Posts Tagged ‘Hyundai Sun Bowl’

8 Feb

The 81st Sun Bowl Game One of Best Ever

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

sunbowllogo by Ray Sanchez 01.04.15

A game for the ages.

How else can you describe last week’s 81st Sun Bowl game? This was Ali vs. Frazier duking it out and Affirmed and Alydar battling nose and nose down the stretch in Triple Crown races.

And the finish was as stunning as Bobby Thompson’s last inning homerun in 1951for the New York Giants against the Brooklyn Dodgers or Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary last-second winning touchdown pass for Boston College in 1984 against University of Miami.

This year’s Sun Bowl didn’t end with an offensive play but with a spectacular defensive one that was just as emotional. Arizona State’s Kweishi Brown intercepted Duke quarterback Anthony Boone’s pass in the farthest corner of the end zone with just seconds on the clock to give Arizona State a 36-31 victory.

The entire game was such a back and forth battle with neither team giving up that many of us felt it was a shame for either side to lose.

The game is certainly one of the greatest in Sun Bowl history.

 

CONGRATULIONS to El Paso Times photographer Rudy Gutierrez, who caught the game-winning interception on his camera for posterity. What tremendous timing it must have taken. The photo shows the ball in the interceptor’s hands and is so clear you can see the two players’ faces.

It has to go down as one of football’s greatest sports photos.

 

SPECIAL NOTE: Demario Richard of Arizona State scored four touchdowns in the game to tie a Sun Bowl record for most points scored by a player. But El Paso’s Jesse Whittenton, who played for Ysleta High School before joining UTEP, still holds the record for most points accounted for by a player. He accounted for 35 points with three touchdowns passes, two rushing touchdowns and five extra points in the 21st Sun Bowl against Florida State in 1955. Such a performance may never be duplicated.

 

AND A SPECIAL thanks again to all the people who volunteer to make the Sun Bowl game so attractive. Scores of El Pasoans give much of their time without pay to make visitors welcome, help the media and direct folks to the proper places. It makes one’s heart throb with pride. I especially missed Mr. and Mrs. Charles Garcia, who had been media hosts for years at the Hawthorn Suites. Mr. Hernandez, 58, died of a heart attack. I was happy to see his memory honored at this year’s game.

 

TRIVIA QUESTION: Paul Bryant won 323 games as a coach. Can you name the four colleges with which he won those games? Answer at end of column.

 

HERE’S WHAT I’m looking forward to in 2015:

  • UTEP winning the Conference USA basketball championship and going into the NCAA playoffs. I think there’s a good chance.
  • The resumption of play by the El Paso Chihuahuas. What fun that will be.
  • Watching Sean Kugler coach the UTEP football team next fall. He did so well this season.
  • The addition of Major League soccer to the El Paso sports scene. We can dream, can’t we?

 

A RESIDENT of Santa Teresa Country Club came rushing up to me the other day happy as a lark. He said it’s almost a sure thing that Santa Teresa will be declared a village and thus won’t be annexed by the city of Sunland Park.

Oh, yes, and did you know “Taco Night” is still being held on Wednesdays in the Santa Teresa clubhouse? Yessir. What’s more, the bar is open at night.

29 Dec

It’s a Great Time For El Paso Sports Fans

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

by Ray Sanchez 12.14.14

KEVIN LOVELL, general manager of KVIA-TV, commenting on last week’s column wherehappyminers I told how much I love El Paso, said I should also have pointed out what a great time it is to be an El Paso sports fan right now. He’s right, what with:

  • UTEP going to play Utah State in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 20,
  • Our Sun Bowl coming up with two fine teams with sparkling 9-3 records, Duke and Arizona State, on Dec. 27,
  • Canutillo High School becoming the first El Paso County high school to make it to the semi-finals of the state football playoffs,
  • Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino which started live horse racing last week expecting a grand season
  • And, heavens to betsy, El Paso now having a Triple A baseball team and stadium.

 

Our cup runeth over.

 

TRIVIA QUESTION: Can you name an athlete who played both in the National Basketball Association and Major League baseball in the 1980s? Answer at end of column.

 

CHARLES HILL, El Paso historian who works as a football and basketball statistician at UTEP, also commented on last week’s column: “The best reason for living in El Paso is the people of El Paso. Visitors to our city always comment on how warm and welcoming the people of El Paso are. It’s true. We may not have the best economy, or beaches or other great tourist attractions but we do have the best people in the country.”

 

ERIC ALWAN, publicity director at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino, has become quite an orator. He is so excited about the 2014-15 live horse racing season which opened last week that he went into mythology at a pre-season press conference last week. He said Sunland horse racing has grown so much in stature throughout the industry that it is “like a rising Phoenix.” And he added that the Grade III $800,000 Sunland Derby on March 22 has become so popular that he expects not one, but two, airplanes full of horses to come from out of town for the big race. Now that’s what I call colorful talk.

