El Paso Sports Columns by Ray Sanchez

by Ray Sanchez© 10.02.16

Have you ever wondered what former athlete/coach Nolan Richardson has meant to Bowie High School and El Paso? You should have attended last Saturday’s ceremony naming the Bowie High School gym in his honor.
I mean, besides bringing untold positive attention to his alma mater and our city, he has dug deep into his pockets through his foundation to provide hard cash to help young people. How much hard cash? More than $2.5 million. That’s what one of the speakers at last Saturday’s event, Susan Oliva, executive director for the Children’s Advocacy Center and one of the beneficiaries of Richardson’s generosity, estimated. That sum includes scholarships for Bowie students and donations to various other young people’s groups.

WHAT’S MORE, his foundation, named for his late daughter, Yvonne, will continue donating each year to the school and El Paso’s youth.
No wonder then, that Richardson, who after being an outstanding athlete went on to become one of basketball’s greatest college coaches, was so well received by the many well-wishers last Saturday.
Richardson has been inducted into 13 different Halls of Fame, including the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, but he seemed to enjoy the naming of the Bowie gym for him just as much. “After all,” he reiterated, “Bowie is where I got my start.”

NOLAN AND I go back a long, long way. In fact, we started our respective careers the same year, he as an athlete and I as a sportswriter. That was in 1950, the same year Little League opened in El Paso. I gave him his very first writeup in 1950 when he was only nine years old. I happened to cover Little League baseball the night he hit a homerun and wrote about it.
Little did I know that little kid would grow up to be an El Paso, and national, treasure.

TRIVIA QUESTION: What was the real name of Rocky Marciano? Answer at end of column.

UP NEXT: The UTEP Athletic Hall of Fame induction banquet on Oct. 7 and El Paso High School’s homecoming football game where the school hopes to set a world record for homecoming reunions on Oct. 8.
Gerina Piller, the former UTEP star who performed so well at this year’s Olympics, will be inducted into the UTEP Hall of Fame dinner Friday. I can hardly wait to shake her hand. And to honor other inductees. They’re Orsten Artis of the 1966 national championship team, Harrington Jackson of the 1970-72 track team, Brian Natkin of the UTEP football team from 1997-2000 and the Miners’ winningest football coach of all-time, Mack Saxon.

AS FOR EL PASO High School’s attempt to set a world record for reunions, good luck. The school is confident the Tigers will make the 3300 target but they were still a bit short at this writing.
The homecoming game will be against Austin High School, the Tigers’ biggest rival through the years.
By the way, a gathering of exes from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s classes will be held on Oct. 7 at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino, the same night as the UTEP Athletic Hall of Fame dinner. Wish I could split myself in two.

AND WHAT I remember most about Arnold Palmer, who passed away at the age of 87 last week, is his charisma. He had a strange swing that worked for him but he was all man. It’s said he was so tough that while other players pulled a blade of grass from the ground to throw up in the air to check which way the wind was blowing he would pluck a piece of hair from his chest to do that. And I’ll never forget the piece of advice he once gave and which I’ve followed to this day. He said, “If you’re just barely off the green, putt the ball. Your worst putt is better than your best chip.”
I mourn.

TRIVIA ANSWER: Rocco Francis Marchegiano.

^© by Ray Sanchez  09.18.16

Did you feel bad when former UTEP star Gerina Piller started playing poorly in the final round of the 2016 Olympics women’s golf tournament? Think how she must have felt. Actually, you don’t have to think about it. The New York Times was so touched by her feelings she was actually featured in a story about the tournament.
For those of you who haven’t read the story, following is an excerpt. It was written by Karen Crouse:
“GERINA PILLER’S tear ducts sprang a leak on the 18th green when she tapped in for a par after missing her fourth birdie attempt in four holes. She cried as she left the green and cried as she left the scoring area.
“On her way to the locker room, Piller cried as she signed autographs for the South Korean fans, who were exultant over their countrywoman Inbee Park’s gold medal victory and quickly converged on her.
“Smiling through tears, Piller signed everything thrust in front of her and posed with every fan who jumped in her path for a photograph. At one point, Brazilian player Victoria Lovelady waded into the tide of people and embraced Piller, whose shoulders shook as she sobbed in her arms.

