Many in the Sweetwater Union High School District family were blessed to know Ralph Mora, a 1966 Castle Park High School alumnus, former principal at Sweetwater High School and avid basketball aficionado.
He passed away on Nov. 18 after a short illness. He was 77.
Mora embraced his lifelong role as an educator, mentor and coach.
After graduating from Castle Park High School, he attended Southwestern College and then San Diego State University.
His wife Marilyn was a Sweetwater High School graduate and that was the gateway that led him to the National City community, according to current Sweetwater High School principal Joe Lara.
His teaching career started at El Toyon Elementary School in National City in the National School District, then to National City Junior High School in the Sweetwater Union High School District before finally coming to Sweetwater High School as a teacher and coach.
As a history and English teacher, Mora won the Outstanding Young Educator Award twice — first in 1972 and again in 1977. He left Sweetwater High for Hilltop in 1979 as an assistant principal and returned to Sweetwater High School as a principal in 1998. He left Sweetwater in 2004 to serve as principal of the National City Adult School until his retirement in 2008.
During his retirement, he traveled with his wife and friends, was an official for the San Diego Section, and came to almost every home football game at Sweetwater High School. He was a regular, standing at the sidelines.
“He was a roaring, gentle bear who instilled a sense of family, pride and tradition,” Lara said. “He was Mr. Sweetwater.”
Many also knew Mora as an athlete. He was involved in many softball tournaments (slow-pitch and fast-pitch). He gained fame as a basketball player in adult leagues, playing well into his sixties.
He made frequent trips across the county to play in Gus Macker three-on-three tournaments — 29 in six states, including the largest half-court tournament in world history with 5,200 teams in 300 divisions in 1991 in Belding, Mich.
His basketball-playing partners in Miss Elizabeth’s Fan Club included Richard Paff, Jerry Fike and Bernard Balanay. The team was inducted into the Gus Macker Hall of Fame in 1998.
Paff and his wife Nancy were friends with Mora and his wife Marilyn for more than 50 years.
“We coached against each other when he was the basketball coach at National City Junior and I was the basketball coach at Hilltop Junior back in the mid 70s,” Paff said. “We were teammates for many years in adult rec league basketball teams at Parkway Gym. Later, we were teammates in an over-40-league at the Mission Valley YMCA and then at a 50-and-over league in Sabre Springs and finally in an over 60- league in Claremont Mesa.
Paff and Mora helped form the half-court Miss Elizabeth’s Fan Club team in 1989 that went on to fame in Gus Macker tournaments across the country.
“Nine times we travelled to Michigan to play in Gus Macker tournaments,” Paff recalled. “We traveled the farthest to get to the tournament in Belding, Mich., of any team from the USA. The last tournament we played in was in 2013 in Belding. We were all in our sixties. We beat a team that was made on of all guys in their forties. That game was close and Ralph got a rebound and passed me the ball and I was lucky to make the game-winning shot. Ralph got the assist in our last win in a Macker tournament.
“Ralph was one of the greatest guys I have ever known. He was always the life of the party. As an educator he really cared about all of the students. He was a great husband, a great father and grandfather.”
Mora was among the first wave of Chicanos to graduate from SDSU. But politics wasn’t in his portfolio. He later told friends he just wanted to coach.
A Lemon Grove resident, he coached his daughters in their early years of softball and later attended their games at Mt. Miguel High School.
His loyalty to the Sweetwater district is legendary. Wherever the was placed as an assistant principal or ASB director, and later as a principal, Mora always had great relationships with students and staff.
He coached junior high school basketball teams. He became an institution at Sweetwater High School as a teacher and coach (varsity football and track).
He served on the district board of managers while still a junior high school principal, was involved as a tournament director for the San Diego Section in basketball and football and served as an officer with Kiwanis International.
Upon his death, flags were flown at half-staff within the district.
“Rarely do we cross paths with a person so unique as Ralph Mora,” said former SuHi hoops coach Gary Zarecky, himself a legend. “He had no enemies, was liked by all, and highly respected as an excellent educator. Those lucky enough to have experience his impactful personality will remember those moments forever.
“He was hero and icon to many National City young people. To Sweetwater High School, he was a mentor and legend. He loved basketball and was a dedicated fan to the Sweetwater program.”
“Ralph was one of a kind,” current SuHi boys basketball coach Jesse Aguirre said. “He was one of our biggest basketball supporters. He had been supporting our teams since the 1970s. He always had a smile on his face. Ralph had the respect from the whole National City community. He touched the lives of thousands of students over the years.”
Current Sweetwater assistant principal of student activities Jay Fabunan called Mora “larger than life, charismatic, funny, loved by everyone.”
“He was a great storyteller and when he walked into a room, everyone always stood up to greet him and share a laugh with him,” Fabunan said. “For me personally, and he’s probably done this to many people, he gave me a chance, he hired me back in 2011 at Montgomery, so I could get a start in teaching and of being a substitute. I am grateful to him, much like everyone else. We will miss him tremendously, especially on Friday nights during football season and basketball games at Sweetwater. We will never forget all of the contributions he’s made and lives he’s touched.”
