Coach David Lynn was a standout football player at Eunice, where he graduated in 1966. During his high school years, he was named to the All-State Football team and was invited to play in the NMHSCA All-Star Football game in 1966. His Eunice Cardinal team would reach the state final game in 1963 and 1964 and won the State Championship in 1965.
He went from there to play football at New Mexico State University, where he was a 3 year starter, at defensive tackle and center under coaches Jim Wood and Warren Woodson. He made the most of his opportunity and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from New Mexico State in 1971 and a Masters Degree from Eastern New Mexico University in 1977. During his coaching career, he has served as a teacher and administrator at various times as well as being either an assistant coach or head coach. Coach Lynn began his 40 plus year coaching career in 1970 as a graduate assistant with NMSU. He has since served as an assistant coach at NMSU, Muleshoe TX, Lamesa TX, Seymour TX, Tularosa and NMMI and has been head coach at Hagerman, Texico, Eunice, Tularosa and NMMI, with his teams earning 167 wins against 122 losses. This total leaves him just outside the top 10 list of wins for New Mexico high school football coaches. His teams reached the state finals seven times, taking home the championship once at Hagerman and two times at Eunice. Coach Lynn has been named District Coach of the Year 8 times, New Mexico High School Coaches Association Football Coach of the Year in 1997-1998. He was named to the NMHSCA Hall of Fame in 2014. He has two sons in coaching, Josh Lynn is currently the head coach at Eastern New Mexico University and Jeff is head coach at Roswell High School. Congratulations to Coach Lynn for your fine career.
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Coach Brown led the Albuquerque Academy Chargers for 26 seasons, achieving 432 wins against 263 losses, an enviable .622 record. He began as head coach with the 84-85 season and his final year as head coach was 09-10. During his tenure, the Chargers would win 14 district championships, make 20 state championship appearances and win the championship 6 times.
He played basketball and baseball at St. Pius X, graduating in 1964. After attending St. Edward's University in Austin, he went on to earn a BA in Political Science in 1969 and an MA in Secondary Education in 1974 from University of New Mexico. He began his coaching and teaching career by serving at St. Francis Xavier School and Holy Ghost School in Albuquerque from 1968-1972 and Bernalillo Junior High School in 1973. He then signed on as an assistant coach at Academy where he would serve under Coaches Lou Baudoin and Vince Cordova. He took over as head coach following Cordova's final season which would see the Chargers go 25-1, win the State Championship and have Cordova be named Coach of the Year. It was a difficult record to follow, but he did well. He was named district coach of the year 12 times. His 432 wins ranks him just outside the top 10 among active and retired coaches in the state. The Chargers' 6 state championships ties him for 5th place with Ron Geyer behind such notable names as Ralph Tasker, Jim Murphy, Pete Shock and Jim Hulsman. His 6 state championships are unique in that they were consecutive, beginning with the 88-89 season and ending with the 93-94 season. This ranks first on the list in New Mexico and is a record that will most likely stand for many more years. There are no active coaches on the list who have even as many as 3 consecutive titles. Brown was twice named Coach of the Year by New Mexico High School Coaches Association and was named to its Hall of Honor in 2006. He was named the Albuquerque Journal’s coach of the year in 1993 and 1997, the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame Coach of the Year in 2001, the National Federation Coach of the Year for Section 6 in 1995, and the Region 8 Coach of the Year in 1995. His two sons, Greg and Danny Brown each played on three championship teams for their father, followed him into the high school coaching ranks in New Mexico and are still actively coaching at Volcano Vista and Highland, respectively. The following quote from colleague Joe Coleman appeared in the Albuquerque Journal on June 24, 2010. “Mike is more than a coach to me,” said Coleman, who spent eight years with Brown. “And he’s more than a coach to kids. He’s one of those people who come around in your lifetime who changes who you are and how you perceive things. He makes you a better person for having known him.” Acknowledgement: Most of Coach Brown's totals come from my friend Chuck Ferris' excellent site: www.chuckferrissports.com. It is the place to go for New Mexico High School Basketball records. Ross Black is going to be honored at NMJC on April 18, 2015 Ross Black attended Lovington High School where he was a four sport letterman, all-state two times in basketball. In high school, he lettered in football two years, basketball three years, track three years and baseball one year. He was captain of the basketball and track teams his senior year and earned both all-district and all-state honors. In 1949-50, he played for the South in the North-South All Star game in 1950. He was President of the senior class, named best all around boy and most outstanding in school activities in 1950. He was starting guard for the 1949 New Mexico State Championship basketball team, Lovington's first state championship in that sport, under then head coach Ralph Tasker.