“THIS IS THE POWER and the pathos of the Olympics. It can take an athlete like Piller, who did not expect to qualify for the Olympics two months ago, and turn her into an emotional wreck because she fell short of the medal podium.
“Piller, 31, was not on the U.S. team until she tied for eighth at the U.S. Women’s Open in July and squeezed into the top 15 in the world rankings. After three solid rounds, she began Saturday’s final 18 holes two strokes behind the leader, Park, who closed with a 5-under-par 66 for a 72-hole total of 16-under-par at Reserva de Marapendi. Piller posted a 74 to finish 10 strokes back, tied for 11th in the field of 60 …

“PILLER IS A LATE bloomer who did not take up golf until she was 15, the same age as runnerup Lydia Ko was when she won her first LPGA title in 2012. With eight top-10 finishes, Piller has been circling her first LPGA victory all year. Fueled by patriotism, Piller envisioned rocketing onto the sporting world’s radar with a breakthrough performance. ‘I think Gerina still had a fantastic week, and I think she made the whole of the U.S. proud,’ Ko said, adding: ‘Sometimes I think we can get carried away by just the results, but I said the Olympics is about celebrating each and every player, celebrating obviously the medalists at the end of the tournament. But I think Gerina, when she looks back, she’ll say, Wow, that was a great week.’

“ON THE OLYMPIC stage, every result, for better or worse, is magnified. After Piller broke free from the pack of autograph seekers, her mother and stepfather caught up and were walking on either side of her. Piller slipped her hand into her stepfather’s, and her mother put her arm protectively around Piller’s back as the three continued walking in silence. ‘We’re heartbroken with her,’ Piller’s stepfather, Alan Stevenson, said.
“What will he tell Piller? ‘You keep working, you keep playing, you keep competing, you keep showing up,’ he said.

“PILLER EMERGED from the locker room. Wiping tears from her face, she said: ‘I think I’ll cherish this week forever. Just taking a lot of positives away from it.’
“She added: ‘I didn’t even think I had a chance to be here, so to come and to be in contention is all I can really ask for. Just going to learn from it and move on.’
“… Finding herself marching alongside the best athletes in the world would have been unthinkable at the start of the year. But on Saturday afternoon, that was small consolation to Piller, whose post-round interview ended in tears.”

^© by Ray Sanchez  09.10.16

It’s official. The gym at Bowie High School will be named for Nolan Richardson.
Ceremonies are scheduled to be held Saturday, Sept. 24, at 11 a.m. at Bowie High School with a visitation to follow in the school cafeteria.
What a fitting gesture. Richardson is one of Bowie’s, and El Paso’s, greatest treasures. He excelled both as an athlete and a coach.
Following is a quick glimpse at his career:
• He was outstanding in Little League baseball then earned all-district honors at Bowie High School in baseball, football and basketball.
• He played basketball for UTEP when it was known as Texas Western College and was a standout there, too.
• He took over the basketball coaching reins at his high school alma mater, Bowie, in 1968 and won 190 games and lost only 80.
• He coached at Western Texas Junior College and won the national junior college championship in 1980 with a 37-0 record.
• Tulsa University beckoned in 1981 and he became the first coach to win the National Invitation Tournament in his first year.
• In the 1990s he took the University of Arkansas to the Final Four three times and won the NCAA championship in 1994 against Duke.
• He was named National Coach of the Year in 1994 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.
• He was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
• He is the only head coach in the country to win a Junior College national championship, the NIT and the NCAA Tournament.

TRIVIA ANSWER: Believe it or not, it was a horse by the name of Upset.
.

^© by Ray Sanchez  09.05.16

When I think of the late R.R. Jones, for whom the El Paso High School stadium was named, I feel love in my heart.
He was the principal at El Paso High School when I went there in the early 1940s. He was such a kind, gentle and caring man that it’s easy to say he is one of the most beloved principals in the history of El Paso schools.
And I can prove it.
I was a bit brash when I was in high school. One day when I was a sophomore, we crossed paths in the hall outside his office. He had on a pretty striped shirt and I walked up to him and complimented him on it. A couple of days later, I was stunned when he approached me with a gift. It was the shirt I had complimented him on, washed and neatly folded. He presented it to me with the sweetest little smile I had ever seen.
We were about the same size at the time and it fit perfectly. I don’t know what kind of shirt I had on when we first crossed paths but he probably noticed that I wasn’t exactly from a rich family.
Whatever, he literally gave me the shirt off his back. It’s one of the sweetest memories of my high school days.

