Former Sac State lineman star Ivan Garza dies at 25. Who he was and what happened
.png "Ivan Garza’s photograph for the Sacramento State football team’s 2023 roster on the university’s website. Garza reportedly died Wednesday at age 25 after being struck by a car in Delano.")
Ivan Garza was known as the big guy with the big grin. He had the big shock of hair and a larger-than-life personality.
Garza toiled in the trenches as a three-year starting offensive lineman for the Sacramento State Hornets during their most recent conference championship seasons, a proud product of Delano, where he was a star player for Kennedy High School. That campus is nestled in the small city in Kern County about 30 miles northwest of Bakersfield where community members cheer on their own on Friday nights.
Garza was struck by a car early Wednesday morning in Delano. He succumbed to those injuries at age 25. According to the Delano Police Department, Garza was crossing a street when he was hit. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he died.
There has been an outpouring of grief in Kern County and at Sacramento State of a life of promise unfulfilled.
Garza was the first player Kris Richardson offered a scholarship to at Sacramento State after landing the position as offensive line coach with the Hornets in 2019. Garza became a paramount piece to three Big Sky Conference title teams.
He graduated after starting 36 games at right tackle or left tackle as a 6-foot-5, 300-pounder who used his strength and good footwork to earn All-Big Sky Conference honors, and with a team-wide reputation as a good guy and great teammate with a big heart.
“I had a great bond with him, and he was a great kid who was always smiling, always laughing, and it’s so sad that he’s gone,” Richardson said in an interview with The Sacramento Bee. “He was a workhorse. He’d do anything you asked of him on the football field. He was a key piece to everything we did here. The guys loved him.”
Those guys included Richardson’s two sons, Kooper and Kaden Richardson. Those sons were roommates with Garza during their time together on the Hornets, including side-by-side on the offensive line as starters. They also feel this loss deeply.
Kris Richardson and his sons recalled how jovial and helpful Garza was when he visited the Richardson home in Folsom. The coach would host summer and holiday gatherings for the offensive linemen, the soul of any successful football team.
“We would have belly-flop contests, and Ivan was proud of his belly - and he had no issues peeling of his shirt to flop,” Coach Richardson said with a laugh. “We never crowned a winner, but Ivan was really good at it.”
Richardson said Garza was among the best linemen he mentored in his 30 years of coaching, adding that Garza had a future in professional football. Garza graduated with a degree in business in 2024 but declined to play a fifth season at Sac State as a graduate student, Richardson said.
“He had what it took to play at a high level with us, and he could have played professionally, but he was done with football,” the coach said. “He was powerful, had really good foot work. He excelled in the run game. He knew how to get off the ball, and he learned how to pass block. Never had to get on him, and if it was ever an effort issue, it was because he was exhausted from playing so hard.”
What happened?
As of midday Friday, there are differing reports on what happened to Garza.
The Delano Police Department in a news release said, “At approximately 4:10 a.m. (on Wednesday), officers responded to a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. The preliminary investigation indicates the vehicle was traveling northbound on Glenwood Street when it struck a pedestrian who was crossing the roadway. The pedestrian, a 25-year-old man, sustained serious injuries and was transported to a local area hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.”
The driver of the vehicle that struck Garza was a 32-year-old woman, police said in the news release, adding that she cooperated with investigators, with the report continuing: “The cause of the collision remains under investigation, and it has not yet been determined whether drugs or alcohol were factors in the collision.”
The news release urged anyone who has information on the ongoing investigation to contact the Delano Police Department at 661-721-3377. A Delano Police Department spokesperson told The Sacramento Bee that while the driver did cooperate with police at the scene, the incident was under investigation from “all angles”.
Garza family members have deemed disputed the Police Department’s account. In a GoFundMe webpage created by member of the Garza family seeking financial support for funeral costs, the post reads, “On the morning of Wednesday, July 8, 2026, our beloved Ivan Garza was tragically taken from us in a hit-and-run accident. He was only 25 years old.”
The fundraiser as of Friday afternoon raised nearly $27,000 with a goal of $35,000.
What is without dispute is the impact Garza left as a family member, a friend as a football teammate. One of Garza’s cousins, Elexus Garza, posted on her Facebook, in part, “There are no words. I still don’t want to believe what happened. My beautiful cousin...you will be forever missed. You were the light in every room you walked into. You were the friend/cousin everybody loved to have around....I wish I could have talked and reached out to you more than I did. Rest easy, cousin.”
Sacramento State football in an X post, wrote, “We give our deepest condolences to Ivan’s friends and family. He will be remembered as a wonderful teammate, player, and Hornet.”
Mario Milan, one of Garza’s coaches at Kennedy High in Delano, told Bakersfield TV station ABC23, “He put a little shining light on our small town...”
The Bee’s Sean Campbell contributed to this story.