© by Ray Sanchez 08.14.16
The Haskins name lives on.
Dominick Haskins won the 2016 City Amateur Golf Tournament championship last Sunday. It was his third tournament victory in eight days. He won the Anthony Invitational the Sunday before and won a college meet in Dallas during the week.
Wow!
His grandfather, late UTEP basketball coach Don Haskins, must be smiling and applauding up in heaven.
“The Bear,” as Don was known, was a bit frustrated as a golfer. I once asked his son, Steve, why. Steve said that Don couldn’t hit the ball far enough to compete with the top golfers despite his size.
I guess distance in golf is just something you just have or don’t have. Small golfers like Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Lee Trevino hit the ball far. Maybe not so far as golfers do now with new equipment but far enough to win “Majors.”
Some others, even bigger men, can’t hit the ball far enough to do that.
DOMNICK, SON of another of Don Haskins’ sons (Brent), has it all, of course. He’s young (21), big (6 feet 1), hits the ball far (325 yards) and oh, how he can putt.
He’s also level-headed. Dominick says that yes, he plans to try for the PGA Tour “but not until I finish college.” He’ll be majoring in business at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Needless to say, his father, Brent, is proud of his son. And he says that what makes him the most proud is that “Dominick is such a hard worker.”
INCIDENTALLY, every time one of the big local amateur golf tournaments comes around I think of Jim Thomas.
Never heard of him? When I was sports editor of the El Paso Herald-Post in the 1980s I appointed Jim Thomas golf editor. It was one of the smartest things I ever did.
Jim was at The Herald-Post only a few years but he was a whiz. He and Frank Redman, El Paso’s winningest amateur golfer ever (seven City titles), got together and came up with the idea of forming an El Paso Golf Hall of Fame. Jim came to me with the idea and of course I was all for it and became a charter member.
The El Paso Golf Hall of Fame became a reality in 1983. The first inductees were Lee Trevino, Fred Hawkins, Frank Redman, Manny Martinez Sr., Agatha Lee, Carlos Edwards, Tony Zuloaga and Bob Ingram.
Jim Thomas also came up with the idea of calling the biggest local amateur golf tournaments at the time “Majors.” The original so-called “Majors” were designated as the City Tournament, the Edwards-Zuloaga Tournament and the Anthony Invitational.
TRIVIA QUESTION: Can you name the six “Majors” on the PGA Tour that Lee Trevino won? Answer at end.
AND HOW did the El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame celebration go last week? I’ll let Shawn Lehigh, an outstanding El Paso umpire/referee and 2010 inductee, tell you. He wrote:
“I want to personally thank all the board members for the hard work and time that they put in to make this past weekend a great success. I truly appreciate what you guys have done to make the El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame events a great time. I was able to bring my grandchildren to the events this year, and they now understand what a great honor it is to be a part of El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame….
“It was a great opportunity (Chihuahuas game, golf, and the banquet) to visit and talk about baseball in El Paso. I am fortunate enough to still be officiating NCAA Division I basketball
and meet a lot of people involved in sports across the country. I still believe that the best sports people are the ones that helped me to get my start. They are El Paso. I know I will
continue to come back every year for a great weekend.”
ANSWER to trivia question: Two U.S. Opens, two British Opens and two PGA Championships.