 LPGA golfer Nancy Lopez's name is very familiar to golf fans of a certain age, because she was so dominant in the sport during her active career. She was born in Torrence, California and raised in Roswell (Chavez County), New Mexico where her father owned an auto repair business and her mother was a homemaker. Nancy began to play golf at the age of 8 using old clubs with shafts that had been shortened for her. Coached at first by her father, she won a Pee-Wee tournament at the age of 9 and by the age of 11 was beating her parents on the golf course. Domingo, her father, dug a big hole in her back yard and filled it with sand so she could practice hitting balls out of a sand trap. The following three years, she won the USGA Junior Girls Championshp (1974 and 1975), the Western Junior three times and the Mexican Amateur in 1975. Nationally ranked as an amateur in high school, Nancy led her otherwise all male high school golf team to win a New Mexico State Championship, Goddard High having no girls team. She notched championships in 1972 and 1974 in the U. S. Girls Junior Championship and gained national notice when she tied for second in the U. S. Women's Open in 1975. Following graduation from Goddard High School, she attended Tulsa University for two years during which time she won the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women golf championship her freshman year and and won the university's Female Athlete of the Year her sophomore year.
Nancy turned pro in 1977, though1978 was her official rookie season on the LPGA Tour. 1978 was a stellar year for her as she won 9 tournaments, including a stretch of 5 in a row. She also won the Vare Trophy given annually for lowest scoring average, LPGA Rookie of the year, LPGA Player of the Year and was named the AP Female Athlete of the Year. She played shortened tours in years in which her three children were born, but eventually notched 48 career LPGA wins and 4 other wins in the Kraft Nabisco Championship and du Maurier Classic. Lopez retired from the tour in 2003, briefly unretired in 2007, but will always be remembered as one of the brightest stars in LPGA Golf. Nancy feels that she experienced discrimination at times during her upbringing. It has been written that her family could not join the local country club because of race, notwithstanding the cost, and she trained at a country club in Albuquerque, 200 miles away. However, as a result of her success against the odds, she is seen as a strong role model for women and Hispanics. Nancy is an LPGA representative for the Bayer "Strokes Against Strokes" campaign, supported by the Senior Tour and the American Hart Association. Roswell ISD has named an elementary school in her honor. Nancy currently is associated with Nancy Lopez Golf, a company that markets ladies golf clubs, bags and accessories and sometimes also does television commentary.
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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.  Kathy Whitworth's beginnings in golf can be traced to the southern Lea County town of Jal, New Mexico. When she was in high school, there were few organized athletic activities for girls. She and some of her friends enjoyed playing tennis together and when she was fifteen years old, some of them invited her to join them in a round of golf. She was not enthusiastic about it at first, but agreed to go. From that point on, Whitworth says, she "became hooked." Even though golf was then somewhat more difficult for her than other sports, with the help of her teacher, Harry Loudermilk, she learned the basics of the game, playing many rounds at the Jal Country Club. She won the 1957 and 1958 New Mexico State Amateur Championship. Kathy Whitworth's beginnings in golf can be traced to the southern Lea County town of Jal, New Mexico. When she was in high school, there were few organized athletic activities for girls. She and some of her friends enjoyed playing tennis together and when she was fifteen years old, some of them invited her to join them in a round of golf. She was not enthusiastic about it at first, but agreed to go. From that point on, Whitworth says, she "became hooked." Even though golf was then somewhat more difficult for her than other sports, with the help of her teacher, Harry Loudermilk, she learned the basics of the game, playing many rounds at the Jal Country Club. She won the 1957 and 1958 New Mexico State Amateur Championship.
As she progressed, her family supported her, even driving her 400 miles to study with legendary coach and instructor Harvey Penick, long time coach of the golf team at University of Texas in Austin. Kathy became a professional player at 19, joining the LPGA in December 1958. She played her first important professional tournament in 1958, which began her stellar career. Known by sports writers as "the Gal from Jal," she dedicated her life to the game, being named "Most Improved Professional" in 1962. She recalls competing in the early years with then leading pro Mickey Wright. Wright's gifts and accomplishments gave Whitworth the incentive to continue improve her own skills, resulting in her being named "Woman Athlete of the Year" in 1964. Career Highlights: In 1962 Whitworth won her first tournament, the Kelly Girls Open. She was LPGA Player of the Year seven times between 1966 and 1973, won the Vare Trophy for best scoring average by an LPGA Tour Player a record seven times between 1965 and 1972, and entered the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1975. She was the LPGA Tour money leader eight times, and was twice named the AP Athlete of the Year. She was the U.S. team captain at the inaugural Solheim Cup match in 1990 and again in 1992. In 1974 Whitworth won the Orange Blossom Classic. It was her fifth triumph in this tournament, also known as the St. Petersburg Open. Only three other LPGA golfers have won the same tournament as many times. Whitworth won a total of 88 tour tournaments. She served three terms as LPGA President and was the Honoree at Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament in 2002. Whitworth developed tremendous powers of concentration, referring to reaching a "close-off" point enabling her to block out all distractions. Accordingly, she became known as a great pressure player. Not satisfied with making a name for herself, she worked over the years to improve the image of the woman golfer and promote the efforts of the LPGA. She contributed significantly to the growth of the LPGA. It has grown to the major organization that it is today, consisting of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world during the months of February through December each year. |
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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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