olivas said.
