Holding a framed poster-sized photo of her brother Alex, Audrey Espinoza looked up at a golden sunset, then at a crowd of about 200 people milling around on the Silver Stage High School football field last Wednesday evening. For a moment, the sorrow in her voice was drowned out by pride.
“It shows how many lives my brother has touched, you know?” Espinoza said.
In the photo, Alex Espinoza jogs off the baseball field, glove tucked under his left arm, a sweatshirt under his uniform with the hood over his cap on an obviously chilly day, and a smile on his face.
That smile was the first thing his teammates, coaches, teachers and friends mentioned when asked to describe him.
“He was the goofiest, nonserious person you could ever meet,” Audrey Espinoza said. “He lit up every room, honestly. He had a smile on his face in the hardest times and if something was bothering him, you never could really tell.”
Silver Stage students, alumni, teachers and members of the community gathered Aug. 27 for a candlelight vigil to honor Alex, who drowned in Lahontan Reservoir on Aug. 9. The vigil was organized by Jamie Lowe and Sonia Rodriguez, the mothers of two of Alex’s friends.
“We figured the next best thing we could do was hold something on the football field, which was another thing he loved,” Lowe said. “I don’t think that kid ever knew a stranger or had a single kid dislike him. The love he gave out and the love that was returned to him was immeasurable.”
Mateo Garcia, who said he and Alex had been best friends since second grade, said that smile and his love of football were the two things that best described Alex.
“Everyone could have a bad mood, but Alex would walk into the room with a smile and it’s all better,” Garcia said. “He just had a way to brighten up the mood, walk in with that big smile on his face.”
Garcia described Alex as the kind of person who would give his last dollar to a stranger in need.
“Me and him were in Reno and there were homeless people out there,” Garcia said. “He’s got 30 bucks to his name. He goes in and buys them In-N-Out. His last dollar.”
Alex was the sixth of eight siblings and wore No. 8 in football, the number his older brother Michael wore for the Nighthawks. In what would have been his senior season, it’s instead Alex’s younger brother Eagle, a freshman, sporting the No. 8 jersey.
“Alex was so excited to be playing with him,” Audrey Espinoza said.
Several of the players, including Garcia and senior quarterback Blayne Baratti Butler, admitted they were unsure they even wanted to play football after losing Alex. But the players gathered for a voluntary practice the Tuesday after Alex’s accident and decided to continue.
“They kept saying we need to do this not just for us, but for Alex and his family,” coach Mason Fuller said.
Alex and Garcia met on the football field in second grade and played together every year since. Garcia said they were looking forward to this season when they would both have younger brothers on the team.
“All Alex talked about was two Garcias, me and my little brother, and two Espinozas, him and his little brother,” Garcia said.
The Nighthawks went winless last season. But in their first game this season Aug. 23, they beat the Coral Academy JV team 20-15 for their first win since beating North Tahoe 32-26 in 2023. Playing without their seniors because it was a JV opponent, the Nighthawks only had 15 players available. Instead, Garcia and his fellow seniors supported their younger teammates from the sideline.
Late in the fourth quarter, Coral Academy drove deep into Silver Stage territory, but on the last play of the game, a Coral Academy runner was tackled inbounds, and the clock ran out.
“His little brother and my little brother, seeing them out there doing their thing and finally getting that win, made me tear up a little bit,” Garcia said.
Everyone on the sidelines swarmed to the middle of the field, jumping up and down to celebrate the win.
“It was very emotional,” Baratti Butler said. “We know we won because Alex was there with us that day. Once I got home, I got to thinking about it, and it broke my heart knowing that he wasn’t there with us to witness that in person. But he definitely was there in the sky witnessing it.”
As darkness descended Wednesday night, those who gathered to remember Alex huddled close to keep the breeze from blowing out their candles. But Garcia said nothing will extinguish the love they all share for Alex.
“Every night it actually haunts me, but it had a purpose, and it brought everyone together,” he said. “I hate that he can’t be here to see it himself, but it feels good that we have that, and he was a very big part of that.”
Audrey Espinoza said the outpouring of love for her brother was heartwarming.
“I think that shows what kind of person he was,” she said. “It just shows how much he was loved and I’m so grateful for that. I just hope he knows how much we all loved him.”
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