Did you give thanks on Thanksgiving Day? I did. I gave thanks for living in El Paso.
I’m a big fan of our city. Did you ever read the book or see the movie “Lost Horizon?” It’s about a beautiful valley called Shangri-La surrounded by mountains and with a river running through it. The weather is perfect. There are no hurricanes or tornados or tidal waves and the sun always shines. Here’s how Shangri-La is described on Wikipedia:
“Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley that has become synonymous with an earthly paradise.”
That’s us, folks.
No wonder so many people have come from other places and settled in El Paso. Smart people. Like Don Haskins and so many others who have contributed so much to making our city the most wonderful place on earth.
We are Shangri-La.
BUT THERE are other reasons I give thanks for living here. Look around you. We have it all right here in our valley: One of the best universities in the country in UTEP, a Sun Bowl, a racetrack, a casino, Western Playland, a Triple A baseball stadium that ranks among the best in the country plus so many grand theaters, golf courses, shopping centers, restaurants and other attractions I’ve lost count.
If anyone in El Paso is bored it’s his or her fault. I’ve had opportunities and offers to move to other cities but I would have been looney to leave.
I’ve been wanting to write this column for many years and I’ll say it again, in capital letters.
“I LOVE EL PASO”
TRIVIA QUESTION: Major League teams for many years were located in the eastern part of the United States but spread from coast to coast. Can you tell me who were the first expansion team pitchers to win a World Series game for both the National and American Leagues? Answer at end of column.
THE TRAGIC death of former UTEP football coach/athletic director Ben Collins and his wife was quite a blow to those of us who knew him. He was your typical solidly built former West Texas football player but as sweet a gentleman as you would want to meet. Don Haskins, wrote in his autobiography, “Haskins: The Bear Facts,” that “The first person I was introduced to (when Haskins arrived at what was then Texas Western College in 1961) is one of the finest persons I’ve ever met, Ben Collins.”
I certainly agree. I got to meet and write about Ben during his tenure with the Miners.
INCIDENTALLY, there’s been some question about how Haskins became basketball coach of the Miners. Every college sports information department, every sports department, anyone who wants to know the real story of Haskins, including how he got to coach the Miners, should have a copy of his autobiography which was first printed in 1987 and I helped him write. There, in his own words (I still have the tapes), is the story of his life.
LIVE HORSE racing at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino returns this coming Friday, Dec. 5. There’ll be no shortage of horses. Dustin Dix, director of operations, says the track has received more than enough applications for the track’s 1600 stalls. To think I was there when the track opened in October of 1959. Just for fun, I bought a $2 win ticket on No. 1 in the first race. It didn’t win but I’ve kept the ticket all these years as a souvenir. It reminds me of what fun the sport is.
ANSWER to trivia question: Jerry Koosman of the New York Mets against the Baltimore Orioles in the National League in 1969 and Don Quisenberry of the Kansas City Royals against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980. I remember it was a big thing at the time.