Lansing Eastern High School's football stadium is being dedicated after a long-time former coach and teacher.
Gilberto Sauceda first came to Michigan to teach English to children of migrant workers. Eventually, he and his family settled in Lansing where he taught and coached football at Eastern High School from 1979 until his retirement in 1993.
A Korean War Veteran, Sauceda was a member of the Michigan High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame.
He died in 2018, but his son Jimmy says he still receives phone calls from former players about the impact his dad had on their lives.
“He just touched a lot of lives. He was a great mentor. He was great to his kids," Jimmy Sauceda said. "He helped them get to college or through college with scholarships. I mean, he just did a lot of nice things, and touched a lot of hearts.”
Guillermo Lopez, a member of the Lansing Board of Education, submitted the proposal to dedicate the high school’s new stadium after Sauceda.
“[He] was able to do what he wanted to do was to teach, was to coach, was to help students to be the best they could be," Lopez said.
The board unanimously approved the proposal earlier this month.
In 1993, Sauceda was named Regional Coach Of The Year by the Michigan High School Football Association for his work at Eastern High School.
"I thought he was a very worthy person to be honored in that way and because he led Eastern Quakers to some very good years. And everybody respected him as a coach, as a teacher, and as an individual," Lopez explained.
A dedication event is being scheduled for next year.
