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In recognition of the upcoming start of the New Mexico high school baseball season, we profile MLB pitcher Steve Ontiveros. Steve was born and raised in Tularosa (Otero County), New Mexico. He graduated from University of Michigan, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education. Steve was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the second round of the 1982 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft. For the next three seasons, he played for minor league teams in the Oakland organization, working his way up from A- to Oakland's AAA affiliate in Tacoma Washington in the Pacific Coast League, notching a record of 25-12. Along the way, he was part of a very strong A's farm system, playing along side many players who eventually enjoyed long careers in major league baseball.  He began his major league career with the Oakland Athletics, making his major league debut on June 14, 1985. He was initially used as a reliever on a squad that included Don Sutton and Tommy John as pitchers and other notable players like Dave Kingman and Dusty Baker. Steve played a total of 10 seasons in the league, appearing with Oakland from 1985 to 1988 and the Philadelphia Phillies in 1989 and 1990. He was sidelined in 1991 and 1992 with an injury. Ontiveros was signed in early 1993 with the Minnesota Twins but before the season began, he was traded to the Seattle Mariners where he played the 1993 season. He rejoined the Oakland club in 1994 and 1995, signing as a free agent. Steve returned to the minors before signing with the Boston Red Sox for one final season in 2000, playing his final game on October 1, 2000.
Ontiveros was a right handed starting and relief pitcher. His lifetime career record was 34-31 with an ERA of 3.67. He appeared in 207 games, starting 73 of them. Steve also appeared in one feature film, Talent of the Game in 1991. Steve currently trains and mentors gifted pitching prospects in Scottsdale, AZ in his own business, Spin Doctor.
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 Notah Begay III grew up on the San Felipe reservation in Sandoval County, located between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and is the grandson of a Navajo Code Talker of the same name. He is descended from the Fox Clan of the Navajo Nation. He attended high school at Albuquerque Academy and college at Stanford University.  Many are familiar with Notah's success on the golf course. Fewer would know that while at Albuquerque Academy, he was a three sport athlete, playing golf, soccer and basketball. Notah was a shooting guard on teams that twice won the State Championship. The 1989 team went 20-7 and defeated Lovington 78-76 in the state championship final, also having beaten Goddard and Deming earlier in the playoffs. In the final, the scoring was led by Greg Brown with 22 points. Notah was 4-16 from the field, 4-6 at the free throw line for a total of 14 points and he had 1 assist in that game. Above is the championship team photo. Notah is pictured third from the right on the back row. The win over Lovington marked the first of six straight state championships won by Academy between the years 1989 and 1994 under Head Coach Mike Brown.  Academy's 1990 team downed Oñate 80-61 in the final, also defeating Tucumcari and Socorro in the playoffs. The 1990 team finished with a season record of 25-1. In the final, scoring was again led by Greg Brown with 25 points. Notah was 5-16 from the field for a total of 12 points and had 1 assist in that game. Above is the championship team photo. Notah is pictured second from the right on the back row. [Team photos courtesy of Chuck Ferris of www.chuckferrissports.com.] In high school golf, Notah was the individual A-AAA champion in 1989 and 1990 for Albuquerque Academy and led the school to the team A-AAA championship in 1990. At Stanford, he was a three time All-American and a member of its 1994 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship Team before joining the PGA tour in 1995. As a touring pro, Begay won 6 championships in his career, including 4 PGA tournaments, before being sidelined for a back injury.
Despite his various achievements in sports, Notah considers his Economics degree from Stanford to be his most important career accomplishment. He is currently active in the Notah Begay III Foundation, which he and his father founded in 2005. The goal of the organization is to have a positive impact on the lives and well being of Native American youth in New Mexico and across Indian Country. Consecutive wins in football per NFHS, National Federation of State High School Associations:
151 Concord De La Salle, CA (1992-2003) 109 Charlotte Independence, NC (2000-07) 74 Maryville, TN (2004-08) 72 Hudson, MI (1968-75) 71 Jefferson City, MO (1958-66) 69 Animas, NM (1984-90) 68 Celina, TX (68-0-0), 1998-2002 66 Pittsburg St. Mary’s Colgan, KS (1999-2004) 64 Pittsfield, IL (1966-73) 64 Picayune George Washington Carver, MS (1958-65) Read the full blog post Jim graduated from Albuquerque’s Eldorado High School where he played basketball, wrestling, golf and football. Only a starter at quarterback his senior year (1980), he led the team to a 13-0 record and a New Mexico State Championship in football under Coach Jerry Hall for a 14-11 victory over Clovis (11-2). In that game, Everett also played safety on defense. The same two teams had met in the championship two years earlier with Clovis taking a close 7-3 victory. Jim attended Purdue University on a football scholarship where after redshirting his freshman year, he went on to pass for 7,411 yards and 572 completions in 965 attempts (7.7 yards per attempt), 43 touchdowns. His senior year numbers were outstanding with 3,651 passing yards and 285 completions in 450 attempts. Everett finished 6th in the 1986 Heisman Trophy balloting behind winner Bo Jackson and such other players as Miami’s Vinnie Testaverde.  Everett was selected in the 1986 NFL draft by the Houston Oilers, the third player taken in the first round, but was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in September. He became the Ram’s starting quarterback, going on to pass for 3,000 yards in five consecutive seasons with the club. He played 8 seasons in all for the Rams (1986-1993), three seasons for the New Orleans Saints (1994-1996) before retiring after the 1997 season with the San Diego Chargers.
