Raider fan dies before first live game

Oakland Tribune, Sep 29, 2004 by Matthias Gafni, STAFF WRITER

Dressed in a silver-and-black Jerry Rice jersey, Louie "Ricky" Richard Lopez Jr. waited Sunday at Network Associates Coliseum to see his first ever Oakland Raiders football game in person.

Grinning from ear-to-ear, the 47-year-old Vallejo man clutched his ticket as the Raiders were set to battle the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The life-long Raiders fan never saw a play. Moments before kickoff, Lopez died of a massive heart attack.

On Tuesday, his Vallejo relatives were still trying to cope with the loss.

"My brother always wanted to go to a Raiders game and he had never been," said Vallejoan Norma Jean Lopez, who had secured the three tickets from a friend for the game. "It was a big deal for him. That something like this happened before he was able to get in -- I have mixed emotions," Lopez said, choking up. "It was his first game and his last game ... When he left (for the game) he was so happy and so excited. My son said he was so happy even when he got out of the vehicle. He was so excited to be there."

Almost a year ago, Ricky Lopez had been diagnosed with a heart problem, his sister said.

"He was limited to what he could do and where he could go. He was always afraid something would happen," she said.

"This particular day, when the opportunity came, I told him to just go," his sister said. " 'Don't worry about anything and just go.' He went and he was so happy."

Norma Jean's son Joseph Marks Jr., 22, drove Lopez and a friend to Sunday's game.

After Lopez collapsed, three Oakland police officers tried to revive him, but it was too late, according to police reports.

Lopez's cousin Kurt Crigger, who works for the Raiders, heard the commotion.

"He heard the ambulance and the whole ordeal and after he heard it was his cousin, it was a shock to him," Lopez's sister said.

Ricky Lopez began following the Raiders because of another big fan -- his late father Louie R. Lopez Sr.

"The whole family was always Oakland Raiders fans, starting with his father," Norma Jean said. "From then on, it was everything Raiders. Everything in his room, everything in his truck was black and silver."

Lopez worked the past three years at C&H Warehouse in Crockett. The Hogan High School graduate volunteered time at PAL boxing in Vallejo. In addition to the Raiders, he was a San Francisco Giants fan. But the Silver and Black was his No. 1 passion.

Lopez will be laid to rest Saturday with his ashes being placed in an urn with a silver-and-black Raiders emblem adorning the outside.

"Our mother wanted some type of emblem on his ashes. But we needed to get the OK from the Raiders," Lopez said. "We received the phone call back and they OK'd it."

Family members will also don Raiders apparel for Saturday's ceremonies, along with some of Lopez's many Raiders hats.

"My brother and I were very close. He was my one and only brother. He was very special," Lopez said. "He had a very big heart. He was very caring."

A memorial mass will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at All Souls Catholic Cemetery, Vallejo. Inurnment will follow at the cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the American Heart Association.