Albert Almanza

Albert Almanza, age 86, passed peacefully on January 28, 2023, blanketed in the love of his family. A memorial service will be held at 11 am on Saturday, February 4, 2023, at Tarrytown United Methodist Church.

Albert was born on May 1, 1936, in Chihuahua, Mexico, the 6th of 7 children of Manuel and Herminia Almanza. Sent to El Paso to receive an education at Jefferson High School, Albert was discovered by the University of Texas basketball coaches who with the blessing of his father, recruited Albert to attend The University on a full scholarship. After graduating from S.F. Austin High School (Austin) in 1957, in conjunction with Jefferson High School, Albert enrolled at The University where he became a 3-year letter winner and starting forward, earning 2nd team All Southwest Conference awards in 1959 & 1960 and first team All Southwest Conference Team in 1961. In 1961, the team advanced to the NCAA Tournament round of 16 where Albert earned 2nd team all-tournament team honors. Following his career at The University, Albert was a 7th round NBA draft choice of the Los Angeles Lakers. Also, he was a member of the Mexican National Team at the Pan American Games in 1959 and 1963 during which he was the team's leading scorer. He had the distinct honor of representing Mexico in the 1960 Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo during which he was the leading scorer. Albert was inducted in the Laredo Hispanic Hall of Honor, the San Antonio Hispanic Hall of Honor, the Latin American International Sports Hall of Fame and received the ultimate honor from The University in 2004 when he was inducted in the Longhorn Hall of Honor.

More momentous than his basketball career, Albert met the love of his life, Helen Plummer, on the 40 Acres. They married in 1961. After obtaining their degrees from The University, they devoted their collective lives to their family.

After teaching and coaching at “Jeff” in El Paso, Jourdanton High School and AISD, Albert started a career at New York Life which spanned 50 years. Albert was a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table, the Texas Leaders Round Table and received numerous national sales achievement awards as a life underwriter. While raising his children with Helen and coaching his children and others in every youth sport imaginable, Albert was a board member of the West Austin Optimist Club (precursor to WAYA), the Pan American Recreation Center, South Austin Recreation Center and the Laguna Gloria Art Guild. He also co-founded the Capitol City Youth Basketball Association, the first city wide youth basketball program, and was a mentor for Big Brothers & Big Sisters, AISD’s Adopt-A-School Program and the Seedling Mentor Program. Albert also served as President of AISD’s Vocational Education board, Chairman of the Education Service Center Region XIII board and as a member of the MHMR board. In the early 1980’s, Albert served as the regional director of the Selective Service System and had the honor of serving as the Foreman of the Travis County Grand Jury in 1982 and 2002.

Knowing hardship himself, Albert believed he had a duty to help the less fortunate and devoted his time, talents and treasures to those in need. Albert’s devotion to this ideal lead to his involvement with the River City Youth Foundation where he was instrumental in the early success of the Foundation’s efforts to empower the youth and families of southeast Austin’s Dove Springs to live safe, healthy and productive lives. Having arrived in Austin with the limited ability to speak English, Albert taught English to immigrants through several programs in the Travis County area, including Lifeworks. Albert was active at Tarrytown United Methodist Church from his early days in Austin as a youth sponsor. He also participated in numerous mission activities in the Austin area, New Mexico, Honduras and Matamoros, Mexico. For his extensive community work, Albert received the Five Who Care Community Service Award in 2003 and was a Bank of America Local Leader Award winner in 2009.

Albert was blessed with an abundant loving family both in the US and Mexico who loved him dearly and will miss his guidance, wisdom and encouragement. Albert is survived by his wife of 62 years, Helen Almanza, his son Boone and wife Erin, his daughter Beth Eyre, and 5 grandchildren, Albert, Madalena, Isabella, Abraham and Ezra. Having befriended many and having never met a stranger, Albert brought joy and laughter into the lives of many, young and old, with his good-natured joking and his ability to make everyone he met feel special all the while changing the course of lives with his love.

Albert is preceded in death by his Mother and Father, his siblings Luis, Raul, Berta, Emma, Natalia and Arturo.

The family wishes to thank Paulina Salas-Nino and Criscelda Salcido, his loving and devoted caregivers. In addition, the family would like to thank Florence Sule, RN, the staff of Brookdale Westlake Skilled Nursing and St. David’s Hospice.

In lieu of flowers please consider a contribution to Tarrytown United Methodist Church or River City Youth Foundation.