Sylvia Cardenas was the kind of person everyone in her community knew. She’s described as having a maroon heart and bleeding gold — the colors of her Harlandale alma mater.
That’s why the Harlandale community rallied to name the high school’s gym in her honor, after Cardenas died in June only weeks after being diagnosed with cancer at the age of 64.
Graduating from Harlandale High School on the South Side in 1979, Cardenas would go on to lead a legendary coaching career for more than three decades at the same school she graduated.
During that time, Cardenas served as head volleyball coach at Harlandale for 28 seasons, leading her teams to more than 600 victories, 25 playoffs and countless other recognitions before retiring in 2016.
Her record, 608-330, is a hard one to beat.
Though those who knew her said she would’ve objected to it out of humility, Harlandales ISD’s board approved naming the high school’s gymnasium in her honor.
On Wednesday, a sea of maroon flooded Harlandale High School.
Outside of the gym, a table laid out artifacts from Cardenas’ career: signed volleyballs, awards, news clippings and old binders with coaching notes. Inside, the band played “Maroon and Gold,” the school’s alma mater.
When the new signage was unveiled beneath the gym’s scoreboard, revealing the words “Sylvia Cardenas Gymnasium,” the crowd cheered. Cardenas’ family looked on, proud.
Rose Anne Martinez, athletic director for Harlandale ISD and lifetime friend of Cardenas, said it was the perfect way to commemorate one of her old coaches and former colleague.
“Her legacy will be remembered for her wins on and off the court,” she said. “It’s an honor to have her name forever connected to this gym.”
More than a volleyball coach, Cardenas was also a mother and wife, leaving behind her husband Richard Cardenas and two sons, Jake and Aaron.
Martinez, who’s worked in school athletics for about 30 years, used to be one of Cardenas’ basketball players at Harlandale, later working as one of her volleyball coaching assistants and once as rivals when she was the head coach at McCollum High School.
Even through all the shifts in their relationship, Martinez said Cardenas was always kind and a good friend.
“That’s what I’ll remember her for the most, her kindness.” she said. “She had a heart of gold.”
Sylvia Saldana — Harlandale class of ‘83, friend of the Cardenas family and second-hand witness to Cardena’s impact on several of her own peers — attended the gym’s renaming ceremony on Wednesday.
Now a nurse manager at Methodist Hospital, Saldana still feels connected to Harlandale and recalls the effect Cardenas had on the community, even at an early point in Cardenas’ career.
“There’s a lot of community and pride supplied on the South Side,” Saldana said, speaking over the noise of a rowdy gym. “We might leave the area, but our heart stays in Harlandale.”
She showed up to support the family and friends — that’s just the kind of thing the Harlandale community does, she said.
A separate sign on the gym’s outside also reads “Sylvia Cardenas Gymnasium.” Her family and friends took pictures beneath it, after releasing maroon and gold balloons into the air.
It wasn’t until her funeral services, where several people talked about Cardenas’ impact on them, that her family realized just how much she meant to the community. That’s why they started a petition to rename the gym, easily gathering signatures, putting together a committee called “Honoring Sylvia” and getting district officials on board.
“It’s an honor for the whole family,” said Richard Cardenas. “It wasn’t just about the coaching, it was about how she was impacting kids and families.”
He met Cardenas while they were both college athletes. Richard went to the University of the Incarnate Word and Sylvia attended St. Mary’s University.
It was their bond over athletics and coaching, as Richard was a basketball coach himself, that kept them together.
“We’d bounce a lot of stuff off each other while we were both coaching. She’d come home and talk about her team, and I’d come home and talk about mine,” he recalled. “I think that’s how we were able to be married for 38 years.”
Richard says her dying wish was for him to “take care of the boys and stick by my side.”
“She gave a lot,” he said. “So that’s what I’m doing, continuing to honor her.”
