WESLACO — Zeke Rodriguez sat alone inside a dark Weslaco East gym and cried after being named the Wildcats boys basketball head coach two years ago.
Tears flowed not just because he was tabbed to lead a program for the second time in his coaching career.
It was also a second chance at life.
Rodriguez suffered two life-threatening heart attacks and emergency surgery in a three-day span in July 2019.
“God gave me another opportunity in life and blessed me with this opportunity to coach at Weslaco East,” he said.
Rodriguez, a Weslaco High alum, began his coaching career as an assistant at Weslaco East in 2002 after playing college basketball and graduating from Texas Lutheran. He became an assistant at Weslaco High in 2007 and in 2011 was hired to be Donna High’s head coach.
He helped lead the team to three playoff appearances and its first district title in 45 years during the 2014-15 campaign.
In 2015, Rodriguez stepped away from coaching so his wife could pursue law school.
Rodriguez stayed close to the court, however, as his oldest son Zion began to play on a traveling basketball team in San Antonio.
Trips to and from the “Alamo City” became the norm for the Rodriguez family. Zion occasionally missed practices due to the distance. Rodriguez took his son to local parks to play basketball against older and tougher competition to make up for the missed time.
Rodriguez and Zion were playing a game July 11, 2019, at Gibson Park in Weslaco. The first game ran smoothly, but during the second, Rodriguez noticed something was off.
“I ran down the court and I couldn’t move anymore. I was gasping for air, I was feeling light-headed so I took myself out of the game,” he said.
He told his wife Melissa, who was at the playground with their daughter, and they immediately sought medical help.
Rodriguez arrived at a South Texas Health System Emergency Room. He was having a heart attack. He was immediately taken by ambulance to McAllen Heart Hospital.
“I just remember being in the ambulance and every time I opened my eyes, it was like, ‘OK, I’m awake,’” he said. “Prayer is going through my mind, my family is going through my mind — it’s like they say, your life is flashing right before your eyes, and that’s exactly how it felt.”
Rodriguez was stabilized, went to sleep and woke up the following morning.
Hours later, however, he felt the same feeling prior to his first heart attack. A second heart attack required emergency surgery, a double bypass to fix two 100% clogged arteries.
The surgery was a success, but Rodriguez spent the next six months sleeping in a recliner due to the incision on his chest and sternum. Depression and anxiety settled in during the recovery process. He still battles those issues till this day.
Now, Rodriguez feels blessed to be back on the sidelines and in the process of building Weslaco East’s boys basketball program into a winning one.
“These kids needed a little bit of love. They needed a father figure that not just cares for them as basketball players and athletes, but as young men,” he said. “We’ve been trying to emphasize to them that we want to be a program that repeats year after year getting into the playoffs, just like football. We want to be able to bring the basketball community out to support us. The only way we’re going to do that is by having success.”
Zion is a freshman and the leading scorer on this year’s team. On their first morning drive to school together, Rodriguez told his son everything they prayed for came true.
“He used to coach at Donna a few years ago and I always wanted to play for him,” Zion said. “Seeing all those kids get to play for him made me want to play for him. … I love that man. We’ve been through a lot together. He’s been training me since I was 8 years old. It’s just a great opportunity to be together.”
Rodriguez has helped change the culture at Weslaco East in just two years. Senior Nacho Aranda experienced plenty of tough double-digit losses during his first two seasons with the Wildcats. Now, Weslaco East basketball (16-10 overall, 6-3 in district) has begun to earn its respect following last year’s playoff appearance and is tied for second place in District 32-5A with Edcouch-Elsa.
“He’s pushed us as hard as we can. We give everything we can for him since he’s been through a lot of things,” Aranda said. “Everybody just puts in the work.”
Rodriguez made changes to both his life and coaching styles since his return. One of the most important factors off the court is staying on top of a healthy diet, he said. On the hardwood, it was about taking things slow at first.
“My assistant coach that’s been a good friend of mine for 30 years, Joe Yanez, he’s my right hand guy now,” Rodriguez said. “He’s always like ‘Are you OK? Take it easy. Don’t be yelling so much.’”
Rodriguez hopes his experience helps raise awareness about heart disease, especially in the Rio Grande Valley.
“If your body is telling you something — you might have an ache, you might feel shortness of breath, you might feel a heart palpitation — don’t ignore it because your body is telling you,” he said. “It’s like a car: that check engine light comes on, it comes on for a reason. Our bodies tell us there’s something wrong.
“Don’t ignore your body. Listen because it’s telling you something.”
