RON SANCHO: A HEART OF PURPLE & GOLD

6/10/2024

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Da Boot Sports
6/14/2024
By: Terrill J. Weil

BATON ROUGE, LA - He was a childhood hero of mine. When I was in high school, one of my favorite LSU football players of all-time was Linebacker Ron Sancho. He was a playmaker. Making big play after big play. His passion and emotion on the field was inspirational and contagious.

#52 in the purple and gold was always around the ball. "His instincts were incredible." said former LSU defensive line coach Pete Jenkins. "He wasn't the best athlete, but no one made as many big plays for us as Sancho did." Jenkins added. "I first saw him play when he was a sophomore at Shaw High School. I was at the game to watch a teammate of his, but I couldn't take my eyes off of Sancho, he was everywhere making plays."

Ron Sancho was an amazing football player, but he is even more of an amazing person. He's a thoughtful, caring christian man who is super generous, always doing for others.

"He played the game of football like he lives his life... By instinct... And his instincts are solid." said former LSU quarterback and good friend Mickey Guidry.

"Ron always had a knack for being at the right place and the right time to make a big play." said former LSU quarterback Tommy Hodson.

Ron Sancho was a great football player, a great person and a real life hero. In 1986, Sancho and teammate Mickey Guidry were driving from Baton Rouge to New Orleans to attend a wedding and came across a very bad traffic accident. Below is the amazing story in Ron Sancho's own words.

**The day of his wedding fell during spring practice. It was on a Friday night, so after football practice that day, Mickey and I jumped in my car and headed out on Nicholson Drive. Back then Nicholson looked nothing like it does now. It was just a back road, especially after you pass Tiger Town.
We came up on an accident between a tanker truck and a car and you could tell that it just happened. I got out of the car and I could see that the tanker truck was leaking something. Then I looked at the car and it looked like a tornado had spun it and tore all the parts off of it. The car was just a hunk of metal with all its parts laying around it.
Mickey Guidry and I ran to check on the driver. We busted the window. The driver was wearing a white t-shirt and was covered in blood, so it looked really bad, but he was breathing and looked like he was going to be okay.
After we got him out of the car, I told Mickey that I was going to check on the truck driver. I asked him to move my car so he could shine the head lights on the tanker truck. We knew we needed to get him out of there.
The truck was off the road in a cow pasture, laying partially in a ditch and chemicals were dripping into the ditch. When I got down there I saw that the truck cab was smashed and at this point whatever was leaking from the tanker was becoming a cloud.
I asked God not to let me see anything too gruesome, I just didn't think I could handle that. Then I heard this scream coming from inside the truck's cab and at that moment I remember hearing the Lord in my head asking me if I believed in him.
So ignoring the gas, (I didn't take the time to look for a skull and cross bones. I had no idea what the chemical was.), I told the Lord, "Yes I do believe in you. I'm going in. If I don't come out please take me to heaven."
I closed my eyes, took a big breath and went in. I had borrowed and was wearing Mike DeWitt's shoes and as I went into the ditch the chemical started burning and melting the shoes. To this day, DeWitt and I still talk about that and laugh about it. Anyway, when I got out of the ditch I had to climb over a barbwire fence. Mickey was shinning the lights for me but you couldn't see it through the chemical cloud.
I heard the guy scream again and found him. He was a big guy, bigger than me. I picked him up and put him over my shoulder, took a deep breath and opened my eyes. My eyes started watering, so I closed them. I tried to take another breath but the air came out of me. It felt like how you loose your breath on a football field after taking a big hit. That's when I started to panic with this guy on my shoulders. I couldn't breath and couldn't see. I didn't know how to get out of there. Something told me, "go this way".. So I went that way and I got him to the fence, got him over it, walked through the acid in the ditch and put him down on the side of the road right as the cops were pulling up. The cops asked us if we witnessed the accident. We told them, "No sir" while showing them both injured men.
About thirty years later I get a call from Nacho and he says. "I Have someone here that I want you to talk to.".. Sure enough, it was the gentleman from that truck. He told me that he has been having problems since that day. His pelvis was broken in the accident along with getting burned by the chemical. So I got to find out how he was doing years later.
Mickey was right there with me the entire time helping. If it wasn't for Mickey, I don't know if I would have gotten out of the chemicals because he started screaming for me.
We still went to the wedding except I was shoeless. Why did I still go? Because we were half way there and I realized what it meant to Shane for us to go. He wanted us LSU football players at his wedding. So we went.
After the wedding, we drove back to LSU that night. Mickey was my roommate at the time and being a quarterback he had to go to practice early to look at game film and study, so he left before me.
We had a scrimmage at noon that day and Arnsparger knocked on my door. Automatically your stomach drops because it's never good to have your head coach come knock on your door in the dorm. Mickey told him what happen and he came to tell me that I wasn't playing in the scrimmage, sending me to the infirmary. Mickey told him that I was coughing all night so he wanted me to get checked out by a doctor. I got checked and everything was fine.
A reporter found out about what happened, so a week later after the spring game Bill asked me to talk to the media. He felt that lately college football players were getting a lot of bad press about being spoiled young men. He wanted to give them something good and positive to report. So I said, "Sure coach, if you think that's what I should do?"... So that's how the story got out. It kind of snowballed and I got to go to the White House. I met John Glenn. I ate dinner. It was one of the best moments of my life.

