In the 2000 movie ‘Gladiator’, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius watches his army - led by General Maximus Decimus Meridius - charge and defeat the Barbarians of Germania. Sitting on his horse, Marcus Aurelius closes his eyes and breathes a sigh of relief.

The victory was the end of his 12-year campaign against the barbarians; a crusade that took its toll on the great Caesar.

Raymondville Head Football Coach Alex Leal - whom I often interview for the Raymondville Chronicle - has been coaching since the ‘Disco Days’ of the 1970’s and continues now with society captivated by ‘American Idol’.

His 214 wins have come through trial and error, his 10 district titles and 15 playoff appearances have been acquired by different generations of boys who played for him at Raymondville, Rio Grande City, Port Isabel, McAllen and Harlingen South.

In his 36-year career Leal has been on hundreds of away-game bus rides, eaten plenty of post-game-baggedburgers, experienced the joy of watching his boys celebrate special victories, endured the crushing heartbreak of watching them cry after a tough defeat and been on both the giving and receiving end of blowouts and nail-biters.

It’s safe to say Leal has pretty much been through it all.

But something else happened as Leal marched his football armies for more than three decades.

Like every human being, he got old. The valley’s winningest coach has unleashed his platoon hundreds of times and in that duration a dark head of hair turned gray and white.

Times changed both on and off the field. High school boys on Leal’s first teams back in the 70s are now men nearing their 50s; some of whom have taken his advice on life and others probably who wish they had.

With youth comes adolescence and wisdom often comes through age. Leal has been through the gridiron wars of Texas hundreds of times as every August brings the birth of a new football season while November usually lays it to rest.

As time passes every human comes to the point in their professional career where they ask themselves whether or not to go on.

Some emperors step aside and let a younger replacement command the army.

Others remain in the war because that is where their heart keeps them. No matter what the reason, a coach’s decision should always be his/her own.