Posts Tagged ‘Raysanchezbooks’

2 Jan

UTEP Basketball Has the Talent to Make Playoffs

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

By Ray Sanchez 11.08.15

UTEP officially opens its 2015-16 basketball season next Saturday at Loyola ray's crystal ballUniversity in New Orleans, so it was time last week to take my obnoxious crystal ball out of its drawer and ask how the Miners will fare this season.

It’s not a pleasant task because it always brags when it’s right and makes excuses when it’s wrong, but everywhere I go people keep asking for its predictions.

So I gingerly opened the drawer and, as usual, was met with sarcasm. “Where in the #$%$#! world have you been?” it snarled. “Don’t you know the basketball season is almost upon us? What a slacker.”

I retorted, “Slacker? Man, you know how many sports I have to keep up with and write about? But never mind that, just give me your thoughts on the Miners this basketball season.”

Then I added, “Please.”

THE ORB snickered but straightened up, cleared its throat in its customary obnoxious way and replied, “Well, since you said please.

“The Miners seem to have plenty of firepower this season. Did you see the Orange vs. White scrimmage? Man, four players scored more than 20 points. Center Hooper Vint, 6 feet 11, looked much improved. And then there’s 7 feet 1 Matt Willms. Wow, if a team has a great big man under the bucket and guards breaking through defenses to feed him the ball, that’s a big, big advantage. May I point out Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul Jabbar?

“The Miners seem to have other good scorers, too, like newcomer Lee Moore and returnee Omega Harris. And then there’s Dominic Artis, a transfer from University of Oregon. From what I hear, he’s been the most impressive of all in practice.

 

“AS FOR OUTSIDE shooters, can you believe freshman Trey Touchet hit 28 out of 30 to win a three point shootout in scrimmage?

“And as far as guard play, even coach Tim Floyd is impressed. He said he liked the guard play, especially of Artis and Moore. And there’s another good guard that will be joining the action. That’s Josh McSwiggan, who’s out with a knee injury.”

I shook my head in wonder. “Gee,” I said, “you’re really optimistic.”

The crystal ball just smiled.

 

“BUT WAIT,” I said, “don’t forget that other teams in Conference USA will have outstanding players, too. You’re just focusing on the Miners.”

It answered, “True. And anything can happen, like dissension or eligibility problems or injuries or who knows what but the Miners have coach Floyd. He’s been in the big time. And he’s never sounded so optimistic. I think he’ll have a big season and has a good chance of making the NCAA playoffs.”

I must admit I was impressed. I picked up the crystal ball and, for a change, put it back in its drawer gently.

 

TRIVIA QUESTION:  What are the first and second names of the three DiMaggio brothers? Answer at end of column.

 

BOUQUETS to UTEP for scheduling a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1966 NCAA men’s basketball championship. It’ll be celebrated at the men’s basketball game against Western Kentucky on Feb. 6 and will be nationally televised on FOX Sports 1 with a tip-off time of 3 p.m.

As UTEP sports information director Jeff Darby points out, “The significance of Western Kentucky as the opponent for the anniversary game is great, as the Hilltoppers also participated in the 1966 NCAA Tournament and started two African American players, including Clem Haskins, who was selected third in the 1967 NBA Draft.  Clem Haskins and Dwight Smith became the first African-American players to join the WKU basketball program in the fall of 1963, putting the school at the forefront of integrating college basketball in the South.”

More Details coming.

 

ANSWER to trivia question. Joseph Paul, Dominic Paul and Vincent Paul.

3 Aug

Looking Forward To Thrills of UTEP Football

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

by Ray Sanchez 07.26.15

Are you starting to get excited about the upcoming UTEP football season? I am.

The Miners will play their first game in five weeks (Sept. 5) and I can’t wait to see. runing back Aaron Jonesaatonjones and kickoff return specialist Autrey Golden back in action. They’re so good Jones has already been named a preseason candidate for the 2015 Doak Walker Award presented annually to the autreygolden.jpgnation’s top college running back and Golden has been named the preseason Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Year.

To me, there’s no more thrilling sight in football than watching a back running through, around and over would be tacklers. Maybe it’s because of my high school experience.

 

I WENT OUT for football as a sophomore running back at El Paso High School. I weighed only about 135 pounds then but boy, was I fast. The first time I took a kickoff I blazed through my bigger, stronger – and slower — teammates like water through a strainer.

Unfortunately, on the first play from scrimmage I hit the line and a big lineman (170 pounders were considered big then) fell on my left arm and broke it.

I was taken to the hospital and a cast was put on. I expected to get a lot of sympathy when I got home but instead my mother (a typical strict, loving but no-nonsense Mexican mother) gave me the bawling out of my life. “I told you not to play that stupid game,” she groused.

She made me drop the sport.

But to this day every time I see a running back break loose for a long run I can imagine me in his shoes.

Bring on the football season!!!

 

TRIVIA QUESTION: What was Doak Walker’s full name and for which college and pro teams  did he play? Answer at end of column.

