Jay Rivera

Jay Rivera, 42, of Big Lake died on March 25, 2008, at his residence.

John Robert Paul “Jay” Rivera was born on Oct. 12, 1965, to Paul R. and Barbara A. (Moore) Rivera. Riversa was a long-time resident of Columbia, Md., and graduated from Howard High School in 1983.

A life-long athlete, he was a four-year member of the Columbia Comets, the Soccer Association of Columbia select team, which won the Maryland State Soccer Championship on two occasions in the late 1970s. Turning his attention to gymnastics, Rivera was a member of the competitive team of Gymnastics Plus of Columbia. There he won two individual all-around Maryland State Championships, finished second at the 1980 National Junior Olympics, and won the vault competition at the 1983 National Boys’ Invitational. In 1981, he was named Outstanding Youth Athlete by the Maryland branch of the Amateur Athletic Union.

Riversa attended the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) from 1983 to 1988 competing for the university’s NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Team. He served as UIC team captain and held the university’s record for highest all-around score for nearly two decades.

He served with honor as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division in Panama in 1990-1991. Upon discharge from the Army, he pursued a career as a gymnastics instructor and competitive team coach for programs in Maryland and Virginia. He earned a reputation as an outstanding coach and a well-regarded judge at USGF-sanctioned competitions.

In recent years, Rivera moved to Alaska where he taught and coached at Denali Gymnastics and Excel Gymnastics in the Anchorage area. “Coach Jay,” as he was called by the members of his last competitive team at Excel Gymnastics, led his Class Four Boys’ team to the Alaska State Championship on the weekend before his death. The outpouring of love and support from the children and parents of his last team attest to his excellence as a teacher.

Rivera’s passing is mourned by his beloved son J.R. Rivera, and J.R.’s mother Sandra of Texas; his father and step-mother Paul and Lilianne Rivera of Florida; sisters Pam Rivera of Virginia, and Meg Carter of Georgia; step-sister Kristin Kapfer of Maryland; step-brother Todd Waddell of Oregon; and by nine nieces and nephews in Italy, Arizona, Maryland, Georgia and Oregon.

Private funeral services will be held in Texas on April 18.

An online guestbook can be signed at www.alaskacrema-tion.com. Arrangements were entrusted to the Cremation Society of Alaska.