By AYLEEN CANIZALES & CATHERINE DONNELLY
Special to the PRESS
Pedro “Pete” Mota, lifetime sports enthusiast, was born and raised in Port Isabel, Texas. Graduating Port Isabel High School in 1958, his academics earned him salutatorian of his class. As a young man, he was an avid sportsman, playing football, basketball, fast pitch softball (before they offered baseball) and tennis, as well as running track.
Mota was voted the male “Best All-Around” his senior year, according to his daughter Mary White. The designation meant that he was good in all aspects of his sports, being a top-notch versatile player. He was also named “Basketball Sweetheart” with Alta Garcia Gonzalez that same year.
In October of 2023, a Texas school named a softball field after Mota, acknowledging him as a long-time “super fan,” both at home and on the road. After supporting Little Cypress-Mauriceville Consolidated Independent School District athletics for about 50 years, the LCMCISD school board voted to name their softball field the “Pete Mota Field,” commonly called “The Pete.”
But the roots of this incredible story are in Mota’s lifetime passion for excellence. Two days after his graduation from Port Isabel High School, Mota was in the U.S. Army attending basic training at Fort Collins, Colorado. He went on to serve with the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea in 1959. In June 1959 he received the distinction of Soldier of the Month. As with everything else he did, he served his country with steadfast dedication and was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge.
Mota went on to join the 101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, which was known as the “Screaming Eagles,” a nickname garnered from their insignia of a bald eagle on a black shield. He also continued his passion for sports by playing softball with fellow servicemen. His time as a paratrooper was cut short, however, when he tore his knee during a play at second base, hindering his ability to continue jumping out of airplanes.
He had planned on making the Army his avocation, but the injury wound up simultaneously ending his career in both sports and the Service. He hung up his baseball cap and got out of the army in 1961, returning home to Port Isabel. Unfortunately, jobs were hard to come by back then.
In search for work, Mota moved to Houston and then Sabine Pass to find work in construction and became a welder. Back in the day, Mota followed his favorite athletes by going to their games, which brought him to Little Cypress. One day, he went to the city of Orange to meet a girl, Ludie Temple, who he was married to for 51 years (until she passed away in 2015).
In 1978 Mota had moved his family to Little Cypress-Mauriceville school district hoping to give his children a better education. Their marriage produced two children and began a legacy. Both alum of LCM, Mary White is a teacher and coach at Little Cypress Junior High School and Brenda Allen worked there as a paraprofessional for several years. The grandchildren are also graduates of LCM, with one working at the junior high school as a paraprofessional. One of Mota’s great grandchildren will be entering kindergarten at Little Cypress Elementary next year.
Being an all-around athlete in his high school days, it comes as no surprise that Mota has shown a hyper-dedication to the school’s athletic program across all sports, ever present and wearing the school colors of green and gold all these years. Not only has he been loyal in attending the games, but he has also been loyal to where he sits when watching them, having the same seat at football games for about half a century. Such is his love of watching high school sports, even at the age of 86.
Coaches, faculty, staff, and players at LCM High School noticed this unshakable support and continually showed him recognition over the years. They presented him with plaques for attending all of their basketball home and away games in 1982, 1994, and 2015. In 2011 his football seat was dedicated to him. In 2014 he was put in their Hall of Fame. But the biggest recognition of all was that on March 12, 2024, LCMHS officially renamed their softball field the “Pete Mota Field.”
“I have been blessed that I got to do what I like and I’ve been rewarded for it,” Mota said when asked about how he feels getting this most recent recognition.
Each year, the high school athletes at LCMCISD reportedly gravitate towards their super-fan, wanting pictures with him or even giving him gifts. In 2011, Mota received a scrap book from the LCM student body in his honor which is one of his favorite presents. He cherishes and still wears the yellow and green Bears letter jacket that he received from the Student Council in 2017.
“Mr. Pete Mota is an unwavering Little Cypress-Mauriceville fan. He is dedicated to this school and this community, attending all of our events wherever we’re playing, even in Louisianna!” said Superintendent Stacey Brister. “Wherever the LCM Battlin’ Bears are, so is he. His name on the field will serve as an inspiration for our future generations.”
Mota has been the subject of many a story written in the papers in the Orange area. This is the ongoing legacy of one of Port Isabel’s natives who transplanted to Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Texas.
Comments