© by Ray Sanchez 06.05.16
The UTEP athletic department, and I, need your help.
Mack Saxon, the winningest football coach in the history of the Miners, was inducted into the UTEP 
Not many realize how great his career was but we oldtimers do. During his 13 years as coach of the Miners from 1929 through 1941, Saxon’s teams had eight winning seasons, four of them with only one loss, and that was against the toughest opposition in the Southwest at the time. Foes included New Mexico, Arizona State, University of Arizona, Texas Tech and even University of Texas at Austin. All in all his teams won 66 games.
THE MINERS had only one winning season in football from 1915 through 1928 so one can only imagine how the school, and the town, went wild with Saxon’s success. I was only a little kid growing up then but I personally remember the impact he had.
Because of his success the Miners drew the biggest crowds in the history of the school up to that time, the impetus for building Kidd Field was created, the Miners were invited to the Sun Bowl for the first time and the Border Conference came calling with an invitation…
Saxon was an exceptionally handsome man. So handsome that he married the former wife of hotel mogul Conrad Hilton, Mary Adelaide Barron. She divorced Hilton in 1934 and married Saxon in 1935.
Saxon left the Miners to fight for his country in World War II. After returning from service, he passed away of a heart attack in 1949.
BUT WHAT has all that to do with needing your help? UTEP likes to have a family member attend the induction ceremony and accept the honor and since I nominated Mack Saxon for induction I feel like I should help.
The induction ceremony won’t be held until October. There aren’t many people in El Paso as old as I am but I’m hoping that someone out there has some information on how to contact some member of the Saxon family.
It would be so nice to have one present.
OTHERS VOTED for induction this year by members of the UTEP selection committee:
• Orsten Artis, who lettered for the Texas Western College Miners from 1963-66 and was the third-leading scorer on the 1966 national championship team.
• Harrington Jackson, who ran track at UTEP from 1970-72, set the standard as the school’s first national champion in the sprints
• Gerina Mendoza, a UTEP women’s golf standout from 2003-07, who was the Conference USA individual champion and Player of the Year her senior year. She is currently on the LPGA Tour and has about $2.6 million in earnings.
• Brian Natkin, a member of the UTEP football team from 1997-2000, became UTEP’s second consensus All-American and first unanimous All-American as a senior. He is currently the Miners’ tight ends coach and special teams coordinator.
TRIVIA QUESTION: Can you name the San Francisco Giant who hit a grandslam homerun in his first Major League game? Answer at end of column.
I WAS SURPRISED that a majority of fans of the UTEP Miners that I talked to sided with KROD radio sports show host Steve Kaplowitz in his tiff with UTEP basketball coach Tim Floyd.
One Miners fan claimed that Kaplowitz was “waylaid” because Floyd was loaded with statistics and ready to confront Kaplowitz at a press conference.
I think the world of coach Floyd. I’ve known him since he was hired at UTEP and helped coach Don Haskins win five Western Athletic Conference championships during the 1980s.
These days, he’s dealing with a different type of athlete. There are so many more options for star players that it’s hard to keep them in “the barn,” so to speak.
I hope Floyd sticks around as UTEP coach for many years. Unfortunately, criticism is part of the game.
ANSWER to trivia question: Barry Bonds.