Posts Tagged ‘El Paso Hall of Fame’

29 Mar

Keitha Adams’ Nomination For Athletic Hall A Hit

Posted by EL PASO SPORTS in El Paso Sports, Ray Sanchez. Tagged: , , .

 © by Ray Sanchez   02.23.14

kiiethaadamsWow! If you ever had doubts about the high esteem in which Keitha Adams, UTEP’s highly successful women’s basketball coach, is held you should have been at the latest meeting of the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame last Monday.

I mean, I’m talking Don Haskins-size love here.

Charles Hill, a member of the Miners’ statistics crew, nominated Ms Adams for induction this year and presented glowing letters of recommendation from (hold your hat) Mayor Oscar Leeser,  state representative Joe Pickett, U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke and Miners men’s basketball coach Tim Floyd plus video interviews from such folks as UTEP athletic director Bob Stull.

They spoke not only of her extraordinary coaching ability but of her devotion to education and her involvement in community and charity affairs.

 

MAYOR LEESER summed her up like this: “Coach Adams motivates her team not only on the court but off the court … She has given back to her community ever since she arrived in El Paso … Coach Adams has been recognized nationally and El Paso should now recognize her locally by inducting her into the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame.”

I could go on and on with praise from others but you get the idea.

Her nomination was received with applause by the usually stoic El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame board of directors. Dare I say she’s a shoo-in for induction?

 

LARRY RODRIGUEZ was among three other El Pasoans nominated Monday. He is president of the UTEP Miner Fan Club and has been hailed as “a great asset to UTEP athletics.”

In a letter of recommendation, UTEP athletic director Bob Stull wrote, “Larry is a great person and a great Miner. He pours his heart and soul into UTEP athletics. He constantly bends over backwards to accommodate us. We are fortunate to have him as a fan and supporter.”

Retired football coach Mike Price wrote, “Larry Rodriugez is the ultimate Miner fan … He has given great support to several generations of UTEP players and coaches.”

 

GABE NAVA, a former Austin High School basketball star who went on to an outstanding career at University of New Mexico, was a third person nominated. Former coaches and members of his family spoke not only of his superb talents but the fact he was a role model not only as an athlete but also as a person. Sadly, he passed away at a young age and is listed for induction in the posthumous category.

 

FRED LOYA, another outstanding supporter of athletics, was the fourth El Pasoan nominated. Because of technical problems, no resume was presented but one high school coach after another stood up at the meeting to praise his contributions to sports.

“He was always there to contribute to whatever we needed and never asked for anything in return,” one said.

 

THE NEXT meeting of the Hall, and the last at which nominations from the public will be accepted, will be held March 3 at 5:15 p.m. at First Christian Church, 901 Arizona Avenue.

Voting for induction will be held March 17 at the same place. The induction banquet will be held April 30 in the Signature Room at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino.

Nine nominations in all have been received so far. More are expected at the next meeting.

If you think someone else should be a candidate for induction, get off your duff, get up a resume and present it to the board of directors on March 3. Otherwise, don’t complain if someone you think is worthy is left off the nomination list

11 Mar

Semko, Kaplowitz Among Hall of Fame Nominees

Posted by EL PASO SPORTS in El Paso Sports. Tagged: , , , , , .

Sgenesemko

kaplloeven candidates were nominated for induction into the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame at a meeting last
Monday. Most had been nominated before. A familiar name was Gene Semko, a UTEP graduate who
has become one of the top football officials in the country. Nominated for the first time was Steve Kaplowitz, one of the most versatile journalists in El Paso sports media history.
There were three nominees for the coach-administrator category, two for the media category and one each for the officials category and the posthumous category. Strangely, no athletes were nominated at the first meeting.
More nominations are expected at the next two nomination meetings. They’ll be held at 5:15 p.m. on Feb. 18 and March 4 at First Christian Church, 901 Arizona Avenue. Each resume must consist of 60 copies which will be distributed to members of the board of directors.
Following are last Monday’s nominees:

COACHES/ADMINISTRATORS
Russ Vandenburg, who played football one year under UTEP coach Bobby Dobbs before a second concussion ended his playing days. He then went on to coach football and track at Burges High School before turning to business and becoming one of the city’s and UTEP’s biggest backers of sports both financially and otherwise.
Roy Culberson, a former Bel Air High School three-sport star who played football at New Mexico Highlands University but graduated from UTEP in 1971. He went on to coach at Andress and Eastwood High Schools and be an assistant coach at UTEP. He also coached at University of North Texas before becoming associate athletic director there then athletic director at Montevallo University and Jackson State University.
Jimmy Melendez, the successful baseball coach at Riverside High School where he won four bi-district championships, seven area titles, seven region quarterfinals, one region semi-final, one region final and is one of only four El Paso coaches ever to make the Final Four at the state tournament.

