Fly high 17: Remembering Ryan Teixeira

By Jake Trujillo
Sports Editor

Ryan Teixeira, characterized by many as an outstanding Arroyo Grande High School student athlete and friend to many at Cuesta, was honored at a memorial March 19 after losing a battle with cancer earlier in the month.

Many spoke about the impact Teixeira had on their lives. His best friend and teammate, Garrett Ball recalled a baseball memory.

“I was in the 8th grade and my dad asked me who I wanted him to pick in the draft on our baseball team because he had the first pick because he was a coach and I was like you gotta get Ryan Teixeira because I had heard nothing but good things about him,” Ball said.  

The 20 year-old impacted so many lives with his great character walking around the campus of Arroyo Grande High School, friends state.

Prior to the memorial, classmates shared the character of Teixeira.

“Walking through the halls he would smile and say hi to anyone and everyone,” said Shyanne Douglas, a 2015 graduate of AGHS and current Cuesta soccer player. “He would always crack jokes and have a smile on his face which caused everyone else to follow his good mood.”

Douglas offered more praise for Teixeira’s character.

He was “super sweet and respectful to his fellow students as he would respect his teachers which made him so likeable by everyone,” Douglas said.

Friends of Teixeira, who said they were devastated over his death, relived the experiences they shared with the “phenomenal young man.”

“We would hang-out out at his ranch, driving his gator around, shooting guns out at his ranch. And just having a good time,” said Robbie Silva, one of Teixeira’s best friends growing up and a Cuesta baseball player.

“I met Ryan when I was about 8, we were on the same little league team coached by his dad, uncle and grandpa,” Silva continued. “In baseball, you didn’t want to be pitching when he was up to bat. Baseball was his passion, one time he got back picked at first base and told the first basemen nice play you got me. He’s the most humble kid I’ve ever known.”

On Sunday, March 12, the week right after the death of the Arroyo Grande star, former AG football and baseball players got together at a local gym owned by an assistant coach of the football team to celebrate the life of Teixeira.

Brad Lachemann, head baseball coach of Arroyo Grande High School, remembers Teixeira fondly.

“Ryan is the kid every father would want his son to grow up to be,” Lachemann said.

The passing of Teixeira hurts the community as a whole, being that his family are so involved with the town of Arroyo Grande, many friends said.

“Ryan was in 4H, ASB, along with baseball and football,” Silva said. “He made friends in each of those activities as well as his family are all very nice people as well who own thousand hills ranch out in Pismo.”

Growing up in Arroyo Grande, locals either knew the Teixeira family or had to get to know them because that’s how much they impacted their community, according to Douglas.

“The whole Teixeira family was a big part of the AG community and everything knew them,” Douglas said. “He not only affected our community’s lives but also affected other communities.”

During his fight with cancer, some professional athletes paid the visit to Teixeira as well as sent encouraging video messages.

Some of those athletes featured Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, Christian Yelich of the Miami Marlins, Tim Tebow of the New York Mets, and a trio of Los Angeles Dodgers included Justin Turner, Adrian Gonzalez and head coach Dave Roberts.

“His legacy will live on through his family, Arroyo Grande athletics as well as his friends and all the people’s lives he has reached out,” Silva said.