Edinburg CISD is honoring one of the most important figures in the history of their sports programs. The school district is naming their new athletic department after former football coach and athletic director Robert Alaniz.

"We're dedicating this building for his memory and all that he's done for our community,” Edinburg CISD athletic director Oscar Salinas said.

Coach Alaniz, an Edinburg High graduate, was named the first head football coach at Edinburg North when the school opened in the early 1990s. In 1992, the Cougars won a district championship under Alaniz with a perfect 10-0 record.

Alaniz served as the head coach for the Cougars until 1999, when he took over as the athletic director for the school district, ultimately retiring in 2008.

"It is great coaches, like Coach Alaniz, Coach Oscar Salinas, Coach Vela and many many of our coaches that have instilled in our boys honor, unity, discipline,”

Edinburg CISD Board Member Dominga Vela said. Current athletic director for the school district Oscar Salinas was also coached under Alainiz.

"He was just somebody that we looked up to,” Salinas said. “They talk about him being tough and being afraid of him but we respected him. We know he was getting us ready to be successful.”

Coach Alaniz himself didn't speak during the ceremony, instead choosing to quietly appreciate the moment. We were able to speak to his children about what their father's accomplishment meant to their family.

“He's very appreciative of it,” His son Rick Alaniz said. “Just seeing him with a big old smile, it brings tears to my eyes.”

“It's a little bit emotional,” his daughter Natalie added. “It's the legacy he leaves and just everything he's done for the community and for ECISD. It's huge and it tears me up a little bit.”

The athletic department building will be used for all Edinburg CISD schools and allows the Alaniz name to continue having a lasting impact on young athletes in the Valley.