{"id":18911,"date":"2026-08-31T22:07:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T22:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/?p=18911"},"modified":"2026-08-31T22:07:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T22:07:47","slug":"college-football-star-ivan-garza-dead-at-25-after-tragic-california-collision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/?p=18911","title":{"rendered":"College Football Star Ivan Garza Dead at 25 After Tragic California Collision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former Sacramento State football player <strong>Ivan Garza has died at just 25 years old<\/strong> after being struck by a vehicle in his hometown of Delano, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police said officers responded shortly after 4 a.m. on July 8 to a report of a vehicle hitting a pedestrian. Investigators believe the vehicle was traveling north when it struck Garza. The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The circumstances surrounding the crash remain under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Garza\u2019s family, however, has raised questions about what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Relatives have disputed some details of the initial police account, including where Garza was when he was struck. They have also publicly questioned whether the incident was truly accidental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>No conclusion of foul play has been announced by police, and the investigation remains ongoing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For those who knew Garza, the tragedy is about much more than the circumstances of his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was a Delano native and a standout football player at Robert F. Kennedy High School, where he helped his team win a Central Section championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He later continued his football career at Sacramento State, playing offensive line for the Hornets from 2021 through 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Garza became an important part of the team&#8217;s offensive line and started all 13 games during the 2023 season. His performance earned him honorable mention All-Big Sky honors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But his family and former teammates remembered him for more than football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They described him as a <strong>\u201cgentle giant\u201d<\/strong> with a kind heart and an unforgettable smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His former high school shared a heartbreaking tribute, remembering him as someone who showed that <strong>\u201cbig things can come from small places.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sacramento State football also paid tribute to Garza, remembering him as a wonderful teammate, player, and Hornet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His sudden death has left his mother, Sandra, and the rest of his loved ones devastated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A GoFundMe fundraiser was created to help the family with funeral expenses and support them during this difficult time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ivan Garza was only 25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>He had his whole life ahead of him.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">May he rest in peace. \ud83d\udd4a\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=b4y25D_55G4%3Fsi%3DHRSmiOY-MVM7s6nB\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Sacramento State football player Ivan Garza has died at just 25 years old after being struck by a vehicle in his hometown of Delano, California. Police said officers responded shortly after 4 a.m. on July 8 to a report of a vehicle hitting a pedestrian. Investigators believe the vehicle was traveling north when it &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18911"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18914,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18911\/revisions\/18914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}