I’ve always believed that besides one’s job or business one should contribute to his community in other ways. Like helping others, joining civic organizations and the like.
In that respect I’ve served one time or another on the board of the UTEP Library, County Golf Association, the Downtown Lions, the Sunturians and just about every sports hall of fame ever created in El Paso.
I like to kid that I’ve served on so many boards I’ve got splinters in my behind.
BOARD MEETINGS can be long and boring. Sometimes I’ve sat there wondering if I was wasting my time.
But those doubts disappear when I see the results.
Take this year’s UTEP Athletic Hall of Fame banquet. I can’t tell you what a thrill it was to be there and watch some of the Miners’ greatest athletes we board members selected receive their just rewards on Oct. 28. For example:
THERE WAS Andy Everest, one of inductee football coach Jack Curtice’s finest linemen, telling of what a great job Curtice did of putting together battle-scarred veterans returning from World War II and young recruits just out of high school to turn out winning teams “He was not only a great coach but a great human being who cared about his players,” Everest said.
Curtice’s .638 won-lost-tied percentage of 24 wins, 13 losses and three ties from 1946 through 1949 ranks second only to Mike Brumbelow’s .651 in UTEP history.
OTHER INDUCTEES besides Curtice in order of appearance were Soma Dutta-Williams, Jim Forbes, Thad Steele and Obadele Thompson.
We learned that Soma grew up in India wanting to be a tiger hunter, moved to the United States when she was 12 and used her talent to become one of the best rifle shooters in the nation. She won All-American honors in smallbore competition from 1990 through 1992 and represented India in the Olympics. Graceful and soft spoken, she absolutely delighted the crowd.
JIM FORBES, all 6-feet-7 inches of him, was impressive as he walked up to the podium next to accept his induction. He played basketball four years for the Miners in the early 1970s and represented the school in the 1972 Olympics. His career would have been even greater had he not suffered an injury but he said he has no regrets. He’s now a high school basketball coach and, he added, “I’m doing what I want to do and I’m doing it on my terms.”
THEN CAME Thad Steele Jr. to accept induction of his late father, Thad Steele Sr. who is rated one of the greatest linemen in the annals of UTEP football. He played center and middle linebacker when the Miners won seven games and lost only one each season from 1929 through 1931.
The younger Steele got a big laugh from the audience when he spoke of his father’s philosophy. “Dad used to say that if something didn’t happen the way it should it should have happened that way anyway,” Steele Jr. said. The elder Steele wasn’t as big as his son, who’s 6 feet 4, but, says his son, he was broad of shoulder and very powerful.
THE FINAL inductee to speak was track and field star Obadele Thompson, whose accomplishments were detailed by his coach, Bob Kitchens. The coach said he had to do a double take when Thompson was clocked in 9.5 in the 100 meters when Thompson was a junior. It was a hint of what was to come. Thompson went on to win countless NCAA titles, set records right and left and still holds the world record in the 55-meter dash (5.99),
It was so great seeing and recounting the feats of these outstanding athletes I’m looking forward to the next board meeting, boring or not.
25 Nov