1967 - The Game of the Year

In 1967, both St. Michael's High School and Santa Fe High School put together great football teams. Coached by Donnie Baca, the St. Mike's Horsemen starters included Louie Tapia, Don Dawson, Art Sandoval, Mario Trujillo, Isaac Pino, Andrew Lucero, Barney Solen, Juan Aragon, Bob Manzanares, Floyd Miller and Ronnie Segura. The SFHS Demons, coached by Austin Basham, featured Hoyt Mutz, Tom Garcia, John Jones, Waldo Griego, Bern Mullings, John Sanchez, Bobby Rougemont, Johnny Gallegos, Jimmy Romero, Jerry Kloeppel and James Trujillo.

Donnie Baca predicted a clean win but Austin Basham didn’t expect a close game at all. Still, St. Mike’s – just off a nice win over West Las Vegas – was favored over Santa Fe High which just got bombed by both Clovis and Los Alamos. On the other hand, the Horsemen had not won a football game over the Demons since 1960 when Donnie Baca was still playing on the varsity squad. The outcome of the 1967 game, however, would surprise everyone.

It was a capacity crowd at Magers Field in 1967. The first quarter was all defense and the teams did little but trade punts. In the second quarter, the Demons took advantage of a Horsemen fumble on the St. Mike’s 13. On the next play (for no gain), a penalty against the Horsemen put it on the 5. Then, Demon quarterback Bobby Martinez threw a pretty pass to Bob Rougement in the end zone for the score. The conversion attempt was no good. Demons 6, Horsemen 0.

Just as the second quarter drew to a close, Horseman Louie Tapia intercepted a Demon pass and raced 32 yards for a stunning touchdown. The conversion failed but, at half-time, the score stood 6 to 6.

The Demons came out for the second half on fire. Quarterback Bobby Martinez capped a 65 yard drive with a sneak from the 3 yard line. The conversion was good and the Demons led 13-6. A few plays later, Horseman quarterback Juan Aragon hit Barney Solen on a short pass; Barney looked trapped but he suddenly put on a burst of speed and raced all the way to the end zone. The conversion was good and the score was 13 all.

By this time, the Demon spirit had waned considerably and the Horsemen were suddenly showered with great opportunities. An interception put them on the Demon 1 foot mark but the Demons held them off. A few minutes later, Horsemen Tim Layden picked off another Demon pass and the Horsemen had a first down on the Demon 30 with 4 minutes to go. Before the Horsemen could close the deal, Demon Teddy Pepperas intercepted a Horsemen pass and time ran out.

The Horsemen Demon Game of 1967 ended as a tie, 13 to 13. It was and would remain the only tie game between the arch-rivals in their entire history of competition.

1952 - The Deadly Race

55 Santa Fe boys signed up to compete in the official 1952 Soap Box Derby, sponsored by the New Mexican, Santa Fe Motor Company – which provided all the special soap box derby wheels, and the Optimist Club, with Orlando Fernandez as president.

Without listing every single racer, here’s just a few for us old-timers:

Donald Gonzales from Don Cubero St, Eddie Ray Scarafiotti, 343 W. Manhattan, James VanderSys from Camino Alire, Johnnie Kirk and Joe Carrier, both from Allendale Street. There were the Brennand brothers, David and Dan, from Zia Road, Jimmie J. Martinez, 1610 Young St., Edward Ortiz, 319 W. Gomez and Clarence Lithgow from Griffin Street. And dozens more.

And one of them was a killer.

It wasn’t Alfred Gonzales, the 12 yr old driver of car no. 34, sponsored by Johnnie’s Nite Club. But doesn’t it strike you as strange that a night club would sponsor a car in the soap box derby? I only mention Alfred because he was the eventual winner of the 1952 derby, winning a trip to Akron, Ohio for the finals. Alfred was the son of Mr. And Mrs. Manuel A. Martinez, 1601 Jay Street. It was the six-grader’s first race.

So who or what killed Elizabeth Riley?

Mrs. Riley, 85, was visiting friends in Santa Fe just in time to attend the Annual Soap Box Derby of 1952. Standing on the sidewalk of Marcy Street with her friends, Mrs. Riley watched several home-made racers go by. Suddenly, one racer – mever identified – swerved out of control, hit the curb and flew off the track, striking Mrs. Elizabeth Riley. She suffered a broken leg and was immediately hospitalized. Mrs. Riley seemed to be getting well but soon complications of a broken leg and old age set in and she died, after lingering for about three weeks in St. Vincent Hospital, under the care of Dr. Bergere Kenney. Her remains were returned to California for burial.