OFFICIALS
Gene Semko, a Burges High School and UTEP graduate who went on to become one of the top football officials in the country. He worked in the Western Athletic Conference for seven years and has worked in the Big 12 Conference since 2004. While in the WAC, he worked in the 1997 WAC championship game, the 1998 Cotton Bowl and the 2001 Motor City Bowl. And while in the Big 12 he has worked 10 Bowls, including the 2008 BAC national championship game between Ohio State and LSU and the 2012 BCS national championship game between LSU and Alabama.

MEDIA
Steve Kaplowitz, one of the most versatile journalists in the history of El Paso. His daily weekday KROD sports talk show has been a great asset to the El Paso sports scene and he’s also done play by play of both football and basketball games, worked in television, writes a weekly sports column, hosts the El Paso Sports Expo and has hosted various other major local sports events.
Eric Alwan, the director of publicity at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino who has become one of New Mexico’s race callers. He gained national fame early in life when his father, Dick Alwan, taught him to handicap horses races. He showed such an unusual talent that by the age of eight he was appearing on national television shows.
 
POSTHUMOUS
Robert Rapanut, one of the most popular equipment managers at UTEP who passed away in 2003 while on the job. He was such a big booster of the Miners and so inspirational Rapanut was awarded the game ball from football coach Charlie Bailey after UTEP beat Brigham Young University one year.

21 Jan

El Paso Athletic Hall Has A New President

Posted by EL PASO SPORTS in El Paso Sports. Tagged: , , , .

breichmanIf you’re a real El Paso sports fan, you’ve probably heard of Bruce Reichman. He’s one of the finest high school coaches ever to bless our city.
He coached Del Valle High School to state boys soccer championships in 2005 and 2008, took them to the Final Four four other times, won 64 various championships and has been named El Paso High School Coach of the Year six times.
A UTEP graduate, he has also earned honors as a teacher, including being named to Who’s Who of American Teachers. He is now serving as department head of the Physical and Health Department.

NEEDLESS TO SAY, Reichman has been inducted into the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame. More than that, he is going to serve that organization as president this year. Yes, he became a member of the board of directors and, not surprisingly, quickly rose to the head of the table.
Now listen here. I’m a member of the board of directors, too. In fact, I’m a charter member, and I say let’s make our new prexy’s tenure a great one. The El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame is open to the public and anyone – anyone – can make a nomination. If you think someone should be inducted, get up a resume and show up at the nomination meetings. The more the merrier.
The nomination meetings will be held Feb. 6, Feb. 20 and March 5 at 5:15 p.m. at First Christian Church, 901 Arizona Street. All three of those dates are Mondays.
For more information, call Mr. Reichman at 584-4187, vice-president Bernard Polk at 533-6364 or secretary Dennis Devine at 562-5831. They’ll be happy to help you.

TRIVIA QUESTION: Who was the first golfer to win all four Majors during his career? Answer at end.

A RECENT COLUMN about UTEP’s last-play victory over Utah in 1965 called “The Turning Point” brought back fond memories to Eddie Mullens, who was sports information director of the Miners at the time. UTEP was known as Texas Western College then. Mullens was at the game and tells some things I didn’t know. He writes:
“I can still remember sitting between Don Haskins (who was in Salt Lake to discuss Utah’s Jack Gardner’s motion-offense) and El Paso Times sports writer Roger McKown at that game. Don whispered to me when TWC got the ball with nine seconds left ‘we’ve got a chance’. He and Roger damn near beat me to the floor when Bullet Bob (Wallace) crossed the goal line.
“Moments later Cliff Speagle (whose offense the Miners had installed that season) and other coaches came storming down from the floor above where they had charted the game. I still remember, the normally reserved Cliff giving a war whoop on his way down the stairs to the press row.

“ANOTHER SIDEBAR to that story. I was talking to John Mooney, the excellent sports editor of the Salt Lake Tribune, about the play when his photographer came up to us and overhearing our discussion said something like ‘was that important?’ After John recovered from such a question, he said yes, and the photographer said, ‘Well, I have it all on film.’
“That’s where I acquired the sequence of photos on that play. Ah, yes, great memories.”
Those photos became a historical gem and have been printed in many publications, including the book “The Miners. The History of Sports at University of Texas at El Paso.”
The photos also helped world famous artist Tom Lea recreate the play in a painting.

ANSWER TO trivia question. Gene Sarazen. He won the U.S. Open and PGA in 1922, the British Open in 1932 and the Masters in 1935.