 

THERE’S HOPE again that the El Paso Golf Hall of Fame will be revived after a few years of being comatose. Rita Aguilar writes:

“The board of the El Paso Golf Hall of Fame is proud to announce that this year’s induction banquet will be held Nov. 17 at Coronado Country Club. As usual, we are requesting resumes for nominations … Resumes should be sent electronically in pdf format to:  epgolfhof@yahoo.com.  Deadline for resumes is Monday Aug 3. Resumes must include golf background and qualifications along with biographical information either as a player, coach, volunteer or any other golf related capacity.  Should also include any other civic involvement if applicable.  Referral and recommendation letters may be included within the resume and biographical information.”

 

ONE FELLOW I would love to see inducted is the late Ernie Ponce. Ernie, a longtime community leader, led the push to build Ascarate Municipal Golf Course at its present location, which is so much more accessible to the general public.

As the council member overseeing the Parks and Recreation Department, he also helped the construction of small playgrounds all over the city during his three terms from 1951 to 1957.

A graduate of El Paso High and the Alexander Hamilton Institute of Business of New York, he was also a successful businessman.

Many believe Ascarate Golf Course should have been named Ernie Ponce Municipal Golf Course just like the previous municipal golf course was named for A.S. Valdespino, its originator.

 

AND OUR condolences to Ron Gillett on the death of his wife, Elizabeth “Liz” Hughey Gillett. She passed away June 30. Born in El Paso November 6 1941, she attended Dudley School, Mesita School, El Paso High School, Mary Baldwin College and graduated from Texas Western College (UTEP). An exceptionally attractive lady, she was a tennis buff and she and Ron owned Dos Lagos Golf Course in Anthony for 29 years.

 

ANSWER to trivia question: His full name was Ewell Doak Walker Jr. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1948 while playing for SMU then played six seasons for the Detroit Lions. He was inducted into both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

19 Jul

How El Paso, Las Cruces Old Time Golfers Got Together

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

by Ray Sanchez 07.12.15sam gillett

There aren’t many sights more heartwarming to an old duffer like me than seeing a bunch of other oldtimers swinging away on a golf course.

I’ve had that privilege often the past 35 years, thanks to one of the most unforgettable persons I’ve ever known, the late Sam Gillett.

I met Sam in 1960 when I heard he was building a golf course just outside of El Paso.

In Anthony, New Mexico., to be exact.

I was golf editor at the El Paso Herald-Post at the time and went there to write about the new course and there was Sam, right in the middle of the action with stogie in mouth and a happy smile on his face.

We struck up a friendship that was to last until his death in 2000.

 

HIS COURSE, named Dos Lagos because if its two small lakes on the property, started out as a 9-hole course but would later expand to a full 18-hole layout. And what a boost it was to golfers on the west side of El Paso. There was only one other municipal golf course in El Paso then and now here was an alternative to driving across town.

And inexpensive, too.

Sam would later boast, with that playful smile of his, that he saved El Paso millions of dollars because now it wouldn’t have to build a municipal course of its own on the west side of El Paso.

 

AT ITS START, other bigger courses in New Mexico, looked down on this little upstart of a course.  When Dos Lagos golfers tried to join other golf groups in New Mexico they were turned down.

What did Sam do? He simply started a golf group of his own. Then, in 1981, he started one for “old timers.” And it boomed.

In fact, it was so successful that it was accepted by other New Mexico courses and today there’s an organization known as the El Paso/Las Cruces Old Timers Golf Group.

 

AND WHAT FUN it is. It currently has approximately 150 members ranging in ages from 55 to 95 and with handicaps from 5 to 36 plus.

Competitions are usually team scrambles or team “shambles” tournaments and attendance usually ranges from 60 to 100 players each month.

 

MEMBERSHIP requirements are simple. A member must be 55 or older or turn 55 anytime during the year.

It’s truly a great way to enjoy the sport and meet other golfers.

Of course, to compete a member must join the Sun Country Amateur Golf Associaton and have an active GHIN handicap.

GHIN handicaps can be obtained at any of the participating golf courses, which besides Dos Lagos, include Painted Dunes, Anthony Country Club, Ascarate Golf Course, Underwood at Fort Bliss, Lone Star, Coronado Country Club, El Paso Country Club, Vista Hills, Horizon, White Sands, New Mexico State, Picacho Hills, Sonoma Ranch and Red Hawk.

Yes, you get to play all those courses in tournaments if a member.

.

ANNUAL DUES are $25 and for that you receive an annual luncheon, a golf shirt or jacket, towel, cap and other goodies.

Each of the 15 participating courses has an Old Timers Group director that coordinates memberships and schedules. The monthly tournaments are on a rotating basis on participating courses

To join, contact one of the pro shops.

Or better yet, call either Jim Rewis, jim rewisone of the friendliest guys you’d ever want to meet, in El Paso at 915-833-3849 or 915-539-0589 or group president Tom Bartlett in Las Cruces Tom Bartlettat 575-521-3166. They’ll be more than happy to help you join.

Think of the fun you’ll have.

And something else I like about all this:

The memory of Sam Gillett lives on.