This is a true story, the story of the only fatality ever claimed in a Santa Fe Soap Box Derby.

1944 - Horsemen and Demons, The Only Game in Town

Santa Fe High School fielded an amazing basketball team in 1944. Coached by the legendary Pete McDavid, Santa Fe High School won 18 out of 19 district games, averaging 37 points a game to the opponents' 24. Stars included the great Bob Sweeney, Junior Quintana, Tony Gonzales, Harry Hunton, Bill Baca, Chicken Montoya – that’s Louie, by the way, Tony Chavez, John Reece, Bob Hollis and Edgar Mitchell.

In the first Horsemen-Demon game of the year, the Demons were heavily favored and the odds makers were right on the money. Though the Horsemen, coached by Mose Khoury, kept Demon shooting star Bob Sweeney limited to 13 points, the rest of the Demon team pumped in the shots. At the half, Demons led the Horsemen 25 to 5. At the final buzzer, the Demons claimed victory, 40 to 18. The only Horsemen standouts were Jake Olivas and Joe Frank Ortiz.

The second game of the season was a little better for the Horsemen. They only lost by 15 points. In fact, the Horsemen were so cold from the floor in the first half that the Demons scored 27 points to St. Mike's 3. Yes, you read that right – 3 points! To their credit, the Horsemen came back in the second half to out-score the Demons 22 to 12, but it just wasn't enough. Final score, Demons 49, Horsemen 25. Joe Frank Ortiz hit 10 for the Horsemen and Pete Alarid hit 7. For the Demons, Bob Sweeney dropped in 14 points and Tony Chavez chipped in 9.

Oh, by the way, the Demons also beat Horsemen in total sales of war bonds in 1944's war bond drive, by more than double. But Loretto Academy, tinier even than St. Mike's, beat the Demons in total sales by exactly $100. They sold $26,325 in bonds.

The Demons went on to sweep the district tournament and take third in the state championship. And that’s local sports 1944.

1971 - The School Year

Being a student in a Santa Fe school in 1971 required some stamina and, occasionally, some antibiotics. Here, I'll show you what I mean.

More than 100 students at Leah-Harvey Junior High and 12 visiting senior citizens were struck with food poisoning after lunch at the SF Mid-High cafeteria. 24 sought emergency room help; all but two were briefly treated and released. The two, both senior citizens, were kept overnight at the hospital for observation and released the next day.

Calvin Capshaw, principal of Leah-Harvey, reported students began getting ill about 1:30 and all were sent home. Sarah Barton, school lunch supervisor, did not know what the source of contamination might have been as all food – including food served to several hundred students who did not get ill – was prepared at the same time. Lunch that day consisted of Spaghetti in meat sauce, milk, coleslaw, garlic bread and an apricot wheat bar. Samples were sent to a state laboratory for testing where later analysis revealed that the spaghetti was the source of the food poisoning.

The Santa Fe School Board held a special meeting and urged a full investigation. They were particularly irritated about the principal's failure to inform other students of the rising number of illness. As it turned out, Mr. Capshaw did inform the teachers but did not instruct them or advise them to inform the students.

At De Vargas Jr High, about 30 students refused to go to school, instead marching toward the school administration building on Alta Vista, carrying signs calling for the return of school principal Edward Cole. The night before, the school board had announced the transfer of Cole to a post at Harrington Junior High School. The next morning, one parent, Nap Benavidez, told students gathered in the De Vargas school gym that the transfer had been political and that's when the students initiated the walk out and march. As it turned out, Ed Cole was perfectly OK with the transfer and told the students and the next day, classes at De Vargas resumed as normal.

Over at Santa Fe Mid-High, the school term was marred by several fights and disturbances so Santa Fe police Chief Felix Lujan ordered a crackdown, including a search of student cars. Recovered during the search were several “deadly weapons,” including a sawed off garden tool handle with nails embedded in the tip, various clubs, chains and one knife. Lujan said he thought most of trouble did not stem from students but from dropouts who continued to hang out near the school.

The high schools were a little calmer.

