Arazosa remembered as huge influence on youth, area football coaches

Rick Arazosa, a husband, father, coach and co-founder of the Sierra Youth Football League, died Monday. He was 51.

Friends and family members say Arazosa will be remembered as a huge influence on hundreds of youth football players in Northern Nevada, as well as a mentor for young coaches.

He died Monday after suffering a splenic vein rupture. His wife, Charlene Arazosa, posted the news on Facebook and created a GoFundMe account to help with medical bills and for the couple’s two children.

Arazosa was one of the partners who started the SYFL, a youth tackle football and cheerleading organization for children between 5 and 14. He also coached football at Bishop Manogue, Wooster, Hug and North Valleys.

‘He made every kid feel seen’

He coached the junior varsity team at North Valleys in 2015, along with current Panthers head varsity coach Brad Rose.

He left there in 2021 to coach at Hug for three seasons, then returned to North Valleys as the JV coach this season.

Rose said Arazosa made a huge impact on him and on the area’s football community.

“Over the last 23 years I’ve watched Rick build incredible relationships with the players and coaches he’s worked with. Always was the coach who, because of how he built such good rapport and relationships with athletes, could push them to reach their potential. Every coach he worked with, he shared his knowledge, his stories and usually a good laugh. He was a friend to almost all of us,” Rose wrote to the RGJ.

Rose said Arazosa was one of the most important people in his career, meeting him at age 15 as a junior coach in the SYFL.

“Just as I’ve seen him do multiple times since for other young coaches, he mentored me from the start and taught me the impact a coach could have on a player and how to better understand the game,” Rose said. “If not for Rick, I wouldn’t have pursued coaching and wouldn’t be as blessed as I am today. His impact on me as not only a coach but person is immeasurable.”

Bo Sellers worked with Arazosa at Bishop Manogue and at Wooster. He said Arazosa stayed with the Miners for about 10 years.

“He was real good with the kids and, the biggest thing with Rick, is once he was hired at a program, he was very loyal to that program,” Sellers said. “He should have been a teacher, would have been a great teacher. Always was involved in youth and high school football for the last 25 years.”

Tony Doucette worked with Arazosa at North Valleys and at Hug over eight seasons. The 2021 North Valleys team won the 3A-West and the 2022 Hug team made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years.

He said Arazosa was an amazing person and coach. They were good friends and often talked about life in addition to football.

“He was a great mentor to the kids in our program, and you won’t find a person who played for Coach Arazosa that didn’t love him. He made every kid feel seen and like they mattered not only as a player, but as a person,” Doucette wrote to the RGJ. “The people that coached with Rick will also tell you how special he made them feel. Rick valued and respected everybody that he came across. He would listen to other coaches ideas, and he would help to develop young and inexperienced coaches.”

“Whether it was his family and his daughter Sofia’s cheerleading team, playing video games, movies or baseball and the Red Sox. I speak for a lot of people when I say that I will miss him dearly.”

Arazosa graduated from McQueen in 1993.

Arazosa’s wife Charlene wrote on Facebook on Tuesday: “Yesterday was one of the very hardest days in our family. My husband Rick Arazosa suddenly passed away yesterday morning of a splenic vein rupture at 5:20 a.m. Rick was such a loved man and that love extended far beyond our immediate family. He had a very deep reach into our community, especially the youth football community over the last 30 years. Austin, Sofia, myself and our family and friends who are aware are all just in a state of shock right now. We have all been left devastated by Rick’s passing.”

She added that a public service will be held at a local high school after the family can arrange plans.