Selma teen killed in crash would ‘give the shirt off his back’

Two former football coaches of a Selma teenager killed Saturday in a dirt bike accident described Ramon Gonzalez as a naturally talented, well-mannered young man who “always knew to come shake your hand.”

Nick Martinez, who coached Gonzalez in middle school, said his death is a big loss to the community. “He’s one of those kids that would give the shirt off his back for you,” the coach said Sunday in a telephone interview with the Bee.

Gonzalez, 16, was killed Saturday evening on Clovis Avenue, between Fowler and Selma, after he hit the side of a semi-truck while riding his dirt bike, according to Victor Taylor, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. The crash happened around 5 p.m. when Gonzalez was riding on the dirt shoulder, then suddenly entered the roadway, Taylor said.

“There was nothing that the driver of the big rig could have done,” Taylor added Saturday night.

Although CHP did not confirm the teenager’s name, the Selma High School Football Twitter page identified him in a late-night tweet asking for prayers. Many others offered condolences through social media.

A Selma community Facebook page also identified the teen. “One of our own Selma Bears football players was lost today. He was an amazing kid,” according to the public Facebook post by Leslie Quintana Martinez. “Please lift up his family in prayer.”

A GoFundMe account has been established for Ramon’s family by Melissa Gonzalez Cazares. She describes herself as the wife of another former coach. “My husband and others coached him in youth football ... and then he went on to high school to play for our Bears,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page. “I personally did not know him but many others did and said he was a great and respectful kid. No parent should ever have to go through this.”

During the last year Martinez coached Gonzalez, the boy broke his ankle during the second game, according to Martinez. “But he still came to practice every single day to help out.”

Even after moving on from the youth football Bandits and into high school, Gonzalez would still call Martinez “coach” whenever he saw him. “He was just a great kid,” Martinez said.

Another one of Gonzalez’s coaches, Anthony Macias, described Gonzalez as full of smiles, always laughing and joking around with his friends.

“He was really a jokester and all about laughs,” Macias said. “But on the football field, you can tell this kid really had talent. “

Macias was Gonzalez’s coach from Pop Warner footballs to his time on the junior varsity squad in high school. He said Martinez was an all-around athlete and would always determined on the field.

“It’s still unreal, it’s devastating that a good kid like that is gone and we will never get a kid like that back. It hurts, it hurts the school, it hurts the community and it hurts our program.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2018 at 11:04 AM.