HAVE YOU ANY memories of him? I sure would like to read them. As you no doubt know by now, El Paso High School is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the present building which was built in 1916 for a whopping half million dollars.
As part of the celebration, the latest in a Centennial Legacy Series, this one titled “100 Years of Excellence in the Arts,” will be held Thursday, Sept. 8, at 6:15 p.m. at El Paso High School.
The evening will begin with a reception in the El Paso High School main hall and will feature the Alumni Art Sale and Show. Following will be the Legacy Series production in the auditorium.
By the way, do you know when the El Paso High School stadium was named for R.R. Jones? Sandy Aaronson would like to know for her records. She’s one of the members of the committee trying to break the world record for reunions this year. You can contact Sandy at sandyaaronson@gmail.com.

TRIVIA QUESTION: Did you know that Major League umpires weren’t permitted to wear glasses before a certain year? What was the year? Answer at end.

DID YOU CRY? I almost did when I saw former UTEP star Gerina Piller’s short game desert her in the final round of the Olympics golf tournament. Matt Sloan, who has followed her career, writes:
“Ray, we know that Gerina is very disappointed in her final round of the Olympics, but we should offer her some encouragement with an open letter endorsed by everyone in El Paso.
“Dear Gerina: Congratulations on being selected to represent the United States in the Olympics. That team and the Solheim Cup team recognize excellence. You did a wonderful job, tied for the lead at one point and posting a lower score than 50 of the 60 participants, including your teammate Lexi Thompson.
“We love to read the results of the tournaments you play in and see how much prize money you earn. You have mastered the game to produce at least a million dollars in winnings compared to many of us who have spent what seems like a million dollars trying to do what you do. Very few of us can hit a 275 yard drive. We don’t have a lot of birdies or even birdie putts. We almost never play 18 holes without a bogey.
“These are just a few of the reasons why we are proud of you and wish the best for you. You are our hero.
“Signed: El Paso golfers and friends.”

TRIVIA ANSWER: Not until 1974.

^© by Ray Sanchez  08.28.16

Are you ready for the football? You should be.
What a schedule the UTEP Miners came up with this season. They open at the Sun Bowl with rival New Mexico State next Saturday at 6 p.m. then play the Texas Longhorns at Austin and then return to the Sun Bowl to host the Black Knights of Army and Southern Mississippi.
That kind of start is enough to make any football nut’s mouth water.
And how will the Miners do this year? I took my crystal ball out of its drawer and put the question to it. I thought it might be happy what with the great schedule and all but it was its usual obnoxious self.

“NOW CAN I go back to sleep?” it said. “You have no consideration for my welfare, always asking for my predictions. Don’t you know I get tired?”
I felt like saying, “Tired? You sleep in your drawer all year long except for a couple of interruptions.” But I held back. I’m going to need its predictions again for basketball season. I really hate to say this, but the obnoxious orb is right sometimes.
I gently put it back in its drawer and muttered a few unkind words that I hope the crystal ball didn’t hear.

^© by Ray Sanchez   08.21.16

Have you noticed that Albuquerque has gone to holding horse racing at night? Yes!
The Downs Racetrack and Casino at Albuquerque this year underwent a full renovation of its grandstand, put in a Jumbotron, installed lights and made other improvements. So now, races on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays have been starting at 6:05 p.m.
Wisely, races on Sundays are still in the afternoon, starting at 1:30 p.m. That way, folks can get home early to start the new week.

HOW IS NIGHT racing going? Splendidly, especially since the daytime temperatures have been so high this summer. Thousands of spectators showed up on opening night and they’ve kept coming. The big TV screen has been a big hit and spectators seem to like the fact glass windows have been removed. The grandstand used to be enclosed by windows on the front and sides and the open air makes the stands seem closer to the action.
Marketing director Brian Roybal pointed out the benefits of night racing. He stated, “You can get here after work now and you’re going to have the option of watching a full race card. You’ll be a little bit cooler, the shadows will be hitting right and you’re not going to have to worry about the 90 degree temperatures on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.”