He attended Ft. Lewis Junior College in Durango, Colorado, where he was all-conference in basketball and was named Athlete of the Year in 1951. He was captain of the basketball team, lettering in basketball, track and tennis. After transferring to University of New Mexico in 1952, he was a three year letterman in track and basketball, also captain of the track and baskeball teams in 1954. Black was named Track Man of the Year in 1953 and received the Lobo Award for best all around student athlete in 1954. Upon graduation from UNM, Black returned to Lovington to begin his coaching career in 1954, serving as head track coach and assistant football and basketball coach, assuming the head basketball and track coach duties two years later. He was named New Mexico Basketball Coach of the year in 1960 and coached the South to a victory in the 1958 New Mexico North South All Star game. He was honored as New Mexico Physical Education Associan Merit Teacher of the Year award in 1961. His basketball teams won District championships and were runners up one year when Lovington competed in the top class in the state, competing with the largest schools. His teams won four state championships in gymnastics during his tenure at Lovington and his track team finished third in the state meet in 1964, second in 1965 and first in 1966. He served New Mexico Activities Association as a member of the Boys Athletic Committee, Handbook Revision Committee, Budget Committee, Building Committee and Chairman for District 4-AAA. Black served three two year terms as member of the National Federation Executive Committee and served as President of the National Federation Executive Committee in 1989. He also served on several committees and task forces for the National Federation, including Budget Committee for two years, Insurance Committee and the task force for catastrophic injuries. In 1966, he became the first coach and athletic director at the newly completed New Mexico Junior College. His first basketball team earned an 18-10 record and won a position in the Region V playoff tournament. Black organized his first track team at NMJC in 1967. In its first year the Thunderbird track team won the conference championship and Black was named Region V Track Coach of the Year. In 1969, the track team was undefeated in the regular season, winning its second conference championship and finishing 5th at the national track meet. In 1970, win a third consecutive West Junior College Athletic Conference championship, climaxing the season by winning the National Junior College Championship in Mesa, Arizona. Coach Black was honored as National Junior College Coach of the year in 1971 and was also honored by being named as coach of the American team in an international competition in Madrid, Spain. The 1972 track team went undefeated for a fourth consecutive time during its regular season setting a record of 51 consecutive wins, finishing high in the national meet. Black served as President of the National Junior College Track and Field Coaches Association for three years. He retired from coaching at NMJC after the 1973 season to focus on his duties as Athletic Director and Dean of the Division of Education and Psychology. In August of that year, he went to Moscow to serve as a coach on the United States track team in the World University Games, thus ending his remarkable track coaching career. His two relay teams earned the only two gold medals won by the United States in track. He was nominated for the Olympic track and field coaching staff for the 1976 Olympic Games. In 1977 he returned to Lovington to serve as high school principal for four years before becoming superintendent of schools, a position he held until his retirement. He was honored as New Mexico School Administrator of the Year in 1987. His honors include being inducted into the New Mexico Athletic Activities Hall of Fame and being named New Mexico Superintendent of the Year in 1991. He was inducted into the Ft. Lewis College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994, the Western Junior College Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Lea County Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008. After his retirement, Black resided in Lovington until his passing in 2013. ![]() Pete Shock is one of seven 2014 inductees to New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame. He was a native of Cliff in Grant County and graduated from Cliff High School in 1968. He was a three sport athlete, playing basketball, track and baseball and came from a coaching family. At Cliff, he played for his father, Dale Shock, a noted basketball coach who won over 400 games as head coach at Cliff from 1935-1970. Pete was named to the 1968 All-State Team in basketball and the South All-Star Team. After graduating from high school, Coach Shock earned a BA in 1972 and an MA in 1977 from Western New Mexico University. While at WNMU, he lettered in basketball four years under head coach Dick Drangmeister and was named in 1972 to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics All-District and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All-Conference Team. He began coaching at Silver High School in 1972, serving as an assistant coach to Marv Sanders for three years before becoming head coach for three. He also served as Head Cross Country Coach during this six year period. In 1978, he accepted the head coaching positions in basketball and track at Cliff High School where he would remain until his retirement in 2013. During his remarkable 41 year career, his teams won 822 games, ranking him behind only Ralph Tasker (1,121) and Marv Sanders (832). Under his leadership, the Cliff Cowboys won nine state championships in basketball. In his last five years, they reached the final four a total of four times, going on to win the championship on two occasions. His track teams also won many district and state titles. Shock has been named Basketball Coach of the Year by New Mexico High School Coaches Association, Class A Coach of the year several times, received district coaching honors numerous times. He was inducted into the National Federation of State High School Association Hall of Fame in 2011. At this writing, Coach Shock is retired and living in New Mexico. Continuing the Shock family coaching legacy, his son Brian Shock now coaches the Cliff Cowboy basketball team. Rocky Arroyo was born in 1925 to Mexican immigrant parents then living in El Paso, Texas. He was an exceptional student, and skipping grades allowed him to enter El Paso High School at the age of 12. There he continued to excel with his academic and athletic skills. He played on the Texas state championship team that defeated Abilene High for the title. He graduated from El Paso High at age 16 and first attended the Texas School of Mines and Metallurgy, now known as University of Texas at El Paso, for one summer before transferring to University of New Mexico.
