After Lee Trevino donated thousands of dollars to start the sport at the school in the 1980s, a group of good guys and gals formed a “UTEP Century Club” to keep the team going. You see, UTEP provides the head coach’s salary and players’ scholarships but all other expenditures, such as recruiting, travel and equipment, must be raised by the team. Enter the Century Club.
To help raise those funds, the club holds two golf tournaments each year. This year the first one will be the Western Refining Miner Day Tournament to be held Monday, May 6, at El Paso Country Club.
The second one is the El Paso Ford Dealers Golf Classic to be held on Monday, Aug. 19, at Coronado Country Club.
Entry fee for either one is $300 — or $500 for both.
I’ve played in both and can guarantee you’ll be treated warmly, presented a gift and lunch and have a lot of fun. And all for a good cause.
For more information call Margie Henderson at 584-3716.
TRIVIA QUESTION: Which Major Leaguer hit the most homeruns during the 1980s? Answer at end.
SPEAKING OF good golf folks, Tropicana Homes has become a title sponsor of the First Tee of Greater El Paso program for 2013 and 2914. “We can’t thank them enough for their donation,” director/coach Kristi Albers says.
Hey, El Pasoans can’t thank Kristi enough for starting the program, which does so much good for the sport and young people.
HERE’S ANOTHER take on next year’s UTEP basketball prospects from Asher Wildman, KINT-TV sportscaster.
“With March Madness everyone was excited! However, my thought is that UTEP and Conference USA fans should be worried. Think about this. Memphis went undefeated in league play and won the C-USA Tournament. The Tigers finished in the top 20 in both polls and had 30 wins yet were a No. 6 seed in the tournament. Also, they were the only C-USA team in the tournament!
“Next year, Memphis will be in the Big East, so Conference USA will have no “star” power. A one-bid league, and the team that goes undefeated is a No. 6 seed? If the Miners don’t win C-USA next year, then it seems the Miners will have little to zero chance of making the Big Dance. Miners fans and C-USA fans in general must take notice now, because it appears the NCAA already has Conference USA in their rear view mirror, and with Memphis gone how will C-USA look to outsiders now?
“Just a thought.”
TONY HARPER dropped basketball for baseball and missed being on the 1966 Texas Western College (now UTEP) team that won the NCAA basketball championship in 1966.
But he made a great success of his own coaching in the El Paso Independent School District. And what a move he made last week. He retired from that district and took the position of head basketball coach at Cathedral High School. It’ll keep him active, healthy and doing what he loves without financial worries.
Great for the Irish, too.
AND IF YOU think that the Dallas Cowboys aren’t still popular you should have been at KROD’s El Paso Sports Expo at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino last Sunday. The Cowboys’ wide receiver, Dez Bryant, drew huge crowds and they couldn’t get enough of him. “It was crazy,” Steve Kaplowitz, who has been host of the El Paso Sports Expo for years, says. “I’d never seen anything like it. Fans even followed him to the airport in cars when he left.”
ANSWER to trivia question: Mike Schmidt with 313.