Local prep soccer coaching legend Arbelaez dies at 54
Victor Arbelaez, a member of the 1975 NCAA champion University of San Francisco soccer team who went on to become a Southern Nevada high school coaching legend at Bishop Gorman, died Thursday. He was 54.
Arbelaez collapsed during a Gorman practice at the Kellogg-Zaher Soccer Complex on West Washington Avenue at 3:45 p.m. and died 25 minutes later at Summerlin Hospital.
The cause of death has not been determined, “but we believe it was a heart attack or a burst blood vessel,” Nick Arbelaez, Victor’s oldest son, said.
Nick Arbelaez had taken over the Gaels program last year on an interim basis as his father recovered from surgery for throat cancer that was discovered in 2002. Nick Arbelaez was promoted to full-time head coach this season.
“The chemo, the radiation … everything had taken its toll on his body, and maybe he just couldn’t take it anymore,” Nick Arbelaez said. “It was definitely a battle. But he gave us all the time he could.”
Although he no longer was the Gaels’ coach, Victor Arbelaez returned to the team’s sideline this fall to help his son. In his 22 seasons leading Gorman’s program, Arbelaez compiled a 371-31-8 record and won 11 state titles.
His playing career, highlighted by the Dons’ national championship in 1975, included nine years in the professional ranks, with two as a member of the long-since-defunct Las Vegas Quicksilvers of the North American Soccer League.
Victor Arbelaez is survived by his ex-wife, Mary, with whom he remained close friends, and, in addition to Nick, 27, son Victor Jr., 25, known as “Boomer,” a professional soccer player, and daughter Jackie, 24.
A public visitation is scheduled from noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Palm Mortuary, 7600 S. Eastern Ave. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Viator Catholic Church, 2461 E. Flamingo Road.
