The benefit golf tournament honoring one of El Paso’s – and UTEP’s – most outstanding and revered athletes is coming up. It’s the second annual Pug Gabrel Memorial Golf Tournament, which is sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and will be held Thursday, Oct. 20, at Butterfield Trail Golf Course.
Just thinking about Pug gives me goose pimples. There were many things to like about the late blue-eyed El Pasoan. He wasn’t very big physically but put on a football uniform on him and he was as huge a star as any Miner whoever carried a pigskin.
Sixty one years after he played you’ll still find his name all over the UTEP rushing record books. In 1948, when he helped the Miners to an 8-2-1 record, he averaged an astonishing 7.45 yards per carry in 110 attempts.
But most of all, he’s remembered for one of the greatest acts of sportsmanship in the history of college football. In 1949, coach Jack Curtice offered to feed him the ball in the second half in the regular season’s final game against New Mexico State so he could have a shot at winning the national rushing title. However, remembering that the year before the Miners had massacred New Mexico State 92-7 and were already leading the Aggies by a big margin at halftime, he declined. He didn’t win the rushing title but, he said later, he slept very well at night
After graduation, he became a successful high school head coach and a successful college assistant coach. He passed away suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 79.
PUG’S WIFE, Helen, plus his son, Randall, and his son-in-law, Jeff, will be on hand at this year’s tournament. I had the pleasure of participating in the meet last year. It was great fun and playing such an outstanding golf course is always an awesome delight.
The tournament in Pug’s honor raises money for scholarships for young people. And it helps keep the memory of this very special man alive.
TRIVIA QUESTION: Who is the first man to hit a golf ball that didn’t land on earth? And when was it? Answer at end.
LUIS DUENAS gets around. Just in the last few years he’s been maitre d’ or food and beverage manager at El Paso Country Club, Santa Teresa Country Club, Camino Real Hotel and heaven knows where else. I might have missed another place or two. Anyway, the personable, classy fellow is now a shift manager in the food and beverage department at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino. He greets everyone with such gusto and hearty handshakes he’s always a delight to run into.
REMINDER: The El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame induction banquet will be held Wednesday, Oct. 26 at the Lancer’s Club, 3135 Trawood Drive. Got your tickets already? If not, call 598-8419, 422-1972 or 598-7211. Hey, if you love baseball you should be there. This year’s inductees are Gerardo Cuevas, Randy Weinglass, Danny Perez, Lauro Felix and, posthumously, George Hodge.
SOMEWHERE, reader Tom Hussmann found a video detailing the history of the Kentucky Club in Juarez, which when it was in its glory was visited by such celebrities as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. He sent the video to me and I passed it on to some friends and relatives. I was surprised how many of them had not only heard of the Kentucky Club, but been there. That includes my three sons. Hmmm
ANSWER TO trivia question: Astronaut Alan Shepard on the moon in 1971.
Veteran sports journalist and author Ray Sanchez welcomes suggestions for his column