At University of New Mexico, Arroyo competed on basketball teams that were to win Border Conference championships in 1943-1944 and 1944-1945, the only two championships ever won by UNM. While attending, Arroyo played varsity football, baseball and basketball and earned an electrical engineering degree at the age of 20. When asked by his granddaughter in an audio interview about how he got his nickname, he replied that he was given it by UNM Athletic Director George "Blanco" White. Blanco had asked Arroyo his name and when he told him "Vicente Arroyo," Blanco asked, "You mean like the arroyos we have around here?" He proceeded to name him Rocky, and the nickname stuck. Arroyo went on to become the head coach at Our Lady of Sorrows High School in Bernalillo in 1946 while finding time to also compete on the Mexican Olympic basketball team that same year. Our Lady of Sorrows was a Catholic High School and the only high school in Bernalillo for many years until Bernalillo built a public school in 1950s. Despite his youth, he was appealing as a teacher because of his degree in science which allowed him to teach mathematics. He also fluently spoke both English and Spanish. His teams competed well against the larger schools in the Rio Grande Valley, including St. Mary's, Albuquerque High and Highland High, once defeating all three in back to back games. He later coached one season (1954) at Valley High School before leaving education for the business world. He never lost his love for athletics and served for many years as a official at the high school and college level. Arroyo officiated at the New Mexico State Basketball Tournament at least 6 times between 1960-1972 and for the Western Athletic Conference, he officiated in football for four Sun Bowl games and one Japan Bowl, Peach Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Rose Bowl and numerous other college games. He had a business career as an engineer at Sandia Corporation and also founded other varied businesses in the Albuquerque area. Rocky Arroyo was inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame in its 2014 class. Now retired, Arroyo resides in Albuquerque. [Addendum: Rocky Arroyo passed away in January, 2015, shortly after this was written.] Ralph Bowyer was a record-setting coach in Carlsbad (Eddy County), New Mexico for whom Bowyer Stadium is named. In his days as a player, he was considered one of the greatest athletes to attend University of New Mexico earning All-Border Conference honors both in football (1934-35) and basketball (1934-1935 and 1935-1936).
In coaching, he stood for fairness and equality. After integration came to New Mexico, on overnight stays Bowyer would put his teams up in lesser quality hotels so that they could remain together rather than have his black athletes be refused lodging. On a road trip, Boyer once ordered chicken fried steak dinners for the team. When he was told that his black players would have to eat in the kitchen, Bowyer took the entire team and left the restaurant. It was his supporting attitude that encouraged many of his minority players to go on to college. He was rigid in enforcing discipline. In 1945, he had warned his players against going to a midnight Halloween-week movie before a big game with El Paso Austin. Spotting some of his players in line for the movie, he went in and asked the theater manager to warn his players about attending. Those who still attended sat on the bench for the game. Carlsbad almost went scoreless in the game, only pulling out a win with a last minute touchdown. The lesson may or may not have been learned by all, but it earned him the respect of the team and the town. As a player at Albuquerque High School, he was All-State in football, basketball, track and baseball from 1929-1932. He was a nine time letterwinner in football, basketball and track at University of New Mexico. As a Carlsbad coach, he won eight state football titles during his tenure from 1943 to 1967. Two of those years (1946 and 1947), he coached teams that won state titles in football, basketball and track. Five of his players went on to play in the NFL. He served as athletic director at New Mexico Highlands University from 1967 to 1972 and was inducted into the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame in 1975. He was beloved by his players, many of whom considered him to be a father figure and remained in close contact with him for the rest of his life. His high school coaching records were 171-109-10 in football, with eight* state titles, 365-137 in basketball with three state titles and two state titles in track. In his senior years, he was an active Senior Olympian, golfer, fisherman and artist. Carlsbad's football stadium is named in his honor. It has been said that it is not just Bowyer Stadium, but Ralph Bowyer Stadium. Each year the New Mexico High School Coaches Association (of which he was a founding member) honors him by awarding the Ralph Bowyer Coaching for Character Award. * NMAA lists only six championships. The official reason for the difference is unknown, but in years prior to about 1950, there was no sanctioned state championship system. Longtime basketball coach Jim Hulsman is a product of New Mexico. His parents moved to the state