After 100 years as a boys only school, St. Mike's went completely co-ed in 1971 when the 7^th and 8^th grades were opened to accept girls. Girls had already been accepted in the upper grades beginning in 1968. With girls now at St. Mike's, there were a few changes. For example, St. Mike's started a drill team to perform during game half-times. Among the members of the first drill team: Bernadette Gutierrez, Debbie Varela, Rose Marie Rivera, Luana Valdez, Lori Salazar, Elinda Trujillo, Charlene Rodriguez, Denise Stuart; Anita White, Rosianna Noedel, Liz Trujillo, Cindy Wing, Roberta Garcia, Karmella Pacheco, Dolores Gallegos, Jovanna Block, Rosealine Chavez and Joly Sanchez. Oh, and, Jolene Schutz was voted St. Mike's High School homecoming Queen. She was escorted by Paul Montoya. By the way, at the game, St. Mike's lost to West Las Vegas, 12-7. Before I forget, the St. Mike's cheerleaders for 1971 were Mary Jo Gonzales, Jeanne Adelo, Jean Fox, Linie Rivera, Michelle Pacheco and Theresa Lobato.

119 seniors graduated from St. Mike's in 1971. Valedictorian was Deborah Wallace, Salutatorian Ray Z Ortiz. Diplomas were conferred by Archbishop James Peter Davis. Among graduating class were some names familiar to modern Santa Feans: George Adelo, Tim Bieri, Charles Bonal, Virginia Castellano, Bobby Digneo, John Fox, Rudy Miller, Carmen Montes, Mike Pick, Ed Regensberg, Cindi Lee Schifani, Nancy Storrs, Joe Tapia, James Womack and Roseanna Zamora.

600 graduated from Santa Fe High School in 1971. As usual, there were no formal valedictorian or salutatorian choices but commencement addresses were given by top students Steve Terrell, Donna Anglin and Lindalie Lien. School Board President Robert Sweeney presented diplomas. Special mention here for Rose Mary Barela who was selected as Sweetheart Queen for 1971. She was a junior, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roque Barela, and she presided over the Valentine Ball. Her attendants included Liz Sandoval, Carmen Gutierrez, Lourdes Perez and Lourdes Trujillo. Santa Fe High School cheerleaders for 1971 were Patty Rutherford, Judy Buchholz, JoAnn Vigil, Karla Alarid, Donna Savage and Margaret Ragle.

And at the only other high school in the city, there were 22 graduates of the Santa Fe Preparatory School. Steven Savage was the principal student speaker.

College life in Santa Fe was exciting too.

College of Santa Fe students staged a demonstration at the school's cafeteria and called for a boycott of classes in protest against the planned addition of an Air Force ROTC program. The demonstration ended abruptly after a bomb threat was called in and police cleared the group to search for explosives. None were found.

College of Santa Fe students still found time, between demonstrations and bomb threats, to hold the annual homecoming celebration. At the game's half time, the CSF Knights team captain crowned Geri Cruz, a sophomore majoring in business administration, homecoming queen for 1971. The grand homecoming parade, consisting of 7 floats, was themed a Winter Wonderland. Grand prize winner was the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity with a float depicting Santa's Workshop.

Student elections at the College resulted in the seating of Santa Feans to top offices. Jerome Martinez, son of M/M Gregorio Martinez of El Rancho was elected President of the college's associated student government. Jerome was a junior, majoring in history. Active in campus organizations, Martinez was Secretary General of the UN Club, member of Pi Gamma Mu and the President's Honor Society. Fellow Santa Feans Michael Vigil was elected vice president and Jerry Rael was elected Senior Class President.

25 CSF students were honored for academic achievement by college's Honor Society, only for students with a minimum of a 3.5 cumulative GPA. From Santa Fe, there was Jim Barton, Gwen Davis, Mrs. Lee Chan, Edythe Mackey, Jerome Martinez, Rita Melady, Patrick T. Ortiz, Steven Schwartz, Louis Valencia, Michael E. Vigil and Carl Williamson.

At graduation, the seniors were addressed by Senator Joseph Montoya who decried violence in the nation's march to equality but praised peace movements. Several Santa Fe students graduated with high honors: Michael Armijo, Marguerite Blawis, Lee Chan, Dixie Pope, Chris Preston, Larry Gallegos, Art Gonzales, Ted Lopez, Edythe Mackey and Connie Rael.

Nobody cared, but 26 graduated from St. John's College. Top students were Gail Hartshorne of Sharon, Conn. and Steven Moser of Haiku, Hawaii. No Santa Feans in that graduating class.

