Steve Castro's Legacy

Robstown High School coaching legend Steve Castro, who passed away in October, will be honored at the January 14 South Texas Winter Baseball Banquet at the Solomon P. Ortiz Center. Castro averaged 25 wins per season over a 28-year head coaching career, all at his alma mater. The Cotton Pickers made five state tournament appearances and captured consecutive Class 4A Texas championships in 1991-92.

There are 63 members of the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and Robstown legend Steve Castro, elected in 2014, is one of them.

Eleven men have received Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Corpus Christi Hooks' annual South Texas Winter Baseball Banquet, and on January 14 Castro's posthumous recognition will further cement his legacy.

Victories and championships while shaping an ultra-successful high school baseball program for 28 seasons are just two of the many components in that lasting impression. And, they're quantifiable.

But far less impactful than the true measure of Castro's reach.

"He instilled, 'do your best all the time,'" current Robstown coach and former player Elias Vasquez recalled. "He strived for perfection. He said, 'it's hard to be perfect. No one is perfect. But if you practice every day and you try to be perfect, you're going to be pretty good.' And that's what we worked on all the time. Just trying to do our best. He always had little competitions all the time, where we would try to beat out the guy next to us.

"We'd play for sunflower seeds, we'd play for quarters. We played for everything, just competing all the time. That's what he wanted; he said competition will always make you better. So don't be scared of competition. Bow up to it; it'll bring the best out of you."

Former Moody and John Paul II coach Steve Castillo, the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, joins Castro in the THSBCA Hall next month. They coached against each other for years when Moody-Robstown was the area's top inter classification rivalry, routinely drawing three to four thousand fans. Castro's last coaching experience came as a member of Castillo's 2012 Centurion staff. He remembers Castro as a man who led with compassion.

"When I think of Steve, I think of loyalty, somebody who cared about his players," Castillo said. "He always talked to me about the players that got away, that he couldn't help. He was always thinking about them and always trying to get back in touch and trying to help them out.

"I saw it up close and personally, the way he treated kids, the way he wanted kids to succeed. It was not about winning, it was about winning in life, not winning in baseball. He was always talking about that."

Their generation of coaches, which includes Calallen's Steve Chapman, recently-retired Gene Kasprzyk of Sinton, and Moody Magic minter Hector Salinas, helped transform South Texas High School Baseball not only by winning consistently at high rates, but by bringing recognition and opportunity to their players.

"He'd always call me and say, 'hey, let's do this for our kids. You know, let's try to get scouts to come down here.' Because, at that time, we weren't getting scouts down to Corpus," Castillo remembered. "He'd say, 'so let's figure out a way to get scouts down here, college scouts, anything that can help our kids get exposure.' We put in a lot of time and a lot of hours. We used to travel a lot of places, just to get our kids exposed."

Fred Flores began his coaching career at Bishop under Castro protégé Rudy Gonzalez. A peer of Vasquez, Flores played and coached against Castro teams that were eye-catching to fans, the media, and scouts alike. The former Gregory-Portland player and coach came to understand the psychological edge Robstown could gain during infield practice even before games started.

"The look in those kids' eyes, we knew we were playing a team that was well-prepared, well-drilled," Flores said. "The typical Robstown kid was scrappy, tenacious. They were going to succeed at anything they were trying to do. They were going to execute. They reflected their head coach."

And, they were going to be treated by Castro with kindness, as veteran Corpus Christi Caller-Times reporter George Vondracek witnessed on multiple occasions.

"He had such a fierce, competitive nature, yet he was very compassionate," Vondracek said. "You could tell it with his players, especially after his losses, which weren't very many because he was so successful at Robstown. He just had this way about him that was soothing. Yet, if you talk to some of his competing coaches, they didn't get see that very often, because he was very fiery, he was a very fierce competitor."

Out of the public eye, Castro was a devoted family man. He was Phyllis' husband for 41 years. Father to Steve, Jr., Felicia, and Stacy. Grandfather to seven. Mentor to students as a decades-long U.S. and World History teacher. Devout member of the Catholic faith.

The former Golden Gloves boxer and competitive bowler introduced youth football to the Robstown community while working with the Parks and Recreation Department in the early 1970s.

He starred as a three-time all-district second baseman and football wingback for the Cotton Pickers before matriculating to Pan American University and the Broncs' 1971 College World Series team.

Cotton Pickers were more to Steve Castro than his high school's mascot; his parents were migrants following crop work. The fourth child of Domingo and Amelia came into the world at 10:38 a.m. on July 28, 1949.

Faith in God and belief in hard work - especially education - sustained the Castros. They were the framework of Coach Castro's life.

Phyllis often reminded him of their many blessings. And it's clear he believed in "paying it forward."

Said 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award winner Chapman, co-architect of the classic Wildcat-Cotton Picker series (either Calallen or Robstown won or shared their district title over a 22-year span), when his thoughts turn to Castro: "I think of Robstown Baseball, first and foremost. I think of a man that dedicated his life to that and to his family. He was a good person, a good man. And he loved Robstown Baseball like no other."

Vasquez, who remembers Castro lingering at the Robstown baseball field on his last visit as though saying goodbye, best understands the scope of his influence.

"The guy was a very disciplined man, but he was a lot of fun, too. He had a joking side. But once he put that aside, you knew it was all business, once he stepped on the field. But, he made our practices very enjoyable. He was a great man to coach for. I learned so much from him.

"He was from here, he came back, and he gave so much. He was an unbelievable coach, a great mentor, and an awesome person."

Flores, who also worked summer camps and socialized with Steve and Phyllis, was richly blessed by his relationship with the Castros.

"When Steve Castro comes to mind, I think of a person that was tenacious, a person that was very competitive, but also had a lot of love for his family, for his wife and his kids and for his community," Flores said. "When Steve Castro comes to mind, a winner, that's the best way I could describe it.

"He had a lot of awards, he won a lot of games, two state championships back-to-back. That's unheard of. He accumulated a lot of accolades. But I really feel like the best thing that he ever accomplished was his relationship with his family, with his wife Phyllis, his kids, and his relationship with God. It drew me towards him. That's one thing I'd like to thank him and his wife Phyllis for, the example they set for younger people."