In Everett’s 12 year NFL career, he was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1990 and the UPI Second Team All NFC in 1988. He amassed 34,837 passing yards (20th in the NFL) with 2,842 completions in 4,923 attempts, 203 touchdowns against 175 interceptions. Everett appeared in 158 games, starting all but five of them. His career passing completions and attempts rank rank 23rd and 22nd in the NFL, respectively. Jim earned a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, minoring in Computer Science and an MBA from Pepperdine University. He is now a Registered Investment Advisor and for many years has headed up his own firm, The Jim Everett Company. He is active in local charities through the Jim Everett Charity Foundation and is a founder and board member of Quarterback Greats, which represents the NFL group rights to outstanding retired NFL quarterbacks. We normally focus on sports that are played at the high school level and above, but will depart from this from time to time. Unless you are a ski enthusiast, you may never have heard of Betty Woolsey, but in recognition of the 2014 Winter Olympics, she is our subject. We believe that she was the first athlete with New Mexico ties to compete in the Winter Olympics. Betty's parents were Theodore Salisbury Woolsey, Jr. (a graduate of Yale University and a descendant of evangelist Jonathan Edwards) and Ruby Hilman Pickett in Albuquerque in 1908 where Theodore was appointed to serve as a district forester the same year. Elizabeth Davenport "Betty" Woolsey was born in Albuquerque in late December of that year, the first of five daughters.  Betty grew up in a log house in Albuquerque. Her bedroom window faced the craggy Sandias to the east which, she said, cast a spell on her, leading to a life-long affair with the mountains. The family eventually relocated to the east coast as she continued to develop her love of skiing. After entering international ski races in Europe, she was chosen to participate in the 1936 Winter Olympics (officially known as the IV Winter Olympic Games) in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Woolsey was selected to captain the women's team, the first United States Olympic Women's Ski Team. She was considered to be the best skier on the team, excelling at downhill. Only 17 medals were awarded in the Games. Neither the men nor the women on the 1936 United States team won medals, but the experience gained would have provided a great base for future teams, had the next two Olympics (1940 and 1944) not been cancelled for World War II.
After 1936, Betty skied competitively for a few years, winning the 1939 United States Downhill Championship in Mount Hood, Oregon. She continued to pursue her love of the sport, founding and developing Trail Creek Ranch, a ski center and dude ranch near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She was elected to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and Museum in 1969 and the Jackson Hole Ski and Snowboard Club has initiated the Betty Woolsey Olympian Endowment in her honor. Goddard High School in Roswell (Chavez County) was named for Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882-1945). Dr. Goddard was a physicist who is considered to be the father of modern rocketry. Attracted by the vast open areas and mild weather of southeastern New Mexico, he came to Roswell in the summer of 1930 after many years of research in the eastern US. For the next 12 years, he did rocket research in the area. Among his many achievements, he is credited for developing successful liquid fuel rockets, perfecting rocket construction and developing the use of vanes and gyroscopic controls. Dr. Goddard is credited with 214 patents in various areas of science. Appropriately, Goddard High School's mascot is the Rockets.
Goddard High School was completed in 1965 and is part of the Roswell ISD. It was constructed during the Cold War and most of its original classrooms were underground, designed to serve as underground bomb shelters in the event of a nuclear attack. In its relatively short existence, Goddard has won 49 state championships in sports: 8 in football, 11 in volleyball, 1 in boys basketball, 3 in baseball, 10 in boys golf and 18 in girls golf. Oñate High School in Las Cruces (Doña Ana County) was named for Don Juan de Oñate y Salazar (1550–1626), a Spanish Conquistador, explorer, and colonial governor of the Santa Fe de Nuevo México province then known as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Born in Zacatecas, Mexico, after leading successful campaigns in Mexico against the Chichimec Indians, he received permission from Phillip II of Spain to lead early expeditions to the Great Plains and Lower Colorado River Valley. A controversial figure in history for his harsh treatment of the indigenous peoples, Oñate founded settlements within the province, before moving on to other parts of the southwest while continuing with other explorers to search for treasure, including the fabled Seven Cities of Gold (Cibola). Oñate High School is part of the Las Cruces ISD and was completed 1988. Its mascot is the Knights. Oñate has won several state championships as of this writing, including one aquatic championship and three girls track and field championships. [From time to time we may write about other school names, if we feel that there is some historical connection to the state of New Mexico.] |
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We post articles of general interest about New Mexico athletes, coaches and sports. Some names will already be familiar to you. Others are perhaps not as well known, but we hope you enjoy them all. Archives
December 2015
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