Rafael Palomar and Felix Hinojosa are others who had also been nominated before and are getting their due this year.
All in all, eight of El Paso’s greatest sports figures will be inducted at the Hall’s annual banquet in April. They are:
· Luis Zuniga. He has devoted his life to bringing the joy of sports to people. He started his sportscasting career in East Texas but for the past 28 years he has been spreading that joy in El Paso. Think of it – 28 years of sports reporting five nights a week twice each night. That’s almost an eternity in the business. And he did it all those years with such grace, dignity and talent on KINT-TV that his sports program was often rated No. 1 in El Paso.
· Rafael Palomar. The former Ysleta High School basketball star once set an incredible state high school record of 41 rebounds in a single game then went on to play in the Olympics for Mexico. It was the last time that country made it there. He played in other international games against such players as Michael Jordan.
· Felix Hinojosa, the incredibly successful men and women cross country coach and athletic director at El Paso Community College. He has produced 15 national All-Americans, 50 All-Conference stars and various conference and regional team titles plus two national marathon crowns.
· Bobby Dibler, a former player on Don Haskins’ great basketball teams of the early 1960s who went on to become one of the top basketball officials in the country. He retired after officiating more than a thousand Division I games, including 50 NCAA tournament games and 12 NIT assignments. He had been reluctant to be inducted into the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame before but some of us talked him into relenting and he was a shoo-in on his first nomination this year.
· Carilyn Johnson, the El Paso mother/housewife who took up running later in life and went on to compete in a stunning number of marathons with great success. A former attorney, she earned a silver medal as a member of the U. S. team that finished second in the World Championship 24 Hour Run in Italy in 2009. She, too, was a shoo-in this year.
· Steve Plato, the outstanding swimming coach at Eastwood High School. He has produced many outstanding swimmers, including 45 first team all-state selections. In local competition, his girl teams own a 215-75 record and his boy teams a 230-60 mark. He has won 30 district and13 regional team titles.
· Beto Bautista, whom UTEP basketball coach Don Haskins selected on his all-time all-star team in the book “The Miners: The History of Sports at University of Texas at El Paso.” Bautista, who had starred at Austin High School, was 5 feet 9 but his quickness and exceptional all-around play helped the Miners to three straight winning seasons in the 1970s.
· Kiki Contreras was the selection in the posthumous category. He is one of the greatest distance runners in the history of El Paso. He set record times at several events even as a senior and competed in the Boston Marathon. He passed away last year.
The El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame induction banquet will be held April 25 at UTEP.
You’ll learn more about the inductees and their accomplishments then. You should be there to salute them.
For more information or tickets call Bruce Reichman at 584-4187, Dennis Devine at 562-5831, Alvis Glidewell at 598-7535 or Margarito Banales at 598-8419