As Santa Ynez High School head football coach Josh McClurg explains, Santa Ynez is a place where everyone knows everyone and everyone definitely knows the Rio name. Come Sept. 8, that name won’t just be a name but a landmark representing two men who captured the hearts of an area and a team.
In their home opener against Santa Maria, Santa Ynez gets to unveil the new name of their football field: Rio Memorial Field.
"There's going to be a lot of stories and a lot of memories are going to be shared, particularly about Carl and Jeff," former Santa Ynez head coach Ken Gruendyke said. "I really look forward to that. It's going to be a real fun, fun evening.”
Jeff Rio graduated from Santa Ynez High School in 1989 bleeding black and orange as a player before beginning to help coach the football program as an assistant in 1991.
“I really didn't see the full Jeff real experience as a coach until the Thursday night practice before our first game my senior year," McClurg recalled. "He got to give the speech after practice and to say it was passionate and intense is an understatement.”
In a speech made in April to the school board that proposed a name change for the stadium, McClurg stated that "Looking back on it, being coached by Jeff changed the direction of my life. He was a tough love coach who also brought so much enthusiasm, inspiration, motivation and true caring for his players."
However, the Santa Ynez community would lose one its own when on March 12, 1996, Jeff Rio was killed in a car accident off Highway 101. He was 24 years old leaving behind grief-stricken parents Mary Ellen and Carl Rio.
“We were really having a hard time dealing with Jeff's death. It was sudden," Mary Ellen said. "I don't think you can ever prepare for death."
The pain of losing a son kept the Rio family out of football for the next few seasons as they did their best to distract themselves but in 1999, the healing process began.
"Finally I said to Carl, something's got to be done and he wanted to come back here," Mary Ellen said. "It gave him solace to be out here with the players, to be in the place that Jeff was so proud of.”
Carl Rio volunteered for the Santa Ynez football program alongside head coach Gruendyke and later coach McClurg doing everything from managing equipment to acting as an assistant athletic trainer. His most important responsibility though was being a father figure to the players.
“The opportunity that by giving back and watching over those kids that Jeff worked with and taking a real interest in them was so special for him,” Gruendyke explained.
Carl passed away from his battle with cancer in 2016 but his and Jeff’s memory remains. In addition to naming the field after them, the Rio name has a scholarship while every day before practice and a game, players and coaches can be seen touching the Rio Rock as a reminder of the legacy they left.
The Rio Rock has a quote underneath Jeff's name: "Dedicated to those who believe that 'impossible dreams' do come true, and that life's battles don't always go to the fastest or the strongest, but to those who fight on."
“So many young men were greatly affected by Jeff and Carl," McClurg stated. "They shaped their lives and the men they were because both of them were such passionate, team-oriented people that were just against the ego and all about us and the tradition and the culture of Santa Ynez football.”
"It seems like just yesterday to the family that Jeff and Carl died,“ Mary Ellen said. "But these people and remembering them, it's really it's amazing.”
If you didn’t already know the Rio name before, now you do and if you find yourself at a Santa Ynez home football game, you can’t miss them. The scoreboard and press box both don the "Rio Memorial Field" name along with Jeff's number 66.
While kick-off is set for 7 p.m. the ceremony for Rio Memorial Field is set to take place about 20 minutes prior to the game.
Many alumni who played and coached during the Rio eras are expected to be in attendance including family members Mary Ellen and her two other sons Mike and Steve Rio.
