The better high school sports coaches are servants to their communities. One would be hard-pressed to find a coach who served his community better than Manny Peñaflor served his. Peñaflor, a standout football player and later a longtime coach at Santa Ana High, died July 7 of heart failure. He was 84. Peñaflor was Santa Ana High’s athlete of the year as a senior in the 1958-59 school year. He was a two-way football lineman and threw the discus and shot put for Saints track and field. Peñaflor went on to play football at Cal. He returned to Santa Ana High to be an assistant coach to Tom Baldwin. Peñaflor coached lower-level football teams, track and field, wrestling and soccer for 37 years for the Saints. He taught math and ESL (English as a Second Language) courses at Santa Ana during his coaching career and was a driver education teacher at the school. He also launched AYSO soccer leagues in Orange County. His son Joe Peñaflor, who replaced his father as Santa Ana boys soccer coach in 2001 and led the Saints to more than 300 wins, said he was always impressed and amazed by his father’s dedication and organizational skills. “I sit back and think about how he would teach and coach at the high school,” Joe Peñaflor said, “and then he’d be out there until 7 for 8 at night coaching my brothers’ soccer teams and also taking us to club wrestling, then on Saturdays and Sundays he would be at four or five soccer games a day.” Manny Peñaflor is survived by his children Louie, Micky, Cathy and Joe and grandchildren Julia, Jake, Hannah, Lance, Louis, Dylan, and Sophia. A Celebration of Life will be held at Tustin Ranch Golf Club on Aug. 3 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers donations are requested to be made to a GoFundMe account that will benefit Santa Ana High athletics.