How Malachi Rios’ memory will continue to stay alive in Reedley

REEDLEY, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – On Wednesday morning, the whole community of Reedley gathered at the Reedley Mennonite Church to celebrate the life of Malachi Rios.

Malachi was a son, brother, friend, and football star who lost his fight to cancer on July 8.

“The whole town wanted to show up, there were even people that don’t even necessarily know him,” said Tyler Johnson, defense coordinator of the Reedley High School Varsity Football team.

The service started with praise and worship.

“It’s amazing, it’s really beautiful to see,” said Jose Sanchez, Reedley Football coach.

The Reedley football program was united as they wore matching t-shirts in Malachi’s honor.

“It’s Malachi forever, Malachi Strong,” Sanchez said.

Angel wings are hugging his jersey number on the back of the shirts,

“He’d be able to light up everyone around him, it’s kind of funny because his cheeks would get really red when he would smile, he had those like red blushing cheeks but he would just be a big uplift for everyone on the team,” Johnson said.

Many close to him, including one of his sisters shared her fondest memories and expressed what she loved most about him.

“I thank God for giving me you as my brother, I couldn’t have asked for a better role model and source of strength and hope,” she said.

A video of Reedley Football Varsity Head Coach Tony Gates was played.

“It’s amazing to me a young man of his age would just have that toughness, it’s a rare breed,” Gates said.

Gates announced that moving forward, the annual Leadership Award will be called the Malachi Rios Award, in honor of the true leader Malachi was.

“Malachi really set the standard for our program and how to show up day in and day out with a positive attitude and just give it your all,” Johnson said. “We really hope that every student, every player would come up and show up like Malachi did.”

Following the service, the community gathered at the Reedley Cemetery, where they gently laid Malachi to rest.

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