Whew! That was hard work. I mean being on the board of directors of the El Paso
Athletic Hall of Fame this year. It wasn’t because of the long hours attending
meetings, poring through resumes and listening to oral presentations.
No, the hard part was trying to pick the seven inductees. There were so many
great nominees it was almost impossible to separate them. How could one leave
out such incredibly successful former coaches as Tony Grijalva of Franklin High
School or Jimmy Melendez of Riverside High in the coaches/administrators
category? Or basketball stars David Rodriguez and Rafael Palomar in the athletes
category? Or all the other nominees that didn’t make it? We couldn’t, we shouldn’t, but we had to, and it broke our hearts.
THE CLOSEST vote came in the media/supporters category. Luis Zuniga and Richard
Castro wound up in a tie. A runoff was held and Castro won it. Zuniga has been bringing quality sportscasts to El Paso fans on KINT-TV for (hold your hat) 27 years and it was heart-rending not to see him inducted.
But it was comforting to know that he lost to a very worthy opponent. Castro, owner of 21 McDonalds Restaurants in El Paso, has been participating and contributing financially to El Paso youth sports since 1983. He is certainly deserving of the honor. To backers of folks who didn’t quite make induction this year, try again. Most of you came awfully close this time around.
HERE ARE the persons who were elected and will be inducted April 27 at UTEP’s
Tomas Rivera Room:
Athletes – Bowler Phil Prieto, world class runner Diane Proud and all-around
super athlete Pete Solis Jr.
Administrators/coaches – Sun Bowl executive director Bernie Olivas and Cathedral High swimming coach Jack White.
Media/supporter –Richard Castro.
Posthumous – Runner Norman Pittenger.
The induction banquet will start at 6 p.m. You should be there to honor these great folks. For tickets call either 562-5831, 584-2879 or 598-8419. At the banquet, you might also give El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame officials a hand for their fine work. This year they were president Flip Lyle,
Flip Lyle
vice-president Bruce Reichman, secretary Dan Devine, the late Gene Calabro who
served as treasurer until his death and immediate past president Kevin Lovell.
TRIVIA QUESTION: Can you name two former heavyweight champions who knocked out
Joe Louis? Answer at end.
DID YOU ever wonder how Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino figures its attendance? There are no turnstiles to keep count. Mutuels manager Steve Fedunak explains that it has a per capita figure that
shows how much each fan bets on average. It divides that into the on-track overall handle and voila! you have the answer. Under that formula Sunland came up with a record attendance at this year’s Sunland Derby day of 18,571, exactly seven more fans than last year.
FORMER DALLAS Cowboy Daryl Johnston, to no one’s surprise since he’s a TV announcer, turned out to be a great speaker at the gala on the eve of the Sunland Derby. In his speech, he sided solidly with National Football League owners in the ongoing squabble with the players’ union about how to divide the
goodies.“The pendulum has swing too far toward the players,” he said. Which led one listener to later remark: “Yeah, the poor owners. They rake in billions, not millions, while sitting in their fat offices without worrying
about getting beaten up every week or without risking having their careers cut short by injury.”
I guess there are two sides to every argument.
AND DID YOU hear about the golfer who said his two favorite shots were a mulligan and a gimme?
ANSWER to trivia question: Max Schmeling and Rocky Marciano.