The little students at Los Ninos Kindergarten, headed by the much loved Pauline Gomez, had the right idea in 1971. They celebrated the end of school with a parade around the Plaza on bicycles.

And that's school news from Santa Fe 1971.

1943 - The Santa Fe Fiesta

Yes, it's the Santa Fe Fiesta. The City's annual extravaganza, part pageant, part carnival and all Santa Fe. A triple event opened the 1943 Fiesta, including the De Vargas pageant, the coronation of the Queen and the Burning of Zozobra. All in one day.

Will Shuster, in charge of Zozobra, had especially tough duty that year since the paper shortage forced him to seek alternative burnable materials with which to build Big Z. No problem, said Will, he’ll do just fine. Oh, Will’s version of Zozobra for 1943 had two faces, not three as last year. Since Mussolini fell from power, the new Zozobra only had the faces of Hitler and Hirohito when it burned at the stake. Will Shuster’s new name for Big Z – Hirohitlerpuss.

Little accident, though. Jacques Cartier injured an ankle at the Zozobra burning. As it turned out, it was his very last leap of the dance and he slipped on some loose gravel and strained a ligament. The dancer recovered soon enough but he was unable to perform in the traditional La Fonda roof show later that night. Luckily, Billy Palou, La Fonda’s famous violinist, was home on furlough and filled in to provide the evening's entertainment.

The 1943 Fiesta Queen was the beautiful Maria Guadalupe Tapia, known more familiarly as Pita Tapia. Pita was sponsored by the Kiwanis Club. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Juan Tapia, 705 Galisteo. Just 18 and a recent graduate of Loretto Academy, Pita was attending the Capital City Commercial College. The Queen's court consisted of Princesses Alicia Lucero, 18, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Abel Lucero, 224 West Manhattan, a graduate of Santa Fe High, class of ’43, and working at the Bureau of Revenue; Dolores Porfiria Garcia, 19, daughter of Mrs. Martinia Garcia, 516 Alto St. Dolores was a senior at Santa Fe High where she was vice-president of her class and working for the summer at Taichert’s; and Juanita Quintana, 21, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ramon T. Quintana, 211 Chapelle, a 1940 graduate of Santa Fe High and employed as an assistant to Dr. W.C. Barton. Juanita’s sister, by the way, was Fiesta Queen for 1942.

The 1943 Fiesta welcomed back a favorite feature. Last year's “Caravanes de los Paisanos” proved popular enough to be brought back in ’43. That’s the parade of country folks come to town complete with vintage carretas. First prize went to Mrs. Walter Goodwin’s group for “the Spirit of Pojoaque,’ a gorgeous produce wagon. Dolores Otero got a nice prize for best buggy.

No cars in this year's Caravan – gas rationing, you know. And the war-time shortage of gasoline also affected the grand parade, which did have a few trucks and cars The parade started at City Hall and marched twice around the Plaza and back to City Hall.

The famous Tio Vivo was back for the 1943 Fiesta. That was the famous hand-operated merry go round and a Fiesta favorite. New for 1943 was the Tio Voladero, another hand operated kiddie ride, a kind of a a revolving swing, and very popular with the kids.

As for the adults at Fiesta, most of Santa Fe bars were closed, except for one or two near the Plaza. It’s not that no-one was drinking, it’s just that, with the war on, booze was in very short supply.

The Pet Parade was huge and the New Mexican printed the name of every entrant and their pets. Way too many to read. For example, Charles Kinsolving has 4 rabbits and one chicken, Helena Ruthling showed up with 2 rabbits, a pigeon, a collie and 2 miscellaneous dogs. You might know Helena from her nickname, Doodlet. Grace Olivas had a rabbit, Betty Larragoite brought a dog, Walter Davies brought a horned toad, Kevin McKibben took six snakes and a lizard and little Wally Sargent brought his little dog.

I’m always amused at that report, because Wally Sargent was my sixth grade teacher at Salazar School in 1958 although he’s better known as a real estate tycoon in Santa Fe now. He’s actually a great guy for a tycoon and he was very cool as a teacher. He drove a flashy turquoise blue 1956 Thunderbird, he'd say things like “you're cruisin' for a bruisin,' and he had a popular radio show on the weekend. He was simply too cool for school, Mr. Sargent.

And that's the Santa Fe Fiesta 1943.