An overview of the history of boxing in New Mexico. By Chris Cozzone There is no other sport like boxing that tells the story of New Mexico. Though oftentimes virtual underdogs in its cyclical battles with the law, public opinion and racial tension, the sport has paralleled the state’s…
Lions Hondo Little League, Roswell, NM Little League World Series Champions, 1956 Guy Bevill Farral Dunham Teddy Garrett Harold Hobson Tommy Jordan Albert Palimino Mike Sandry David Sherrod Harold Sherrod David Smith Richard St. John Richard Storey Blaine Stribling Billy Turley Jimmy Valdez Randy Willis Roswell Little Leaguers 1956;…
By Rick Hendricks On Friday 4 October 1929, Roy W. Johnson, football coach of the University of New Mexico Lobos, and Tom Popejoy, graduate manager of athletics at the University took in a game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. They were scouting Occidental College in its contest…
By Rick Hendricks Soccer probably got its start in New Mexico at Camp Cody, near Deming. In mid-July 1917, the War Department designated National Guard troops from the Midwest to form the United States Army's 34th Infantry Division and selected Camp Cody for training the division. In January 1918…
By Rick Hendricks They called themselves the Roswell Lions-Hondo Little League All-Stars, and in August 1956 they were the champions of world. To qualify for the World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the boys from Roswell, New Mexico, first had to win the district tournament for Southeastern New Mexico; the…
Buried in the December 23, 1898, edition of the Albuquerque Morning Democrat between local tidbits of spring-cleaning and the ladies’ library committee meetings, a curious item stands out: the birth of basketball in the Territory of New Mexico. In bloomers and bows with the letters “UNM” sewn across their…
By Chris Cozzone* There is no other sport like boxing that tells the story of New Mexico. Though oftentimes virtual underdogs in its cyclical battles with the law, public opinion and racial tension, the sport has paralleled the state’s struggles and glories through the “wild west,” statehood, the great…
Bazz Owen Smaulding, a teacher, athlete, and coach, was the son of a pioneer African-American family in New Mexico. Although born in Fort Griffin, Texas, by 1905 his family was living on a homestead ranch near Clayton, New Mexico. Smaulding graduated from Albuquerque Grammar School in 1915 and attended…
By John T. “Jack” Becker For more than seventy summers, Boy Scouts, Explorers, and their leaders from all over the world converge on New Mexico’s Philmont Scout Ranch. Their goal is to experience the high adventure activities offered by the largest outdoor youth facility in the world. Located in…
By Chris Cozzone In 1805, “throwing one’s hat into the ring,” meant climbing into the squared circle to challenge a fellow pugilist. A hundred years later, in 1912, the phrase had expanded into politics, reaching peak usage when Theodore Roosevelt, who had been an amateur boxer and a big…