 

DID YOU KNOW? Department: Bob Stull, UTEP athletic director, has had a hand either as a coach or in his present position in the last six bowls the Miners have participated in. He coached the Miners to the Independence Bowl in 1988 then hired Gary Nord who took the Miners to the 2000 Humanitarian Bowl, Mike Price who took the Miners to three bowls (Houston in 2004, GMAC in 2005 and New Mexico in 2010) and now Sean Kugler who is taking the Miners to the Gildan New Mexico Bowl Dec. 20.

 

FRED ALBERS, sports director at KTSM-TV, came up with a great idea while covering PGA tournaments for NBC Radio. He picked up a flag at each of the four Majors (the Masters, British Open, U.S. Open and PGA) and had each one signed by the winner of each tournament. Then he had the flags auctioned off at the banquet preceding the Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic in November. They brought in a nifty $20,000 for the First Tee of El Paso program run by his wife, Kristi.

 

.AND YES, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. If you want to watch UTEP play University of Arizona in basketball next Friday night then go watch UTEP play Utah State in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl the next day there’s a charter bus that’ll fit your needs for a mere $100. The price includes bus ride, a bowl game ticket and a tailgate party. The bus will leave El Paso at 6 a.m. on Saturday and return after the bowl game. Interested? Call the UTEP Alumni Association at 915-747-8600.

 

ANSWER to trivia question: Danny Ainge, who played basketball for the Boston Celtics and Sacramento Kings and baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays

21 Jan

The Stars Aligned Right For Hyundai Sun Bowl

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

bernieHyundai Sun Bowl executive director Bernie Olivas must have some lucky stars. How else can you explain how he keeps coming up with such good matchups?
Just about everyone had given up on ever seeing Notre Dame play in our El Paso classic, but there the Irish were at Sun Bowl Stadium on Dec. 31, 2010, beating University of Miami to the delirium of local fans.
It wasn’t easy getting the Irish. The results from different games during the season had to come out just so and the stars all had to be aligned just right.
They did.

THIS YEAR it looked again like the Hyundai Sun Bowl was going to wind up with a lousy matchup. Oh, Southern Cal was an okay choice but a credible opponent didn’t seem likely. Many things had to happen on Saturdays during the season and the stars had to aligned just so again for the Sun Bowl to wind up with the right combination.
They did — and with a couple of added twists.
The contract called for the Sun Bowl to get the fourth place team from the Atlantic Coast Conference. North Carolina was on sanctions by the NCAA and University of Miami had put itself in a similar spot. Neither was available
Because of the sanctions, Georgia Tech got into the ACC conference championship game and gave highly regarded Florida State a tough, tough battle. Way down in the contract, the Sun Bowl found a little clause that said it could have the conference runnerup.

SO THERE we were last Monday with another fine Sun Bowl matchup. Despite a 6-7 season record, Georgia Tech turned out to be more than just a good Hyundai Sun Bowl opponent for USC. Georgia Tech stomped the Trojans, 21-7.
The trouncing was much to the delight of most of the 47,922 spectators who had been turned off by demeaning comments about El Paso by USC players. They apologized but one fan leaving the stadium was overheard saying, “You’d think the USC coach would have instructed his players not to make comments like that.”

I CONGRATULATED Bernie Olivas on this year’s matchup and told him he either had lucky stars or he prayed a lot.
With a twinkle in the eye and a hint of a smile, he said, “I pray a lot on Saturdays.”

TRIVIA QUESTION: When was the first Most Valuable Player selection made in the Sun Bowl and who won it? Answer at end.

I HAD NEVER felt so sorry for Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo as I did in the last game of the regular season against Washington last week. How he must hurt.
If only he were half a tick of a second slower on his pass releases no telling how many more games he could have won during his career. Maybe even a Super Bowl.
But he’s too impulsive, too trusting of his receivers. He often throws the ball to the spot where he expects them to be instead of waiting a half tick of a second to make sure they’re there. Result: Interception after interception.

AND THE FINAL interception he threw against Washington in the fourth quarter that doomed the Cowboys was also because of that half tick of a second. Romo thought the defender on his left was going to blitz as he had been doing all night and threw the ball there. Instead the defender stayed back and made an easy interception. Had Romo taken that extra half tick of a second to make sure the defender blitzed, but didn’t, he could have adjusted.
They say greatness is a matter of inches. I’ll always think Romo missed greatness by half a tick of second.

ANSWER to trivia question: Quarterback Dick Shinaut of what was then Texas Western College, now UTEP, won the first award in 1954. He completed 11 of 17 passes for two touchdowns to lead the Miners over Southern Miss 37-14.