About Rio Vista Athletics
Mission
Rio Vista Athletics is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization
We believe that living in a small town should not prevent young people from reaching their potential as student athletes. Rio Vista Athletics serves as a support system to empower the youth in our community by planning and sponsoring skill-development events, providing funding for local teams and working with coaches, parents and other volunteers in the community.
Rio Vista Athletics is not affiliated with any team or organization. We are committed to developing successful student-athletes in our community.
People
Ryan Mahoney: Ryan grew up in a football household. Throughout his childhood his dad coached high school football and Ryan was a standout at RVHS on O-Line and at linebacker, capping off his Senior year with a NCIF DIII state championship win in 2001. After high school Ryan played offensive guard for Lewis & Clark College Pioneers. Currently Ryan is a 5th generation sheep and cattle rancher and is the Owner/President of Emigh Livestock in Rio Vista, CA.
Justin Davis: Justin grew up in a cattle ranching family outside Paso Robles, CA. He was a starting QB in youth football and went on to play at Paso Robles High School with multiple 1000+ yard years including his Jr. season where he banked 2,619 yards passing and 32 TDs, leading the Bearcats to a 2014 SCIF DII Championship appearance. Two of Justins teammates went on to play in the NFL. Justin graduated from Fresno State University in 2020 and he is currently a Director of Breeding and Rangeland Operations and head Cowboy at Emigh Livestock.
Jon Kidwell: As a father of four young athletes and husband to an endlessly active wife—whether she’s at boot camps, yoga, running, or coaching soccer—Jon is undoubtedly the slowest in his family. But while agility may not be his strength, his passion for youth development and community engagement certainly is.
A proud Rio Vista High School alum (Class of 2002) and Cal Poly graduate with a BS in Agribusiness Finance, Jon serves on the board of Rio Vista Athletics, helping shape strategic planning, program development, and community outreach. When he’s not making an impact on the next generation of athletes, he’s leading as VP and CFO at Emigh Livestock.
Sean Mahoney: From his early days playing various sports in Rio Vista, Sean's focus shifted to swimming at age 11, leading to national age group records, a 2009 NCAA record, a Pan American Games gold medal and record, and seven World Cup medals. He also competed at Olympic Trials four times, never making the Olympic team. After elite swimming he has excelled in triathlons, winning his age group at the Sacramento Ironman and twice competing in the Kona Ironman World Championships. He has now built a career as a Test engineer at Fitbit, now Google, for the past nine years.
Joe Diaz:
“Coach Joe” as the kids call him, is a 3rd generation Solano County resident and graduated Rio Vista High School in 2008. Joe is deeply vested and tied to the Rio Vista community. He is part of the Rio Vista Jr Ram football program as well as vice president of the River Delta Baseball program. Joe is the second leading fundraiser auctioneer in solano county and has worked for RDUSD for 11 years.
Joe played sports all his life growing up in Winters and moved to Rio Vista in high school and sincerely loves what sports teach these young athletes. He played for some legendry Winters coaches, like offensive line coach Matt Kimes, coach Manny Garcia and Dave Cummings. Joe has a real passion for helping young athletes find there roll on their given teams, helping athletes not only succeed on the field but also in the classroom and in there day to day lives. He believe working with kids is a great honor. The coaches in his life held me accountable when mistakes where made but also praised his successes Coaches who held him up when he was down, and when he was up, kept him humble and focused. Joe has committed himself to inspiring Rio Vista's youth in the same way. Fifty percent of coaching is X’s and O’s the rest is about building a trusting relationship with young athletes to believe in themselves to accomplish their goals. I’m honored to be a part of a program that helps athletes and organizations reach their goals.
1997 River City Raiders Midgets: Top: Coach Bruce Vierra, Dusty Silva, Michael Light, Jimmy Preston, Popalardo?, Tommy Day, ??, Billy Rodriguez, Brian Medders, Sean McWilliams, Jared Khols, Coach Carlos Vega. Middle: Jared Murrey, ??, Nathan Gardiner, Colin Turk, Ryan Mahoney, Richard Moore, Ryan Tompkins, Joshua Alexander, Coach Warren Gomes. Bottom: Roman Vega, Shane Keyser, Jon Kidwell, Calvin Hill, Keith Bowling, James Fingland.