{"id":11800,"date":"2021-10-26T22:50:06","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T17:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=11800"},"modified":"2021-10-26T22:50:13","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T17:20:13","slug":"joey-rodriguez-soccer-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=11800","title":{"rendered":"Joey Rodriguez, Soccer Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Joey Rodriguez, Soccer Coach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A well-known and a very loved soccer coach for Sam Houston High School in Arlington died from COVID-19 nearly two months after contracting it.\u00a0Joey Rodriguez was fully vaccinated. Although, he also suffered from an immune system condition that still left him quite vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The married father of three coached the varsity team at Sam Houston. He’s recalled as more than a coach to many. He was also a mentor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jose Ortiz says he\u2019ll never forget the day he signed up to play soccer at SMU. His parents were at his side. Behind him was Coach Rodriguez, who he says helped him achieve his dream every step of the way.\u00a0 “That\u2019s why I say he\u2019s like a second father to me because he\u2019s just a guy that I would talk to so much, text and be around,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ortiz was a standout soccer player at Sam Houston High School. Soccer came easy, but his grades weren\u2019t the best. So Coach Rodriguez took him under his wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He was the one who helped me a lot with my grades because that\u2019s something I wasn\u2019t good at,” Ortiz recalled. Rodriguez tutored Ortiz in high school. He kept in close contact even after graduation.\u00a0The SMU sophomore says they spoke multiple times a week until this past August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I hadn\u2019t talked to him maybe for a week. And that\u2019s when I reached out to his wife to ask how everything was going,” Ortiz said. “The reason he wasn\u2019t able to text me and reach out back was because he was sick.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rodriguez, a husband and father of three, caught COVID-19 and spent nearly two months in a hospital until he died Sunday night. He was fully vaccinated but had an immune system disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He was a great coach, a great father to his kids and a great husband to his wife,” Ortiz said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A well-known and a very loved soccer coach for Sam Houston High School in Arlington died from COVID-19 nearly two months after contracting it. Joey Rodriguez was fully vaccinated. Although, he also suffered from an immune system condition that still left him quite vulnerable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":11801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6698,15],"tags":[8718,7765],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Joey-Rodriguez.jpg?fit=1080%2C608&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8905,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=8905","url_meta":{"origin":11800,"position":0},"title":"Ken Snow, soccer player","date":"June 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Kenneth Snow \u2011 an American soccer forward who was a two-time winner of the Hermann Trophy as the outstanding college soccer player in 1988 and 1990 \u2013 died of Covid-19 on June 21, 2020. He had an eight-year professional career playing indoor soccer in the United States. Ken Snow was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Noteworthy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10296,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=10296","url_meta":{"origin":11800,"position":1},"title":"Thomas Moore, school principal","date":"July 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Thomas Moore, the former longtime principal of Perry Middle School, died on July 6, 2020, after a battle with COVID-19. Moore retired at the end of the 2016-17 school year after more than a decade as principal at the middle school. 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On the school\u2019s athletics website, Peacock\u2019s bio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Profiles"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/John-Peacock.jpg?fit=1144%2C638&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4577,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=4577","url_meta":{"origin":11800,"position":4},"title":"Elizabeth Alvarado L\u00f3pez, Epidemiologist","date":"May 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Elizabeth Alvarado L\u00f3pez \u2013 an Epidemiologist who was Ambulatory Medicine Sub-director, State Health Service, Baja California Sur, Mexico \u2013 passed away due to COVID-19. It was reported on May 3, 2020. Elizabeth Alvarado Rodr\u00edguez, deputy director of ambulatory medical care of the Ministry of Health in Baja California Sur, died\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Medics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11549,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=11549","url_meta":{"origin":11800,"position":5},"title":"Joey Jordison, Drummer","date":"July 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Joey Jordison, a founding member of Slipknot, who drummed for the influential metal band in its most popular period and helped write many of its best-known songs, has died Monday at age 46, news agency AP quoted his family as having said. \u201cWe are heartbroken to share the news that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Profiles"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Joey-Jordison.jpg?fit=681%2C383&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11800"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11800"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11802,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11800\/revisions\/11802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}