in 1940 from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania for his father’s health when Jim was just 10. Jim attended elementary and junior high school in Albuquerque and high school at Albuquerque High School. Albuquerque High was a three year school at the time and Jim lettered in both track and football. Jim also played American Legion baseball and city league basketball. Jim graduated from Albuquerque High School in 1949. Jim then served in the military during the Korean era, enlisting in the US Air Force. Hulsman relates that the US Army needed pilots and Jim qualified for a program that allowed him to qualify for Officer Candidate School and pilot training because of his Air Force service. Jim earned his Second Lieutenant bars before the war ended in 1952. Resuming his education, Hulsman enrolled at St. Joseph College on the Rio Grande (later known as the University of Albuquerque), a Catholic school located at what is now the campus St. Pius X High School. Jim lettered in basketball St. Joseph in 1955 and 1956 despite not having played basketball at Albuquerque High School. He later transferred to University of New Mexico because it offered a degree in health and physical education and received his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1959. While still a college student, Jim served as track and cross country coach and an assistant coach in football and basketball at Highlands High and Albuquerque High. He then served as an assistant football coach from 1961 to 1968 at his alma mater, after which he took over as head basketball coach at Albuquerque High School, a position at which he was to remain for the next 42 years. His second season as head coach, his Albuquerque Bulldog team made it to the state championship for the first time since 1946, losing to Ralph Tasker’s Hobbs High School squad 123-90. Coach Hulsman remarked that the Hobbs full court press was a tremendous factor in the Eagles’ win. The two teams met again in 1971 with the Bulldogs prevailing 81-80 in a game that drew 10,000 fans to the UNM arena. ![]() Coach Hulsman went on to achieve a career record of earning 660 wins, making 24 state championship tournament appearances and winning 7 state championships. During his tenure, AHS would achieve 23 consecutive winning seasons (1969-1991). 72 of his players went on to play college basketball, including Kenny Thomas who also played at University of New Mexico and for 12 seasons in the NBA. During their long careers, Coach Hulsman and Coach Ralph Tasker led teams that were always two of the premier programs in the state. They met 12 times in state championship brackets and three times in the title games with AHS winning 7 of the 12 post season meetings while Hobbs had a 2-1 edge in the championship matches. Jim also has been involved in amateur and semi-pro baseball much of his career. He managed the Rio Grande Lumber Company team of the National Baseball Congress to back-to-back New Mexico Semi-Pro Championships in 1955 and 1956. In 1958, he managed the squad to a 24-8 record and the Albuquerque City Championship. In 1959 and 1960, Jim managed the Albuquerque Highland High School American Legion baseball team to tournament and league championships. He was a manager in the Ken Boyers Missouri Baseball Camp and under the direction of Territorial Scout Supervisor Bobby Goff and served as a scout for the Cleveland Indians for 8 years. Coach Hulsman has received numerous awards and honors over the years. He coached in the Denver/Albuquerque All-Star game in 1974 and the North/South All Star Game sponsored by the New Mexico High School Coaches Association in 1975. In 1988 he was chosen to coach in the 11th annual McDonalds All-American High School Basketball Game. In 1985 and 1989, Jim was Region Eight Coach of the Year by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association. He was named Coach of the Year at least 15 times by sportscasters and sportswriters in New Mexico. In 1983 and 1989 he received the Special Recognition Award from the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame. In 2003, Jim was honored by his induction into the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations) Hall of Fame. Jim currently is retired and living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Coach Ralph Tasker of Hobbs, NM died on July 19, 1999 at his home after a short battle with cancer. He was 80 and had also suffered from pneumonia prior to his death. He left behind his wife of almost 49 years, Margaret, his three children, a host of former players and assistants including Ross Black (played for UNM), Bill Bridges (played for Kansas and in the NBA), Rob Evans (played for Lubbock Christian and UNM and coached at University of Mississippi and Arizona State), Larry Robinson (played for Texas), Larry Williams (played at Kansas State), Jeff Taylor, Sr. (played Texas Tech, in the NBA and in Europe), Vince Taylor (played at Texas Tech, the NBA and Europe, now coaching) and Kent Williams (played at Texas Tech). Longtime assistant Don Abbott of Farmington, said of Tasker, ''He basically changed the way the game of basketball was played,'' said Abbott. ''He made better coaches out of all his opponents because of his ability