What a 78th Hyundai Sun Bowl! Great game, great weather. Great setting.
What? You want more? How about great folks running it? I mean, what makes me proudest of all each year is the way El Pasoans of all stripes chip in to make the Sun Bowl shine, from the sponsor (in this year’s case Oscar Leeser of Hyundai Motors) to your average person on the street.
You notice I didn’t say “man” on the street. More women are jumping into what used to be a man’s event. The Sun Bowl was teeming with them this year – from media relations director Ana Chavez and her staff to the media covering the game to the hundreds of volunteers.
Everywhere you turned this year there was a pretty face, and it was all to the good. So doggone good it seemed like the Sun Bowl was getting help from above. Maybe we should designate all the volunteers as special angels.
KUDOS TO ALL. I like to focus on some of the volunteers each year. They give so much of their time. This year it’s Sarah Enriquez and Charlie Garcia.
They’re unique in a couple of ways. First, despite their different last names, they’re married. “It was my choice to keep my last name,” Sarah says.
Second, they’re two of the very few volunteers who serve as a married couple. It’s easy to see why. Someone has to take care of the home.
“When some married couple offers to volunteer, I strongly advice against it,” Sarah says. “It just doesn’t work and it causes all kinds of trouble.”
SARAH AND Charlie are the exception. He has his own business. She worked for state senator Eliot Shapleigh until he retired.
This was Sarah’s 17th year helping the Sun Bowl and she has risen to the position of chairman of the media host committee. Her husband is in his 15th year. Yes, he’s a member of the media host committee, too.
They’re perfect for that committee. They’re both outgoing and naturally friendly and you can find both of them most of the time in the Sun Bowl media headquarters at the Hawthorn Suites charming media with goodies, refreshments and genuine warm smiles.
You gotta love ‘em.
AS FOR THE game itself, it was a doozy. Not only was it the first overtime Sun Bowl game ever, it had all the elements of excitement: Long plays, comebacks, missed opportunities, made opportunities.
I’m sort of glad University of Utah squeezed out the 30-27 victory over Georgia Tech. Nothing against the latter it’s just that the Utes are more in our section of the country and played UTEP often while both were in the Western Athletic Conference.
And the Utes were victims of the Miners’ all-time greatest comeback. I’m surprised that wasn’t brought up more in pre-game reports.
YOU OLDTIMERS remember that comeback, don’t you? It was so great it was immortalized in a painting by world renown artist Tom Lea.
It was Nov. 13, 1965. UTEP had opened the football season with a stunning 61-15 victory over North Texas and followed it up with three more victories. But then the Miners lost three straight games. On this fateful afternoon the Miners trailed University of Utah 19-13, were on their own eight yard line and there were only 10 seconds remaining in the game only because a Utah ball carrier had inexplicably run out of bounds on fourth down. Quarterback Billy Stevens was supposed to pass to Chuck Hughes but he was covered. Stevens spotted Bob Wallace running down the field and heaved the ball as far as he could in his direction. Wallace ran under it, caught it and outraced defenders to the goal line 92 yards away. The Miners won 20-19, went undefeated the rest of the way, finished with an 8-3 record and beat TCU 13-12 in the Sun Bowl.”