The 13th annual function is scheduled for Thursday, January 26, at the Omni Hotel, and presented by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and iHeartMEDIA. Tickets are on sale at the Whataburger Field Box Office. To order by phone, call 361-561-HOOK (4665).
Salinas, 57, stands 605-220-5 (.732) at his alma mater in the one and only high school head baseball coaching position he’s held. The 1991 Jerseys captured the Class 3A state championship by defeating Queen City, 5-2. Two years later, they returned to Austin and fell to Bellville in the finals.
Falfurrias made its third 3A championship game appearance under Salinas in 2006; the Jerseys were edged by Texarkana Liberty-Eylau, 2-1, at Round Rock.
Salinas has guided his teams to 19 district championships and seven regional finals. He’s coached 48 all-state selections and 30 Jerseys have played collegiately. On 11 occasions, his club has been ranked among Texas’ Top 10 Class 3A teams by the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association; four times the Jerseys were No. 1.
A Government, Economics, and World History teacher, Salinas served Falfurrias as athletic director (14 years) and head football coach (nine seasons). He guided the Jerseys to five playoff berths over his last six campaigns, including a 21-3 two-year run (2000-01), the first of which culminated in Falfurrias’ last district football title.
Falfurrias boys cross country coach since 2010, his teams have qualified for regional meets the past six falls. A 2016 district championship was the school’s first since 2004. Salinas has sent three different qualifiers to the state meet in each of the last three years.
“We’re delighted to honor Coach Salinas, who’s been an outstanding role model and leader in Falfurrias and throughout the South Texas sports community,” Corpus Christi Hooks president Ken Schrom said. “He’s heavily invested in his hometown. Here’s someone who came back to make a positive difference in the lives of his players, coaches, students, teaching colleagues, administrators, and parishioners... plus their families.
“His impact has been enormous.”
Salinas was born in Falfurrias on May 8, 1959, to Eraclio (now age 87) and Mary Salinas (85), and has a younger sister, Lizette. Mary was an educator in Brooks County for 50 years, and still substitutes in the elementary school.
She and her husband raised their children at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where David was an altar server and still worships with his family today.
David was the 15th-ranked student of his 1977 FHS class. He lettered four years as a third baseman and was thrice all-district on the diamond. A two-year regular at quarterback and safety, he suffered a broken leg in the fall of 1976. Salinas lettered as a junior point guard the previous winter.
Salinas studied Architecture and Geography at the University of Texas-Austin, where he earned a 1983 liberal arts degree. After working in construction materials management and lumber sales in the Austin area, Salinas took a junior high Math position at La Joya, where he spent three years as the junior varsity baseball coach and varsity assistant, and junior high football and basketball coach.
David met wife Sandra at UT in 1980 and the two were married on July 9, 1983. They have two children, David (33) and Jennifer (28). Sandra, a McAllen native, is a retired first-grade teacher. Like his father, David, Jr., (DC) was a third baseman and quarterback for the Jerseys. DC, a 2003 graduate, earned all-state and academic all-state mentions in both sports. The valedictorian of her ... Click here to read full article
ARTICLE SOURCE:
