© by Ray Sanchez
03.23.14
What a great variety of stars the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame came up with for induction this year. It’s as if some master chef had cooked up an eight course culinary feast of delicacies.
Selected last Monday by Hall members were basketball coach Keitha Adams, football official Gene Semko, golfer J. P. Hayes, marathon runner Larisa Ito Pitchkoland, sports promoter Bob Azar, UTEP fan club president Larry Rodriguez, female high school and college basketball star Gloria Estrada and, posthumously, male high school and college basketball star Gabe Nava.
I’VE TOLD YOU about their exploits in previous columns and you’ll be reading more about these outstanding people.
You really should be at the induction banquet to meet and honor them. It’ll be held April 30 at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino. A hospitality session will start at 5:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6:15 p.m. Tickets are $30 per person and you can reserve them by calling either Bruce Reichman at (915) 373-9126 or Cindy Spitz at (915) 204-3366.
TRIVIA QUESTION: A former Harlem Globetrotter went on to pitch in the Major Leagues and appear in three World Series. Who was it? Answer at end.
FINALLY, Barnes and Noble Book Stores have my latest book, “The Good, the Bad and the Funny of El Paso Sports History,” for sale.
The book had been on sale at other outlets since November but it hadn’t been on sale at Barnes and Noble because of a glitch.
I won’t go into the intricacies of the glitch but you can now get my book at your Barnes and Noble Book Stores in El Paso or order it through Barnes and Noble on the Internet via bn.com.
I’VE BEEN pleasantly surprised at how well the book has been received. I’ve told you before of other nice comments I’ve received. Following are some of the latest:
Nancy Hamilton, one of El Paso’s most highly regarded writers, wrote, “Thanks so much for your wonderful sports book. I couldn’t put it down and finished it (the same day she got it)”
Jim Rewis, a fellow golfer, and many others have echoed the sentiment of not being able to put it down once they started reading it.
Joe Shepard, a local author in his own right, was figuratively jumping up and down with glee after reading my book and called to say, “It’s fantastic. I want all my friends to read it. I’m going to get about 100 of them together and have you autograph a book for each of them.”
Jim and Marie Darby, parents of UTEP assistant athletic director in charge of media relations Jeff Darby, told me with smiles that they “thoroughly enjoyed” the book.
Ramon Renteria, El Paso Times columnist and book editor, wrote that “you did a great job assembling all those sports nuggets.”
Victor Sanchez, my son and a former two-time all-district basketball star at Coronado High, says “as I read the book I kept saying ‘I didn’t know that’ and ‘I didn’t know that’ and ‘I didn’t know that.’”
BUT THE MOST heart-touching comment came from the late Bob Haynsworth, who did so much for so many sports in El Paso during his lifetime. He passed away on Feb. 23. Due to illness, he had been totally blind for months prior to his death but when my book came out shortly before he died he told his daughter, Jan, to read it to him. She did and she says that when she was through he had enjoyed the book so much he told her to read it to him again. She did.
I wanted to cry when I heard that.
That a book can cause joy to people is the biggest reward there is for a writer.
ANSWER TO trivia question: Bob Gibson.
29 Mar