Trent Dimas is the final 2014 inductee to the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame to be profiled here. He was a Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics.
Dimas was born in 1970 in Albuquerque and is a graduate of Eldorado High School. At the time of his Olympic appearance he was a nationally and internationally ranked athlete having competed in the Goodwill Games and Pan American Games. He had won the American Cup and was the U.S. Men’s Vault Champion, Parallel Bars Champion and Horizontal Bar Champion. His Olympic moment came on the last day of the last event of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. The American team was languishing in 6th place. Dimas was next to last on the list of performers after being the final person selected for the team at the Olympic Trials in Maryland months before. Trent Dimas’ high bar routine lasted only one minute and is shown here in the YouTube link below. Trent Dimas Olympic Gold Medal Performance, 1992 The video only takes about 2 minutes to watch from start to finish and is well worth the time. It is an electrifying performance that energized his team and the crowd. Dimas scored 9.875 out of a possible 10. This was only the second time that an American gymnast had one a gold medal at an Olympics held outside the United States, the first being Frank Kriz in Paris in 1924. It is also believed that this is the first time that an American of Hispanic heritage had won an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport of gymnastics. This was Dimas’ only appearance in the Olympic Games. Before the Olympics, Trent and his brother Ted had entered University of Nebraska but Trent had left school after his freshman year to pursue his Olympic dream. After the Olympics he went on to graduate from Columbia University with a BA degree in Political Science and University of New Mexico School of Law. At this writing, he is living in Albuquerque and serving as Director of Development for the University of New Mexico Foundation.
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![]() 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. ![]() George Young, was born in Roswell and graduated from Western High School in Silver City, and then went on to have a record-breaking career at the University of Arizona. Western High School was the former location of Silver High School. The 1939 structure is no longer there, but is now the location of a residence hall of Western New Mexico University. At the University of Arizona, he began running the 3000 meter steeplechase and finished second in that event in the National AAU championship. He graduated from Arizona in 1959 and was named outstanding athlete of the year. Upon his graduation, Young qualified for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. That year, he lost in the preliminary rounds of the 3000 meter steeplechase event after tripping over a hurdle, thus disqualifying him for the finals, but the following year he broke the American record by completing the event in 8:31.0. In the 1964 Tokyo games, he improved his record in the event. He also competed in the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics, becoming the first U.S. runner to compete in four Olympics. At the 1968 Olympics held at the high altitude venue in Mexico, he competed in the marathon and the steeplechase, placing 16th in the former event and winning the bronze medal in the latter. Young went on to compete in the following two Summer Olympics. Along the way, he set two world records for the indoor two and three mile. During his career, he held age records in various events. At age 34, he became the oldest person at the time to run a mile in under four minutes with a time of 3:59.6. Young went on to coach seven sports during his 25 year tenure at Central Arizona College, winning 14 championships there, including the 1988 national cross country title. In 1988, Young was named the National Junior College Athletic Association Coach of the Year. He became a member of the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1981 and the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in 2003. He was honored in 2014 by being named to the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame. His biography was penned in 1975 by author Frank Dolson in his book "Always Young," available from various sources. To learn more about George Young, please see his interview at www.garycohenrunning.com. 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.] The New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame, formerly known as the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame, inducted 7 individuals into its 2014 class, including Vicente Francisco "Rocky" Arroyo, Trent Dimas, Ralph Neely, Pete Shock, Bill Bridges, George Young and the late Ralph Kiner. In the coming weeks, we will profile those who have not yet been already been discussed here in the blog.
The 2015 New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame banquet is scheduled for March 1, 2015 at Sandia Resort & Casino. Tickets for the banquet may be purchased through the NMSHOF website. ![]() Ralph Kiner was a 2014 inductee into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame. Ralph's sole connection to New Mexico is that he was born in 1922 in Santa Rita, now a ghost town but at the time, a copper mining town in Grant County, New Mexico. He attended high school in Alhambra, California and then attended Pasadena City College and University of Southern California, signing a contract with the Pittsburg Pirates in 1941. Like many other players, he entered the armed forces after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Kiner served in the United States Navy as a pilot in World War II, afterwards making his debut with the Pirates on April 16, 1946 and playing his final game September 25, 1955. During his 10 year career, he played with the Pirates, the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians. He was an everyday player, most often in the outfield, averaging about 144 games per year. He was also a good hitter with a lifetime batting average of .279 and 369 home runs. Though the records have since been surpassed, he broke three of Babe Ruth's hitting records, being the fastest player to hit 100, 200 and 300 home runs. He also led the National League in home runs for seven consecutive years and all of Major League Baseball for six. His career eventually ended due to injuries and Kiner was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975. Ralph is probably better known to most baseball fans as an announcer, calling every game of the New York Mets from the team's inception until his death earlier this year on February 6, 2014. During his 53 seasons in broadcasting, he was known for his wit, his humor and also for his tongue-twisting and wrongly-worded expressions, some of which are listed below: "If Casey Stengel were alive today, he'd be spinning in his grave." "The Mets have gotten their leadoff batter on only once this inning." "On Father's Day, we again wish you all happy birthday." "Solo homers usually come with no one on base." "There is a lot of heredity in that family." A sample of Kiner's