CONCORD, Calif. (KRON) – Within the East Bay, a group is surprised after the sudden passing of a beloved highschool soccer coach. Steve Jacoby, De La Salle’s line of defense coach, handed away – simply days after celebrating his 61st birthday.
De La Salle’s head coach Justin Alumbaugh left it as much as the gamers to resolve in the event that they wished to take the sphere Friday evening after Jacoby’s tragic loss of life. They determined that they did as a result of they consider that’s what their former coach would have wished.
“There’s a deep unhappiness,” mentioned Alumbaugh. “Steve Jacoby was an incredible man. He was an incredible coach. He had been right here for nearly 20 years.”
Alumbaugh remembered his good friend and colleague as genuine and caring. Off the sphere, Jacoby was a mentor for the Spartans’ younger males.
“It wasn’t even actually soccer,” mentioned former De La Salle participant Cooper Flanagan. “He would test on the youngsters each week… ensuring I used to be in psychological state and he simply cared concerning the folks.”
The Spartan crew honored their former coach with a second of silence earlier than Friday evening’s recreation.
De La Salle’s VP of athletics Leo Lopez says Jacoby was not solely necessary to the sports activities division however to the varsity as a complete.
“All over the place he went, he made somebody higher,” mentioned Lopez. “That’s going to be missed. It’s unlucky the way in which it occurred. It’s sudden, and we’re all simply making an attempt to hold in there collectively as a group to get by.”
Group dad and mom keep in mind Jacoby largely for the love he had for his daughters.
“He was a really proud father. We miss Steve,” mentioned De La Salle father or mother Mara Uriza.
De la Salle received their recreation towards El Cerrito on Friday. Alumbaugh says it was a pleasant tribute to their former coach.
Whereas it’s not official, Jacoby’s loss of life is believed to be related to a heart-related situation. The college says it’s planning to honor him at future occasions.
