SAN ANTONIO \u2013 When it came to San Antonio\u2019s annual Night in Old San Antonio, or NIOSA, many Fiesta-goers knew J.J. Gonzales simply as \u201cMr. Chicken.\u201d<\/p>\n
For 30 years, he served up chicken on a stick at Froggy Bottoms in La Villita. <\/p>\n
It was hardly a surprise not to see him there, as he loved spreading joy to crowds or sharing his thoughts with local news stations.<\/p>\n
That same care for others is what people said they loved most about him when tributes and memories poured onto social media after his family announced he died Sunday of kidney cancer.<\/p>\n
Although the grief is overwhelming, his wife, Cyndi Gonzales, and daughter Sommer said the outpouring of support \u2014 and the impact he had on others \u2014 is helping them through a difficult time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to share him with San Antonio, which we didn\u2019t mind because we saw how he lit up the city,\u201d Cyndi Gonzales said.<\/p>\n
While the community embraced Gonzales as a Fiesta icon, to his family, he was a loving husband, best friend, and father.<\/p>\n
\u2018He was always present\u2019<\/p>\n
In an interview with KSAT inside La Villita, where he sold his signature chicken on a stick, Cyndi and Sommer shared stories and memories of his excitement for educating first-timers at NIOSA and his passion for running the booth.<\/p>\n
Beyond the Fiesta fun, they said, he was always there for others \u2014 every day, under any circumstance.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything he did, he gave 100 percent,\u201d Sommer Gonzales said. \u201cBeing a husband, being a co-worker \u2014 anything. As he would tell me: if you\u2019re going to do it, do it 110 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether he was attending an event for his daughters, Sommer and Isabella, or coaching his volleyball club, the San Antonio Chiefs, Gonzales always made time to help anyone who needed it.<\/p>\n
And while the family understands that many may remember him for Fiesta or his famous chicken on a stick, they hope the community holds onto something deeper: his light.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want him to be remembered as the light that will never be dimmed,\u201d Cyndi Gonzales said.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 When it came to San Antonio\u2019s annual Night in Old San Antonio, or NIOSA, many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7185,49,34182,6946,82,84,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-65927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-fiesta","9":"tag-food","10":"tag-niosa","11":"tag-obituaries","12":"tag-san-antonio","13":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","14":"tag-san-antonio-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}