"When I was growing up in high school, my dad Clyde Brecheen was a huge sports fan. A huge LSU fan and a youth football league coach for years. We would watch a lot of LSU football games and one of his favorite players was Ron Sancho." Lee Brecheen, owner of Louisiana Football Magazine said. "My dad loved how tough, instinctive and smart he was. I remember huge games against Ohio State, Florida, Alabama and Tulane and Ron had the most tackles of anybody on the field for LSU." Brecheen would then add, "If you would go back and watch film of Ron when he was at LSU, I think it would be a great way for a young kid to learn a lot today that plays sports. To say this is what high effort, dedication and leadership is. This is the guy. Watch what he did. He gave everything he had on the field for LSU. What I've learned from Ron in a short time is he's even a greater human being. He loves his family and he helps people. He will give you the shirt off his back. I remember being with Ron and his family for a Saints game. We were parking and four or five valet guys were hanging around and it was Christmas time. Ron gave all these guys a huge tip and thanked them for their hard work and wished them a Merry Christmas. You don't see many people do that."

Former teammate and friend Sammy Martin said. " Ron Sancho was underestimated and under recognized, but he always did his job! Just because you didn't make the tackle doesn't mean you were not in on the play! He forced plenty of tackles."

"Giving a personal quote on Ron Sancho is almost a disservice because there is so much to unpack about The Sanch!" said former LSU Linebacker, and friend Eric Hill. "For starters, Ron is and has been one of the most gracious people that I've ever met. As a player he wasn't what you saw visually, which I believe was an asset to his game. Opponents saw a long, awkward, (non-athletic) player and proceeded accordingly. Ron ran circles around them. He was truly the master of deception. I'm still in awe of some of the plays he made in his career. I could never attempt some of the things he did. We competed against one another daily, which ultimately made us one of the best linebacker tandems in the country at that time and in LSU history. Let's just say, there were many highlighted plays in his career that were totally unscripted. The Sanch had the ability to make that great play at a time in need. He was unapologetic for doing what was needed to be done at that time, (calling his own play). Yes I said it. Sancho had his own playbook at times. That's what made him great and differentiated himself from the pack. If we could do it all over again, he'd be my road dog to wreck havoc with on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium. Much love to my brother."

Stories like to ones above are no surprise to me. Ron Sancho has touched my life and is a shining example of how the Lord wants us to live. Ron Sancho is always there for me. Friendship isn't about who you've known the longest, It's about who walks into your life and says "I'm here for you" and proves it. That's Ron. To have him in my life as a friend is truly a huge blessing. There aren't many people like him in the world today. There are certain people who make the world a better place just by being in it. Ron Sancho is one of those people.

After football, Sancho went into business to save lives. He saves people. Sancho owns a medical imaging company, Cardio Health Solutions, that picks up female heart disease. They treat about 305 to 325 patients a week. They have eighteen imaging centers and another four that they're working on now in Florida. They help doctors find patterns for females who have heart disease because it's really hard to pick up and show. Ron's machines help show it to the doctors.

About Cardio Health Solutions
Cardio Health Solutions (CHS) is a diagnostic and imaging company that provides cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) equipment and cardiac positron emission tomography (cardiac PET) to cardiology clinics in Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
CHS provides financing, support, and management services to medical practices interested in exploring the functional capacity of their patients through detection and ancillary imaging. CHS partners with cardiologists to offer in-office fixed-site technology, and we provide capital, development, and operational oversight.
CHS partners with these clinics to create a state-of-the-art heart program specializing in the imaging, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of large vessel heart disease and coronary microvascular disease (MVD), as well as the detection of viable heart tissue.

In July of 2022 Ron agreed to do a Q&A phone interview with me for Da Boot Sports on his playing career. During the interview, we had personal conversation, discovering that we had some things in common. I then asked him to be a part of our weekly LSU Football podcast, 'Talking Tigers with Da Boot Sports' and he accepted. Not long after, he offered to sponsor the publication and the rest is history.

With Ron's help, and support, Da Boot Sports will continue to grow and become as successful as ever. Ron Sancho is a special human being and I thank God everyday that he is my friend and a part of my life. Thank You Ron for everything! Love ya my friend!

Check out this highlight video of Ron Sancho! #52 is always around the ball! Amazing football player! If you've never seen Ron Sancho play, you'll be amazed at his determination, speed, instincts and his nose for the football. All Heart!

John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior)

*John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

A huge Thank You to Cardio Health Solutions owned by Ron Sancho for sponsoring and believing in our publication!

CARDIO HEALTH SOLUTIONS
The company who cares for your heart and what your heart cares for!!

Cardio Health Solutions (CHS) utilizes PET and CPET technology to detect all forms of cardiovascular disease even in its earliest stage. We also provide financing, support, and management services to practices interested in exploring the functional capacity of their patients through detection and ancillary imaging.

GEAUX to https://www.cardiohealthsolutions.net/ for more information, or call 1-800-578-0654