to get the best out of them as well as out of his own teams. He is well respected all over - not only among high school coaches, but college coaches have used some of his innovations,'' Abbott added. ''He was a wonderful teacher in the classroom as well. I was fortunate enough to have him as a teacher, too. He taught government and history.'' [Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, July 20, 1999] Tasker was born and raised in West Virginia and played his college ball for the Alderson Broaddus Mountaineers. Upon his graduation and after coaching for one year at Sulphur Springs High School in Ohio, Tasker enlisted in the US Army Air Corps, having been motivated by the attack on Pearl Harbor. After his military service, he accepted a coaching position in Lovington, NM in 1946. That is a story of its own, but Tasker was hired by Lovington's superintentent of schools, H. C. Pannell. Both Tasker and Pannell happened to be in Albuquerque at the same time. Tasker was being mustered out of the US Army Air Corps and Pannell was there for a meeting. Pannell offered Tasker the job and Tasker accepted. Three years later, he won his first state championship in Lovington, which proved to be Lovington's only championship for the next 34 years. Tasker then moved to Hobbs in 1950 where he served as head basketball coach for the next 49 years. By the time he retired in 1998, his combined record from the three schools included 1,122 wins, 291 losses and his teams had earned 12 state championships. His last team finished third in the New Mexico state tournament, one game short of notching what would have been Tasker's 37th 20-game winning season. ![]() Tasker's teams were known for a productive offense and a merciless full-court press defense from start to finish. His 1970 team averaged 114.6 points a game, a national high school record set before the institution of the 3-point shot. Coach Tasker's twelve New Mexico state basketball championships are as follows: one in Lovington (1949) followed by eleven in Hobbs (1956, 1957, 1958, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1980, 1981, 1987 and 1988). He was twice named National High School Coach of the Year and was inducted into the National High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1988. He also received the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Morgan Wooten Award. Tasker was named to the New Mexico High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor and the Walt Disney Coach/Teacher of the Year both in 1991. [Arguably one of the most effective coaches in the history of high school basketball, Tasker will likely be the subject of several blog posts.] Coach Jim Bradley of Las Cruces was a living legend, having won over 300 games in New Mexico high school football and state championships at two schools. He is second only to Eric Roanhaus of Clovis in total wins among New Mexico high school coaches. ![]() Bradley’s career began in the 1950s when he served as an assistant football coach under Rudy Camunez at Las Cruces High School beginning in 1958. He later served as Offensive Coordinator under Coach Ed Boykin until 1965. During that period, he also served as Head Baseball Coach, compiling a record of 98-16. Bradley was hired as the first head football coach at Mayfield High School in Las Cruces in 1965, a post he held until 1972, where he led the Trojans to a state championship in 1971. From 1973 to 1977 he served as head football coach at New Mexico State University. While at NMSU, the Aggies tied for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference in 1974 and 1975 and tied Tulsa for first place in 1976. Following his stint at NMSU, he became head coach at Roswell High from 1980 to 1993. His Roswell Coyote teams earned 2 state championships during his tenure. Upon leaving Roswell High, Bradley resumed coaching at Mayfield, where he again served as head coach from 1994 until 2005. His Mayfield teams secured 4 state championships during this period. Coaching honors earned by Bradley include being named to the New Mexico High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame and Hall of Honor, being named Coach of the Year numerous times, receiving Distinguished Service Awards from the National High School Coaches Association. Coach Bradley has served several times on the NMHSCA board of directors and has also served as President of that organization. Coach Jim Bradley has served the student athletes and the State of New Mexico for the better part of six decades. He has three sons who have also been coaches, two of whom are currently head coaches in New Mexico. Sons Michael Bradley and Gary Bradley each led their Farmington and Mayfield teams to State Championships in 2013. To the best of our knowledge, this has never before occurred in New Mexico High School football. In addition to his sons, numerous other coaches have served with him including current Hatch Valley coach Jack Cisco, current Las Cruces coach Jim Miller and former Cleveland head coach Kirk Potter. Coach Bradley passed away in 2015 after an illness. |
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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
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