IT ALL SOUNDS fine and dandy but I recall the time when Sunland Park Racetrack tried night horse racing in the 1960s. It was fine and dandy, too, until the lights went out during a race.
Bob Haynsworth, then general manager, had made a daring move. He had lights installed and began night horse racing on Friday nights. There was night greyhound racing in Juarez at the time and Sunland officials figured holding night racing would help Sunland better compete with Juarez and help the Sunland handle.

IT DID HELP – until one night a transformer blew out during one of the races. It threw the entire track into darkness and five horses went tumbling to the ground. Four of the jockeys escaped injury but one didn’t and he sued the track. He got a generous settlement and that was the end of night racing at Sunland.
Sunland Racetrack sold the light poles to Santa Teresa Country Club and they light the road to the entrance still today.
There have been electrical improvements since then and other tracks, including Churchill Downs, have gone to night racing, too, so let’s wish Albuquerque the best.

INCIDENTALLY, I have some great memories of night horse racing in the 1960s at Sunland Park.
Owner Riley Allison and general manager Bob Haynsworth named a thoroughbred “Ray Sanchez” after me. I was racing editor at the El Paso Herald-Post at the time and I guess they thought it would be a good publicity stunt.
The horse was a $1500 claimer and I got kidded a lot. But he turned out to be a pretty good horse. He won at least one race at every track in New Mexico at the time plus one at Juarez Racetrack.

ONE INCREDIBLE night at Sunland Park, Ray Sanchez the horse went off at huge odds and paid $60 to win. The quinella (there were no exactas then) returned $2000 plus.
Needless to say, I always bet Ray Sanchez the horse every time he ran and walked off with both the win and the quinella.
I was so happy I thought I would surprise my wife, Helen. I changed the money into small bills, walked into the house, yelled “surprise” and threw the money in the air.
My wife looked down at the money on the floor, pointed at it and said, “That’s just what we need: A green carpet.”
There went my winnings. Me and my big mouth.

^© 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.

 ^© by Ray Sanchez  08.07.16

It’s not often that one gets to live a dream experience twice. But it happened to Art Alva, a former El Paso High School golf star and still a golf enthusiast.

You see, he attended his first professional golf tournament – a “Major” at that – last year. It was the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits Golf Course in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

And this year, when rain cancelled the third round of the 2016 PGA tournament, CBS decided to rerun the final round of the 2015 meet. Alva got to see his dream right there in his home all over again.

I FIRST MET Art way back in the 1950s when I was covering high school sports. He was young, he was handsome and he possessed one of the prettiest golf swings you’d ever want to see. So I was happy – and surprised – when I got a call from him some months ago.

He told me he had attended one of the Majors. Needless to say, he couldn’t stop talking about it, and here’s how it happened.

ALVA’S NEPHEW, Daniel Dominguez, is a pilot and director of aviation for the Kohler Company, which is headquartered in Green Bay. The company has several other planes and pilots but Dominguez personally flies the owner wherever he needs to go.

And when the PGA Championship was held in Wisconsin last year, Dominguez suddenly found himself with two tickets to the tournament. Who else to invite but his uncle, Art Alva, whom he knew loved the game.

And suddenly, Art, who is now 78, was living a dream.

HE HAS MANY memories of last year’s event, but some stick out more than others. For instance, when he and his nephew arrived in the parking lot of the tournament, he noticed more than 100 Mercedes parked in one section. He later learned that each player in the tournament is provided with one during the four days of the meet.

As for the players, he noticed they were all business. They were polite but deadly serious and didn’t mingle much with the fans.

AND AS FOR the course, Alva noticed how stark it was. “It was a links course,” he says. “That means there were no trees but plenty of trouble on either side of the fairway. On some holes, if a player hit left there were bunkers. Hit right and there was Lake Michigan.”

