Looking back at sports contributors who passed away in 2025

Each year, New Mexico bids farewell to coaches, athletes, administrators, actors (we’ll explain that last one later), et al, whom we’ve lost in the past year.

Here’s a list, submitted with respect — but also with trepidation because it’s virtually impossible not to miss someone worthy of being included. 

Everyone, after all, has a story.

Here we go. If readers find that someone is missing, additions can be made electronically. 

HAROLD BAILEY: Best known as President of the Albuquerque NAACP and an activist for the city’s black community, Bailey — known back in the’60s to his friends and fellow competitors as “Boo” — was a star hurdler at Albuquerque High and at UNM.

Bailey died on Jan. 13 at age 78. 

DEWEY BOHLING: A star fullback at Highland High, Bohling powered the Hornets to their first state championship in 1954. He went on to a sterling college career at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas and four years in the American Football League before embarking on a prep coaching career that took him all over the state. 

Bohling died on Oct. 19. He was 87.

GUS BROCK: In one of many highlights of a 60-year coaching career, Brock guided the Menaul Panthers to an undefeated (11-0) season and a New Mexico Class AA football title in 1991.

Brock died on Dec. 6 at 91. Services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Menaul School.

GEORGE CARMIGNANI: A Silver City native, Carmignani earned football and basketball scholarships at UNM. Projected as a starter alongside Bobby Santiago at halfback for the Lobos in 1960, injuries prevented him from fully realizing the promise he’d flashed at Western High School in Silver City.

Carmignani died in July at age 88.

SAMMY CHIODA: “Sammy C” was the hugely popular, ever-enthusiastic radio voice of Gallup athletics for more than five decades 

The owner and proprietor of a popular Gallup restaurant, Chioda died on Nov. 14 at age 70.

ROY COOPER: A native of Lea County and a Hobbs High School graduate, Cooper became a rodeo legend as one of the finest calf ropers of all time. 

Cooper died on April 29 at his home in Decatur, Texas, shortly before his formal induction into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame, at age 69.

DORIS DRAVING: A Pennsylvania native and a true pioneer as a women’s basketball star in the 1970s-80s, Draving served as a girls assistant coach at Albuquerque Academy in the early ‘90s before family concerns prompted a move away from New Mexico.

Draving died in California on Aug. 1 at age 69.

RAY ESQUIBEL: A Santa Fe native, Esquibel was an outstanding UNM basketball player for coach Woody Clements in the late 1940s-early’50s.

Esquibel, a faithful Lobo fan and booster, died on March 23 at age 95.

STEVE GACHUPIN: A native of Jemez Pueblo, Gachupin earned the unofficial title of King of the Mountain by winning the Pikes Peak Marathon six times and, closer to home, the Luz Trail Run five times. 

He ran, he told the Native American running site Wings of America, “To bring honor to my village.”

Gachupin died on July 30 at 82.

GENE HACKMAN: His bio reflects no history as an athlete. But if the memorable and evocative 1986 movie “Hoosiers” is the acting legend’s only connection to sports, that’s more than enough.

Hackman, a longtime Santa Fe resident, died at his home in February. He was 95.

PATRICIA “PAT” KAILER: Pat’s late husband, J.D. Kailer, a 2002 New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame inductee, was a reporter, editor, TV sports anchor, president of the UNM Lobo Club and a New Mexico sports historian. 

In all of that and more, Pat, a longtime reporter at the Journal, was the perfect partner. She died Nov. 10 at the age of 100.

A service is planned for Jan. 17 at Hope Church, 4710 Juan Tabo NE.

AUSTIN KILLEEN: A Massachusetts native and a boxer turned boxing writer, Killeen came to New Mexico and became a loved and respective member of the Albuquerque boxing community. 

Killeen died on May 15 at 82.

AL LOVATO: a northern New Mexico boxing trainer, Lovato taught the pugilistic arts to his son Robby Lovato, Monica Lovato (no relation), Joaquin Zamora, Jayla Ortiz and many others.

Lovato died on Aug. 1 at age 80.

BUSTER MABREY: The widely respected director of the New Mexico High School Coaches Association, Mabrey died on Dec. 30, 2024. He was 58.

In June, Mabrey was inducted posthumously into the national HSCA Hall of Fame.

FRED MATTEUCCI: In 2005, Matteucci bought the Albuquerque Dukes trademark and made Dukes regalia available throughout the Isotopes era. 

He also brought professional soccer to Albuquerque in the form of the New Mexico Chiles (1991-96).

Matteucci died Jan. 27 in Scottsdale, Arizona at age 94.

GREG MCALEESE: Before he founded APD’s highly effective Crime Stoppers program as a police officer, before he wrote sports for the Albuquerque Tribune and the Associated Press, MacAleese was a brilliant left-handed pitcher for the Sandia Matadors in the 1960s.

MacAleese died Nov. 3 in the Philippines at age 78

EDDIE MOYA: If there’s a first family of Albuquerque golf, it might well be the Moyas. Like his late brother Billy, Eddie both played the game and made his living at it. Together, they oversaw operations at Los Altos Golf Course for some 60 years. 

Eddie Moya died Dec.12. He was 98 years old.

ROD NICHOLS: A Thunderbird Little Leaguer, an Albuquerque Dukes batboy and a star pitcher for Highland High and UNM, Nichols returned to his hometown to pitch for the Dukes in 1993 enroute to an eight-year career in the Major Leagues. 

Nichols died in Helena, Montana on May 14. He was 60. 

RICH POKORSKI: A Southern California native, "Pork" came to Albuquerque to play basketball for the Lobos and never left.

 A coach and athletic director at Eldorado, a devoted outdoorsman and a superb pickleball player in later years, Pokorski died Nov. 12. He was 72.

RONNIE RENTZ: Among the finest amateur boxers New Mexico has produced, Rentz won a Golden Gloves national title at 112 pounds in 1981.

Rentz, who also won four Police Athletic League national titles, was inducted into the New Mexico Boxing Hall of Fame before his death at age 60 on Jan. 19.

ANDY SANTIAGO: The big brother of all-time Lobo football great Bobby Santiago, Andy was a fine athlete in his own right — running track for Albuquerque High and playing American Legion baseball in the summer.

He died Oct. 28, 2024, at age 86.

TONY SIGALA: Deceptively gruff, Sigala coached, taught and counseled generations of Albuquerque kids, relating martial arts to life — and vice versa.

Sigala died on Aug. 23. He was 78.

TOBY SMITH: The winner of too many journalism awards to accurately count, equally talented as a writer and as an interviewer, Smith wrote sports for the Journal and wrote books about Jack Dempsey and Jack Johnson. 

Smith died on Feb. 18. He was 78. 

JOE VIGIL: He was born in Colorado, worked in Colorado and died in Arizona, but this highly accomplished long-distance running coach was no stranger to New Mexico. He earned a doctorate in physiology from UNM in 1972.

Among his star pupils was the late U.S. Olympian Pat Porter, who lived in Albuquerque after an outstanding career under Vigil’s tutelage.

Vigil died June 19 at age 95. 

JODY VILLA: He was Albuquerque High’s football coach from 1975-85, in an era dominated by Highland, Eldorado and Del Norte. Yet, arguably, no one got more out of the talent available than he did — skillfully designing offensive schemes to give his teams their best chance to succeed.

Villa died Nov. 24. He was 93. A commemorative mass is planned for 4 p.m. Jan. 17 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic church.