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In Memory of Tony Elizondo |  |
This Tehachapi High School Warrior football web site was developed as a tribute to the late Charles Antonio Elizondo. "Tony" was an all-around athlete at Tehachapi High School leading the 1949 Warriors to the Sierra League championship from his quarterback position. He earned All-Sierra League 1st team honors and was selected to the All San Joaquin Valley football team in 1949. Tony played on the varsity team all four years in high school from 1946-1949.
In a 1992 Tehachapi News special pre-season Warrior publication, then City Councilman and longtime Warrior booster Alfred Damian stated, "Tony Elizondo was the top quarterback (with his speed) in Warrior history". Damian, a 1946 alumnus of Tehachapi High, went on to say that, "nobody could run the ball like Tony".
Tony was a native Californian who was born in Yuba City on October 26th, 1931. He moved to Tehachapi from the Barstow area at the young age of nine after losing his father in a tragic shooting incident. After graduating from high school, he served his country in the US Marines during the Korean War conflict. After serving in the Marines, he then returned to Tehachapi and married Betty Jo Thompson. The couple would have five children, all graduating from Tehachapi High School. Tony raised his family while working at the California Portland Cement Company in Mojave for 17 years. He then worked for the State of California at the California Correctional Institution (CCI) in Tehachapi for 24 years as a Vocational Instructor.
Tony was active for many years as a volunteer coach in youth sports programs in both Tehachapi and Bakersfield. He is best remembered for the many years he coached in the Tehachapi Little League baseball program. He had many successful teams including a period when his teams won the city championship in the majors division six straight years from 1971 until 1976.
He was also active for many years as a sports official in basketball, baseball, and softball. His 20-plus years in officiating included working at the college level, high school level, and local recreation leagues. One of the great pleasures of his life was working with youngsters in youth sports as a means of improving their lives. Losing his father at a young age, Tony understood the great lessons of life that can be taught through competitive sports programs, especially when the child lacked a father figure in the home.
To spend more time with their grandchildren, Tony and Betty moved to Bakersfield in 1990. After a battle with cancer (non-Hodgkins lymphoma), Tony passed away in Bakersfield in October 1996, just a few weeks shy of his 65th birthday.