Alva saw one incident he’ll never forget. John Daly, a long-hitting pro and a former winner of the British Open, hit a 5-iron shot into Lake Michigan. He was so disgusted he threw the 5-iron into the lake, too. There were some people in a boat on the lake. They threw the 5-iron right back.

SOME OF THE holes were so long Alva was stunned. For instance, one hole was 518 yards long and it was a par 4!

Of course, most of the players are hitting the ball way over 300 yards these days. No one could have imagined such a thing when Art was playing in the 1950s.

“Some of the players now are 5-feet-6 or 5-feet-7 and they still hit it 300 yards,” he says admiringly.

No fans were allowed onto the fairway during play, of course. But there was one exception. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was allowed to walk on the fairways along with the players.

ART ALVA has had a couple of strokes and doesn’t play much anymore, but he was quite a golfer into his senior years. When he was 66 years old, he shot his age.

And he’s recorded not one, but two double eagles during his playing days, an almost unheard-of feat.

One can only imagine what a thrill it was for him to watch the PGA meet again.

And how thankful he must be to his nephew, Dominguez, who, by the way, once flew around the world with another El Pasoan, Chris Wall. But that’s another story

^© by Ray Sanchez   07.31.16

Next week belongs to the El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame. Who says? El Paso City Council, that’s who. It has proclaimed the next seven days El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame Week.

And for good reason. Take a look:

• On Wednesday there will be a “Meet and Greet” session for the Class of 2016 inductees and honorees at the Radisson Hotel. This year’s inductees are Darrin Glenn, Eric Enders, Matt Hicks, Victor Maldonado and Pete Leyva (posthumously).
• Thursday is Game Day. The El Paso Chihuahuas will host and recognize the El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame members, inductees, honorees and their families at Southwest University Ballpark in a reserved special seating section.
• On Friday, the third annual El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame Golf Tournament will take place at Painted Dunes Golf Course.
• On Saturday, the 2016 El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame induction banquet will take place at the Radisson Hotel by the Airport. All Tickets to the event have been sold.

THE EL PASO Baseball Hall of Fame has been getting more and more attention under the leadership of president Tom Carrillo (the legendary Montwood High coach who did so much to improve the baseball program there) and its present board members. That’s great. Baseball has been El Paso’s most popular sport since the city’s beginning. Actually, it was popular all over the country even before El Paso became a city. As Bob Ingram so colorfully put it in his book, “Baseball: From Browns to Diablos:”

“There may have been some hostile Indians when wagon trains came to the western most part of Texas in 1880 but when the wagon master shouted ‘Circle your wagons’ it’s more likely he may have been wanting to clear a space for a baseball game between the settlers and the pioneers.”

And as I pointed out in my book, “The Good, the Bad and the Funny of El Paso Sports History,” El Paso had a baseball field even before it had a paved street.

LATER ON, El Paso became a mecca for baseball players, even big leaguers. Such early Major League stars as Christy Mathewson. Rube Wadell and Frank Chance showed their wares in El Paso. Even some of the players of the infamous “Black Sox” came here to play.

That continued through the 1950s when we oldtimers got to see such big leaguers as Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and many, many others right here in our own backyard. I even have a photo of Willie Mays and me in the Dudley Field dugout.

So yes, baseball has been a big part of our city and yes, I was a charter member of the El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame and even served as its president one year. I can’t get around as much as I used to but my heart still skips a beat every time El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame time comes around.

TRIVIA QUESTION: Many Major League players have nicknames. What was Willie Mays’ nickname? Answer at end of column.

SADNESS. Bennie Lenox, my son Victor’s freshman basketball coach at University of Texas at Austin, passed away earlier this month. I met Lenox when he was on a scouting trip to El Paso. He excelled in various sports in high school but basketball was his love. He played for Texas A&M and earned All-Southwest Conference and All-American honors. Victor says, “He was good people.  I have fond memories of him.”

  MATT SLOAN, one of my golfing buddies, remembers Don Larsen’s perfect World Series game in 1956 well. He writes: “I was a college student when Don Larsen pitched the perfect game.  We had started to watch it but should have stopped and gone to class, but we stayed for the whole game and saw history being made.  The bad news is that I probably got a bad grade i the classes that I missed.”

ANSWER to trivia question: The Say Hey Kid.