Manuel GonzalesClaire Bee once said “Good coaching may be defined as the development of character, personality and habits of players, plus the teaching of fundamentals and team play.”
For Manuel Gonzales and the hundreds of athletes he has coached at Granada High School that may be the essence of what has done day in and day out for the past 40-plus years.
Gonzales has coached three sports – football for 40 years, basketball for 39 and baseball for 25 – and is still on the sidelines today. His teams have won three football titles (1979, 1988, 2006), two basketball titles (1989, 1991) and three baseball crowns (1991, 1995, 2009).
The Arkansas Valley native and a graduate of Granada High School, Gonzales said it was his dream to return to his alma mater to teach and coach.
Gonzales has been named Coach of the Year numerous times in each sport and has had his teams finish as runners up in the state championships several times.
He was a driving force behind the addition of the 1A baseball classification in 2007, citing increased popularity of the sport and the number of 1A sized schools playing the sport.
He notes that receiving a college degree is what he considers his greatest accomplishment because it allowed him to become a teacher and coach. Graduation and continuing education are goals he continues to teach while coaching his athletes. He also coached two sons and a daughter who attended GHS.
Gonzales has retired from teaching but remains passionate about coaching. And 40 years later, he says he can’t pick a favorite sport. He loves them all.
Gonzales was inducted in to the Colorado High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2002) and the National High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2006). He was recognized by the Colorado Dugout Club in 2009 for his contributions to high school baseball