many links and references: Career statistics on Baseball-Reference.com. Broadcasting quotes from the Baseball Almanac. Ralph Neely was a 2014 inductee into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame. He graduated in 1961 from Farmington High School (San Juan County), New Mexico where he played football, basketball, baseball and was a shot putter on the track team. His family had moved to Farmington from Arkansas because his brother suffered from asthma. Ralph's father first worked for El Paso Natural Gas company and later was a contract pumper in the oil and gas fields of the San Juan Basin. His older brothers Larry and Jerry were athletes, and Ralph was likewise gifted and followed suit. The history of the Farmington team mascot may be apocryphal, but the tale is as follows. Prior to adopting the Scorpion as mascot, they were known as the Apple Pickers, derived from the agriculture of the local area. Sometime in the 1920s, the story goes, the Apple Pickers were playing a game either at Grand Junction or Moab when their big green school bus broke down, leaving only reverse gear in operation. So the driver, having only the one gear, backed up a big hill to the site of the game. Observers thought the bus resembled a big green scorpion, and the name caught on. Ralph made one appearance in the New Mexico state championship game in football his junior year in high school. The Scorpions met Clovis in the AA championship game, AA being the largest classification in the state at that time. Coached by Tommy Campbell and coming into the game undefeated at 9-0 against the Clovis Wildcats at 5-4-1, they were downed by the Wildcats 20-14. Ralph relates that he was also once a backup catcher on the baseball team. On a bus ride, he was horsing around with a teammate throwing a piece of candy. He caught it when it was his turn and tossed it back to his teammate who missed it on his opportunity. The candy went beyond the teammate, hitting and sticking to the front window of the bus in full view of the coach, who stopped the bus asking for the perpetrator to identify himself. At first no one replied but then Ralph raised his hand. At the end of the bus ride, the coach told Ralph to clean out his locker because he was kicked off the team. Ralph complied and later sought out the track coach who invited him to try out. At his first practice, a coach handed him a steel ball and requested that he throw it as far as he could, which Ralph did. He was informed that he had made the team, because he had just thrown the shot put further than anyone currently on the team. During his high school career, Ralph was an All-State tackle for two years and was recruited by University of Oklahoma. One day Ralph was sitting in class when an announcement was made summoning him to the principal's office. Ralph thought, "Oh no. What have I done now?" and walked down the hall only to find Sooner head coach Bud Wilkinson waiting for him. Wilkinson had flown to Farmington in a converted WWII B-25 from Norman, Oklahoma to invite Ralph to visit OU in view of receiving a football scholarship. Wilkinson told him there were no guarantees, but that he would have an opportunity to be exposed to one of the leading programs in the United States. Ralph accepted ("My father would have killed me if I hadn't.") and came to Norman, where he would remain the next four [not five] years under head coaches Bud Wilkinson and Gomer Jones (Wilkinson's offensive line coach who would coach the team for two years before suffering a fatal heart attack while in NYC on a trip). Neely played both offense and defense at OU and received the following honors: Big 8 Sophomore Lineman of the Year, All Conference (1963 and 1964) and All-American two years including being a consensus selection in 1964. While at OU, he also took the opportunity to earn a double major in Accounting and Finance. Immediately prior to the merger of the AFL and NFL, Ralph was drafted by the Houston Oilers of the AFL (round 2, 15th selection overall) and the Baltimore Colts of the NFL (round 2, 28th selection overall). The Dallas Cowboys later obtained his rights from the Colts. There was a contract dispute (1) between the Cowboys and the Oilers, the resolution of which was incorporated into the merger settlement agreement between the AFL and the NFL. ![]() Neely joined the Cowboys in 1965 and immediately started at offensive right tackle, earning NFL all-rookie team honors that year and All-NFL honors the following four years. Ralph went on to have a 13 year career with the Cowboys during which he was an NFL First Team All-Pro three times (1967, 1968 and 1969) and was named to the Pro Bowl two seasons (1967 and 1969). He retired from the Cowboys following their 1977 victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII. During his long career, he started in 19 of the 26 playoff games in which he appeared and was named to numerous other All-Pro teams. Ralph currently resides in Dallas, Texas and is active in the employee benefits business. Other: Ralph Neely's college football statistics from College Football at Sports-Reference.com, pro football statistics from Pro-Football-Reference.com. (1) Ralph relates that for many years, he received "fan" mail from law students because his case had been studied in their Contract Law classes. ![]() Bill Bridges was a 2014 inductee into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame. Bill was born in 1939 in Hobbs, New Mexico and graduated from Hobbs High School, playing ball under the legendary coach Ralph Tasker. He attended Kansas University where he joined the basketball team as a walk on. While at KU, he went on to earn a scholarship, was an All-American and team captain in 1961. His KU team tied for the Big 8 championship in 1960. Bill was the first player in KU history to score over 1,000 points and pull down 1,000 rebounds. His field goal percentage was 0.401 and free throw percentage was 0.653. During his college career, he scored 1,028 points and had 1,081 rebounds. The Bill Bridges Rebounding Award is presented each year to KU’s leading rebounder. Upon graduating from Kansas University, he was drafted by the NBA Chicago Browns, but joined the Kansas City Steers of Abe Sapperstein's ABL where he led the league in rebounding and was named All-ABL in 1962. The league folded after which Bill went on to play 13 seasons in the NBA (1962-1975) for the St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks, the Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors where he played on his only NBA Championship team his last season in 1975. During his NBA career, he averaged 11.9 points per game and 11.9 rebounds. His NBA career included appearing in 926 games, scored 4,181 goals, made 2,650 free throws for total points scored of 11,012. On the defensive side, his rebound total was 11,054. Upon his retirement from the NBA, Bridges worked as a business consultant in Santa Monica, California. He was inducted into the Kansas University Hall of Fame in 2002 and his jersey number 32 was retired in 2004. |
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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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