More on Frank Carbajal's passing

"Legendary SBCC Basketball Coach Frank Carbajal Dies" -- Barry Punzal

Plus this from the Greeley, CO newspaper:

Frank Carbajal
July 25, 1938-Sept. 29, 2016
Age: 78
Residence: Fresno, Calif.

Frank Carbajal was born in 1938 in Greeley. His family migrated from Mexico to work the crops in Colorado and California. “I can remember my last day in the fields,” Frank said. “I timed myself on each row and worked to beat it on the next. At the end of the day, my dad said I’d made the most money ever in one day. When he told me what we earned, I swore I’d never go back. I got a job the next day bagging groceries.” His father later said, “I didn’t know our people could get those jobs. Make sure you are the first to work and the last to leave, each day. Make them glad they hired you.”

Frank Carbajal used his competitive drive and his father’s teaching about work ethic to help him excel in athletics, as a player and as a coach. For nearly four decades, Frank Carbajal instilled those same values in his players and his students. His players from El Camino High School in the ’60s, Fresno State in the ’70s, Santa Barbara City in the ’80s, DeAnza CC and Hartnell JC in the ’90s, gathered for numerous reunions, scholarships and awards in their former coach’s name. He was named to his alma mater University of Northern Colorado Hall of Fame, California Community College Coaches Hall of Fame, Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, and the Santa Barbara Court of Champions. At each event, his teams were represented. They continued to call and visit their coach until his last days.

UCLA great, John R. Wooden, once wrote to Frank saying, “You are one of those who never permitted the profession you chose to take precedence over faith, family and friends, but never ceased making the effort to do the best of which you were capable in every endeavor.”

Frank died at home of progressive supra nuclear palsy on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. He was home with family.

Frank is survived by his love, Cathy Wong, and her son, Dustin; children, Randi (Scott), and their children, Cooper and Leslie; great-granddaughters, Jillian and Hayden, DeRon (Sheryl), DeRon’s sons, Jackson, Dylan and Sheryl’s children, Misti and Kirby; sisters, brother, nieces and nephews whom he dearly loved.

The memorial service will be held at 10 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, at Northside Christian Church, 2777 Nees Ave., Fresno Calif.

Remembrances and donations in Coach Carbajal’s name to: El Camino High School-Frank Carbajal Scholarship C/O Lance DeGooyer 4300 El Camino Ave. Sacramento, Calif. 95821, Buchanan Girls Basketball Program (CUSD Foundation) c/o Coach Cooper Carbajal Steele 1560 Minnewawa Clovis, Calif. 93619.