por 
CÉSAR ANGULO
THE BAJA POST/SPECIAL
- To my dear friend and admired journalist
Javier Alfonso Arvayo Arce, a sports journalist from Mexicali, passed away on Friday, September 6, in Phoenix, Arizona, after losing his battle against cancer, a disease he was diagnosed with earlier this year, another victim of this terrible illness.
Javier Alfonso had a long and fruitful career as a sports writer, starting shortly after graduating from university at the local newspaper La Crónica in Mexicali, in the early 2000s.
His ambition for growth and improvement led him to move to Phoenix in 2006, where he continued practicing journalism, highlighting stories of Latino and immigrant communities in Prensa Hispana. There, he also covered sports, community news, politics, and entertainment.
His people skills, dedication, and professionalism as a reporter allowed him to stand out in Arizona’s media.
In recent years, he worked as an editor, reporter, and online producer for La Voz Arizona and The Arizona Republic, regularly contributing to Univision Arizona and being part of the editorial team for Major League Baseball‘s Spanish page.
For his outstanding work as a journalist, he was invited to become a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists of the United States.
Thanks to Javier Alfonso’s work, the Latino community in the U.S. had detailed coverage of events like the NFL Super Bowl, NBA games, boxing matches featuring Mexican fighters, and matches of the Mexican National Soccer Team when they played in the Southwestern U.S.
Writing these lines in remembrance of Javier Alfonso, or «Poncho» as we knew him, fills me with sadness, but also gratitude and admiration for a colleague and friend who was an example to many in our generation, those of us who studied Communications and chose journalism as a profession, a vocation, and an honest way to earn our living.
We began our careers in journalism together as Communications students, producing a radio series for Radio Universidad, where we went out with a heavy Marantz magnetic tape recorder and a microphone in hand to interview migrants, attend wrestling events, or chronicle Mexicali’s traditional cantinas.
A few semesters later, I started as a reporter at La Crónica. In 2002, I convinced him to apply for a job at the paper, introducing him to journalist Alejandro «Pachis» Coronado, who was then the Sports Editor and gave him his first opportunity to write wrestling and local boxing chronicles.
At La Crónica, he honed his writing skills alongside veteran sports journalists like Miguel Ángel «El Tigre» Quezada Falcón (†) and Moisés Gutiérrez, who remembers him as a dedicated and professional reporter who knew how to work as part of a team.
Alfonso never detached himself from Mexicali’s sports scene, and whenever possible, he wrote articles and chronicles about sports figures or events in Mexicali that were published in U.S. media.
A fan of the Arizona D-backs, Suns, and Cardinals, but most of all of Cruz Azul from the Mexican Soccer League, I’m sure «Poncho» will be waiting in the afterlife for his beloved team to rise to the top of Mexican soccer again.
He is survived by his children Scarlett and André and his wife Cynthia. May he rest in peace, and our condolences go out to his family and friends.
