Garcia family makes large gift to Albuquerque Academy

An Albuquerque family of former students donated $1 million to Albuquerque Academy to improve the school's academics and athletics.

The grant was used to both enhance a summer school program that introduces young students to the school, and to improve tennis courts used by the community and the dominant Chargers tennis teams.

The Garcia Automotive Group family gave the school the gift, which will be divided equally between a summer program that will be renamed the Vincent Cordova Summer Scholars Program and the school's tennis courts, which are now called the Darell Gage Courts. Both men were former Academy teachers.

"Our teachers are the heart and soul of Albuquerque Academy, and it is incredibly moving to see how their dedication has shaped the lives of our students and their families long after they’ve left the classroom," Head of School Julianne Puente said in a statement. "These funds will help ensure the dedication of Vincent Cordova and Darell Gage is long-remembered."

Academy has traditionally operated a summer program called the Multicultural Summer Honors Program for students who are between fourth and fifth grades. Students can start at Academy in the sixth grade.

The idea is the free, six-week summer program would introduce students who hadn't considered Academy to the school. Interested families can apply for the program at https://www.aa.edu/public-programs/vcss/. Joe Weiss, a spokesman for the school, said 25% of the school's students receive some sort of tuition assistance.

Cordova, who the summer program is now named after, was a math teacher and basketball and track coach at Academy from 1969 to 2002. He also served as the director of tuition assistance, director of admission, dean of students and dean of multicultural education. He coached two boys state basketball teams in 1981 and 1984.

In addition to helping enhance the summer program, the Garcia family gift also led to an expansion of the Darell Gage Courts, which are open to the public as well as the championship program. The Chargers' boys team has won 21 consecutive state championships, and the girls' team has won 13 of the last 30 state championships.

The Garcia gift was used to enhance the Albuquerque Academy Racquet Center, which has 14 newly refurbished tennis courts and eight pickleball courts. Tennis coaches Tim Cass and Amy Badger used the money to secure an additional grant from the U.S. Tennis Association for capital upgrades and new programming to establish the center as a community hub, according to Academy.

Gage taught math and coached at Academy from 1965 to 2015. He was the winningest high school tennis coach in U.S. history, and the 21 consecutive state championship run started when he was coach.

He also coached football and basketball.

Both Gage and Cordova were influential teachers for numerous members of the Garcia family, who chose to name the benefactors of the gift after the teachers instead of themselves.

"My siblings and I feel we owe the Academy, Mr. Cordova and Mr. Gage much gratitude. We are honored to be able to ‘carry some water back to the well’ from which we were so fortunate to drink," Ed Garcia said in a statement. "My wife, Diana, and I believe the strength of the academic program is as strong as ever as we watch our son, Graham (class of 2030), progress every day.”