I’m floating on Cloud 9. During my long sports writing career I’ve been inducted into five sports Halls of Fame, won national awards for news reporting and column writing and been honored by many organizations.
All awards are wonderful but none is sweeter than being honored by one’s own university.
University of Texas at El Paso selected me as one of 12 winners of its Gold Nugget Award for 2011. The award states it “recognizes exceptional graduates from each of the University’s colleges and schools who have distinguished themselves in their professions and lives, given back to their communities and alma mater, and serve as an inspiration for future generations of Miners.”
TO BE INCLUDED among such distinguished company as outstanding doctors, engineers, attorneys, businessmen and even a general this year left me extremely humbled and honored.
UTEP treated us like royalty during Homecoming Week. We were given a tour of the campus, introduced to our respective deans, asked to meet with students. We were dined morning, noon and night and paraded throughout the campus on open convertibles where students, faculty and onlookers cheered us on. It all culminated with a banquet where we were presented our awards.
THROUGH ALL the festivities, there was one thought that kept going through my mind: I, and all of El Paso, should be honoring UTEP in return for what it’s meant to our lives.
I know I would never have had such a wonderful career if it weren’t for UTEP. I didn’t know when I enrolled that I was going to be a writer. I had grown up during the depression and was able to go to college only because of the G.I. Bill or Rights.
But I seemed to have a knack for writing and with the teaching and encouragement of such great journalism professors as Pete Snelson and John Middagh I was able to hone that skill and find my niche in life. Mr. Snelson even helped me get my first newspaper job.
I’ve been writing columns and stories for more than 60 years. I was wondering how many words I’ve written in that time. Dr. Sam Riccillo, who holds the title of Chair of the Graduate Committee in the Department of Communication among other positions at UTEP, took to logarithms. He came up with a figure of at least 2.4 million words.
ONE CAN’T say enough of what UTEP’s current president, Dr. Diana Natalicio, has done for the school and our city. When I enrolled at UTEP in 1947 there were only about 2500 students. Today, there are more than 22,500.
It has grown not only in enrollment but in curriculum and physical structures. It used to be a small, sleepy little college but now it’s a grand university that is the envy of many other schools. In that respect, I was happy to see that El Paso Inc. editor Tom Fenton had a wonderful column last week detailing many of Dr. Natalicio’s accomplishments. It should be distributed for all to see.
I WAS IN AWE of all the improvements when I was given a tour of the campus during Homecoming but being a writer of sports I was especially impressed with the students’ $37 million recreation center which was expanded recently.
The center was patterned after the one at Ohio State, which is considered one of the best anywhere. UTEP’s has weight rooms, two swimming pools, basketball courts, jogging paths, yoga classes, treadmills with computers.
And would you believe a small mountain where you can learn mountain climbing?
If you can believe that, would you believe an indoor soccer field?
It’s all true.
And here’s the beauty of it all. The students themselves voted for it and are paying for it.
I’m so proud of my alma mater I’m popping my buttons.
Ray Sanchez
Blog:
http://el-paso-sports.com/
http://www.ktsm.com/sports/sanchez-honored-with-golden-nugget-award