His years growing up in Decatur were happy times, safe times. During the summer, he would leave home on his bike early in the morning and mow lawns all day. His mother never worried about where he was.
"People were friendly. It was safe for kids," he recalls.
One of his coaches, Neal Wilson, would become a father figure to him. He would give Ronnie his big break and help chart one of the most successful coaching careers in Texas high school football history.
The fraternity of coaches that has been such an integral part of Ronnie's life has been especially supportive of their friend and colleague for the past 2 1/2 years as his oldest daughter, Jessica Bonesio, battled brain cancer. Their support has not waivered since her death June 4 at age 28, and they will be at the Austin Hilton Hotel Wednesday to give Ronnie their highest honor.
His induction into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor is bittersweet. Although he is humbled by the honor, the ceremony will be tempered with sadness. This is the first honor, the first accolade in a career with many awards, that Jess won't be at his side to celebrate with him. But as Ronnie looks out over the packed room, he'll find strength not only in the faces of his colleagues but in his loving family.
His high school sweetheart will be there. The former Stephanie Wren, his wife of 32 years, will be joined by their son James and youngest daughter Julianne. His younger brother Robert, who is perhaps his biggest fan, will be there, along with other family members.
The induction will recognize a 32-year coaching careeer that began at Keller Middle School in 1976 and continues today at Austin College in Sherman. Gage, 56, is the only coach to win state championships in two divisions. Both came at Lewisville High School, where he also won six district championships.
He has been named District Coach of the Year six times and Texas Sports Writers' Association Coach of the Year twice. He served as president of the Texas High School Coaches Association and coached a state all-star team. He was named Lewisville's Citizen of the Year and was honored with a resolution on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives.
As impressive as his credentials are, it is the influence on young lives that makes Gage the man he is. He is respected not only for his winning record on the field but by his success as a loving husband and father. When Ronnie took a year off from coaching to serve as athletic director at Lewisville High School, it was Stephanie who encouraged him to return to coaching. She missed it as much as he did, maybe a little more. James is paying his dad the ultimate compliment by becoming a coach and Juli says the man she marries will have to love sports.
Starting as an Eagle
Ronnie grew up dreaming of being a Decatur Eagle.
"I did all sports at DHS, which gives me a better appreciation for kids who want to do it all," he said. "My philosophy is do as much as you want for as long as you can. I look at successful coaches and they are flexible."
Participating in several sports is demanding, said Gage, but it is good for kids.
"I always felt like you should take time to be a kid. Kids need a chance to be kids," he said.
Through the influence of mentors like Wilson and other coaches, Gage knew when he was a sophomore in high school that he wanted to be a coach. He earned degrees from the University of North Texas and begin his coaching career as an assistant at Keller Middle School.
"I was able to start my career at the bottom and work my way up. Those experiences make you a lot better leader," he said. "Kids that age, in middle school, you care about 'em, you coach 'em and all they want to do is please you. They'll run through a brick wall for you."
Through the ranks
Gage took an assistant's job under Wilson at Lewisville High School and later left for his first head coaching job, at Northwest, just down the road from his hometown. That first year, he admits, laughing, he fully expected to "set the world on fire." He went 0-9-1. But just two years later, he earned district Coach of the Year honors when he led the Texans to a winning season.
He returned to Lewisville as head coach in 1991, leading the Fightin' Farmers to six district and two state titles.
He can recall every tick on the clock from the 1993 and 1996 state championships. The first crown is the highlight of his career, a 43-37 come-from-behind victory over Aldine MacArthur in Houston's Astrodome.
He can recall the final 80-yard drive with one time out like it was yesterday. On a crucial 4th and 1 at midfield, he used his final time out and looked along the sidelines for help...not an assistant coach nearby. The decision was his alone and he took the advice of his confident quarterback - one of those kids who would run through a brick wall for him. The bootleg play picked up the first down and the rest, as they say, is history.
The 1996 championship was fun, Gage said, because it was unexpected and like the first crown, it topped an undefeated season.
Many of the young men on those teams are now coaches, a tribute to Gage.
"One of the players called to ask me if it was okay that he named his son Gage," the proud coach said.
What a ride
"Throughout my career, I've been surrounded by good people - coaches, administrators, principals - who understood that athletics plays an important part of the academic process," said Gage. "Lewisville understood that. It was a blue collar community where parents let us coach their kids. We had a good time as coaches. How hard the kids played goes back to the coaches.
"Coaching is a ministry in itself. Where else do kids get their direction, discipline, fortitude. It is so rewarding. (Coaches) spend a lot of time teaching kids how to do the right things. They do it because they love it.
"I've been lucky - the luckiest person in the world. I have a passion for coaching and a family who has supported this."
The next level
As head football coach at Austin College, a school with an outstanding reputation for academics, Gage is still in what he terms the "people business."
"Kids are the same," he says. "Kids are kids."
But he adds with a laugh, "I was worried about Austin College. Those kids are a whole lot smarter than I am."
As rewarding as college coaching is, Gage misses the high school Friday nights.
"I enjoyed the pep rallies, the cheerleaders, the band. I miss the whole pageantry of Friday nights," he admits.
A broken heart
The devoted husband and father admits that the Hall of Honor induction as well as the upcoming football season will be tough without Jess.
He has no game plan for mending the hole in his heart, no X's or O's to stop the pain. But when he looks across the audience Wednesday, it won't be like that '96 championship when he looked around for help on 4th and 1.
He'll see a room full of people ready to help him shoulder his burden and a family prepared to move forward together.
