Anthony Cervantez was not big in stature, but had heart and nerve that belied his size. At age 16, he broke his neck awkwardly smacking a striding running back during a Waco High scrimmage. He never again rose to his feet unassisted, but he lived as a quiet warrior the last 49 years.
He died Friday in San Antonio at age 65.
Following a lengthy hospital stay after the accident, when friends and family worried he might not make it, Cervantez willed himself to the Waco High graduation ceremony, where classmates raised the roof when he rolled across the stage in his wheelchair to collect his diploma. He would go on to earn a degree at Baylor University before taking a municipal position in Austin. Spare time meant coaching co-ed softball, cooking and hanging with friends.
“He went through a lot of hospitals, and doctors were all amazed at how long he lived with the kind of injury he had,” said his mother, Lupita Bermea. “He must have been one of the oldest living quadriplegics.”
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Cervantez passed in San Antonio, having spent months on ventilators as he battled pneumonia. Visitation is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Grace Gardens Funeral Home & Crematorium in Woodway. Graveside services will follow at 10 a.m. Saturday at Oakwood Cemetery.
School classmate and longtime friend Paula Corfield said the courage and grace Cervantez displayed after the unspeakable accident inspired the people who knew him and even many who didn’t. Corfield said he showed no bitterness as he poured himself into rehab and obliterated expectations.
“Someone would bring him to all the class reunions, and God, yes, he was always upbeat,” Corfield said. “He never acted like anything was wrong. He took one day at a time as a challenge, and he accepted it.”
Cervantez’s saga tugged mightily at heartstrings, including those of then Baylor head football coach Grant Teaff and his players. They rallied community support, with Teaff appearing with Cervantez in photographs appearing in the Tribune-Herald. The legendary coach devoted a chapter in his motivational book, “I Believe,” to Cervantez and Baylor football player Kyle Woods, who suffered a similar devastating injury in 1979.
Donations meant to defray medical costs poured in from around the country. They often included letters of apology for not having more to give. The Dallas Cowboys and their star quarterback Roger Staubach highlighted Cervantez’s plight and courageous battle. Even the rival Philadelphia Eagles sent along an autographed football, Dallas Morning News columnist Bob Galt told Teaff, who kept letters and well-wishes in a binder that swelled to brimming.
Teaff reportedly sent Cervantez a videotaped message a few months ago as family members reported that he was not doing well.
“It was so shocking for a lot of us in school, our first time to ever experience something like that involving a classmate,” said longtime friend Susan McConnell, during an interview Tuesday. “He didn’t come back to school, but he graduated with us. I knew him from way back, both went to St. Louis Elementary. A lot of guys, a lot of classmates, kept up with Anthony.”
The Grace Gardens Guestbook page is filling with remembrances of Cervantez, one saying in part, “While sad to see that Anthony has passed on, appreciate the memory prompt, and recalling the thunderous standing ovation as he wheeled across the state to accept his diploma, an accomplishment not anticipated at the time of his injury.
“At the moment the world stopped turning on its axis, and we all paused in a state of awe and inspiration as we were also touched by his big grin, a convincing sign that Anthony was in control and would live a good life,” said the note, signed by Sherry (Henry) Kujala, Waco High Class of 1979.
“So proud of how he confronted and managed life as it can pivot at any moment, and sometimes in devastating ways,” she concluded.
Bermea said her son had many “close calls, but always came out of them.” He endured a bout with COVID-19, and spent months in a San Antonio burn unit following a kitchen accident that inflicted burns on his neck and chest.
“There was scarring, but he was OK after that, just a bump in the road,” Bermea said. “One day he fell forward in his chair, couldn’t straighten out until his attendant arrived and got him to the emergency room. He was on a ventilator four months that time, was weaned off it. He told his doctor he needed to go back to work, wanted to get up and go. He stayed home maybe two weeks, went back to work, and stayed there until he retired.
“He was driven. He wanted to work, wanted to be active, wanted to be around friends and the public. That’s the way he was.”
Cervantez was born in McAllen on Dec. 5, 1958. His obituary says he discovered a passion for sports in his early years, trail hiking at Cameron Park and playing football until his injury at age 16.
“As an adult, he found joy in managing and coaching a co-ed softball team with the Austin City League. He also cherished music, concerts, hosting parties, and cooking with friends,” the online notice says.
Cervantez was preceded in death by his father, Rudy Cervantez Sr., and brothers Arnold and Jeffrey Cervantez. He is survived by his mother and her husband, Tim Coppage; sister Lisa Mayes and her husband, Robert; brother Rudy Cervantez Jr.; and several aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.
![Anthony Cervantez](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=150%2C130 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=200%2C173 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=225%2C195 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=300%2C260 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=400%2C346 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=540%2C467 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=640%2C554 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=750%2C649 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=990%2C857 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C896 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C1039 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C1154 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C1278 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/df/0df2d0d6-38d4-11ef-aee8-1fa33d21dc67/66849e6440160.image.jpg?resize=1547%2C1339 2008w)
The Tribune-Herald caught up with Anthony Cervantez in the 1990s, when he was working as a deputy clerk at the Austin Municipal Courthouse.
![Anthony Cervantez](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/c3/1c30f3c0-38d5-11ef-a2dd-7f3c8e9ecccc/66849f4a3e4dc.image.jpg?resize=150%2C484 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/c3/1c30f3c0-38d5-11ef-a2dd-7f3c8e9ecccc/66849f4a3e4dc.image.jpg?resize=200%2C645 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/c3/1c30f3c0-38d5-11ef-a2dd-7f3c8e9ecccc/66849f4a3e4dc.image.jpg?resize=225%2C726 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/c3/1c30f3c0-38d5-11ef-a2dd-7f3c8e9ecccc/66849f4a3e4dc.image.jpg?resize=300%2C967 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/c3/1c30f3c0-38d5-11ef-a2dd-7f3c8e9ecccc/66849f4a3e4dc.image.jpg?resize=400%2C1290 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/c3/1c30f3c0-38d5-11ef-a2dd-7f3c8e9ecccc/66849f4a3e4dc.image.jpg?resize=540%2C1741 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/c3/1c30f3c0-38d5-11ef-a2dd-7f3c8e9ecccc/66849f4a3e4dc.image.jpg?resize=640%2C2064 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/c3/1c30f3c0-38d5-11ef-a2dd-7f3c8e9ecccc/66849f4a3e4dc.image.jpg?resize=750%2C2419 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/c3/1c30f3c0-38d5-11ef-a2dd-7f3c8e9ecccc/66849f4a3e4dc.image.jpg?resize=801%2C2583 990w)
The Tribune-Herald caught up with Anthony Cervantez in the 1990s, when he was working as a deputy clerk at the Austin Municipal Courthouse.
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