What a weekend.
On Friday night, there was the celebration of the life of late Ysleta High School, UTEP and Green Bay Packers football great Jesse Whittenton at the Larry K. Durham Center.
Saturday afternoon there was the Belmont Stakes with I’ll Have Another trying to complete the Triple Crown.
And Saturday night there was the 2012 El Paso Boxing/Martial Arts Hall of Fame induction banquet.
On Sunday, today, I’ll probably collapse.
BUT HEY, it’s fun. The most touching of the events was, of course, Jesse Whittenton’s. I was lucky to have followed and covered his amazing career from the time he was in high school through his outstanding play at what was then Texas Western College and finally as an all-pro defensive back with the Packers.
At six feet of solid muscle, ruggedly handsome and freewheeling he made women swoon and men envious. It’s been great listening to and recounting the many stories about his life on and off the football field. I hope to share some of them in columns to come.
ALSO AT THIS writing I don’t know if I’ll Have Another won the Belmont Sakes Saturday. I knew I was going to root for him. A Triple Crown winner would be great for horse racing.
Horse racing as a whole has been great for the country, including El Paso. Like racetracks are at other places, Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino has been a big asset. It employs hundreds of people, is generous to charities and provides excitement like no other sport. I mean, when you play the races, you’re a participant, not just an onlooker.
I was dubious about its legitimacy, as many others were, when Sunland Park Racetrack opened in 1959. Now, I’m one of its biggest fans.
AS FOR THE El Paso Boxing/Martial Arts Hall of Fame Saturday night, I can’t say enough nice things about Tom McKay, its founder and current president
Did you ever try to hold back a hurricane? When McKay goes into a project he goes all out
The Hall had been dormant for eight years. Mostly, it was because McKay had been battling serious health problems. But he’s back, and he flooded the news media this year with endless press releases and photos and phone calls.
And yes, the El Paso Boxing/Martial Arts Hall of Fame returned in all its glory.
People like McKay not only make the world turn, they make it turn for the better.
OH, YES, this week also included my birthday. I wrote my first sports column for the El Paso Herald-Post in January of 1950. That’s 62 years ago. Today, it seems like yesterday. Time seems to go faster as you get older.
I’ve written a sports column at least once a week, and sometimes three or four columns a week, ever since. I’ve gone through several typewriters and a few computers.
But like I’ve said, hey, it’s been fun.
CORRECTION: This it’s a bit late but it’s never too late to correct a mistake. I once wrote that Nemo Herrera was the only high school coach who had coached in El Paso and had won State high school championships in two major sports. He won two state titles in basketball at San Antonio Lanier High School and then won a state title in baseball at Bowie High School. Jewell Wallace coached El Paso High School to the state title in basketball in 1941 and Central High School in San Angelo to the state crown in football in 1943.