Comments:
I went to College at Western N.M. my first year of college hoping to play baseball there, and my roommate was Chuck Whitfield, ex Highland alum who was going to play football. I lasted a year and a half and my Dad got real sick so I tranferred to UNM, became a Pike and was on probation, the whole time I was there, because we always got caught drinking. I joined the Pikes because we were the best in intramurals and I loved Sports, and we always won the Intramural trophy each year. I received my degree from UNM in l967 and four months later I was drafted, went to MP School in Georgia, and immediately sent over to be a MP in Vietnam. They asked if I could stay for a extra few months, so I was over there for 15 months and I got a 5 month early out. When I got back from the Army I opened a Basket and Gift shop in Coronado Center as well as having another shop called Timely Things. I got married in l972 and had two wonderful boys and enjoyed coaching both in football, basketball and baseball. Many years later I got a divorce and have remained single because I couldn't find a girl that enjoyed sports like I did. I kept both stores until 1987 and my lease had run out and I decided it was time to do something else. I decided to do what I loved, and that was working for Parks and Recreation and being able to be around kids and sports. In between l987 and know 20l0, I have been on the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame for over 30 years, I was the chairman of the Sports committee for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, I was in charge of the All American basketball game,which was in conjunction with the NCAA baketball tournament in l983, I've on numerous other Softball, track and field committees, but probably my biggest accomplishment was taking a chance when someone asked me to head up the NM Games. It had failed after the first two years and I have been the Executive Director for the last 20 years. We have grown from 1,000 athletes to close to 7,000 athletes. I keep saying I'm going to retire from both, but my health has been so good, that I just keep going. One of the neater things that I did was working at the l996 Olympics, when I worked basketball for 21 days. What a great experience. I have also been to 5 World Series, and Super Bowl, the US Open in NY, and my second best sport adventure, being at a Red Sox Fantasy camp and playing 10 baseball games in 5 days, at age 65, and being picked to pitch at Fenway Park at age 65 in 2008. I guess I led a great life hope to see everyone at our class reuion. I told Bob Eptein that if there is a UNM football game that same night as the reuion, I might be alittle late. I am now retired, but still the Executive Director or the New Mexico Games as of 2016.
