New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame announces 2025 Class 

A two-time Olympian, an all-time great prep quarterback, a record-setting New Mexico State women’s basketball player and two legendary coaches form the 2025 New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame induction class.

As announced on Monday, they are: 

Former UNM distance runner Courtney Frerichs, an Olympic steeplechase silver medalist in 2020.

Former Artesia, Oklahoma and Pittsburgh Steelers QB Landry Jones, who led the Bulldogs to two state titles.

Anita Maxwell, still NMSU’s all-time women’s basketball scoring leader 30 years after her final game an Aggie.

John Fields, a Las Cruces native who has taken his New Mexico and Texas men’s golf teams to 33 NCAA Tournament berths and guided the Longhorns to two national titles

Miles Watters, a 1973 Clayton High School graduate who coached the Yellowjackets’ girls basketball team to 11 state titles.

The inductees are scheduled to be introduced at a news conference on Dec. 27 and later that day presented to the crowd at the New Mexico Bowl football game.

The inductees (in alphabetical order):

John Fields

A Las Cruces native, Fields was an All-America golfer at UNM. Taking over from Dwaine Knight as UNM’s men’s head coach in 1987, he guided the Lobos to three Western Athletic Conference titles and nine NCAA Tournament berths in 10 years. He was voted the WAC Coach of the Year four times.

In his 28 years (and counting) as head coach at Texas, Fields has guided the Longhorns to NCAA titles in 2012 and 2022. He was voted the national Coach of the Year three times (2012, 2016, 2022).

Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth, who between them have won seven major championships, are among the golfers his UT program has produced.

Courtney Frerichs

A Missouri native, Frerichs came to UNM as a transfer from Missouri-Kansas City in 2013. As a Lobo, she placed fourth as an individual in the 2015 NCAA Cross Country Championships as coach Joe Franklin’s Lobos won the team championship. That spring, Frerichs won the NCAA title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. In the same event, she placed 11th at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Frerichs won a silver medal in the steeplechase at the world championships and won another silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Landry Jones

Jones threw for 7,013 yards and 89 touchdowns during his prep career at Artesia, leading the Bulldogs to New Mexico Class 4A titles for coach Cooper Henderson in 2006-07. In the 2007 Class 4A state title game, a 58-31 Artesia victory over Roswell Goddard, Jones threw for 325 yards and seven touchdowns.

Among the most heavily recruited prep players in the state’s history, he threw for 16,646 yards and 125 touchdowns during his career at Oklahoma. 

Jones went on to play five years for the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Anita Maxwell

A Dallas native, Maxwell was a four-time first-team All-Big West Conference selection (1993-96) and a three-time honorable-mention All-American at New Mexico State.

She remains NMSU’s all-time leader in career points (2,601), career steals (337) and single-season scoring average (25.4 in 1994-95).

“There will never be the next Anita Maxwell (at New Mexico State),” Aggies coach Mike Peterson said in 1996. “She’s going to set a standard of play that’s not going to be matched.”

Miles Watters

A 1973 Clayton High School graduate, Watters returned to his alma matter in 1980 after a college basketball career at Lubbock Christian and a brief coaching tenure in Sudan, Texas. 

At Clayton, Watters coached the girls basketball team — the Jackettes — to the aforementioned 11 state titles, including eight in succession (1983-90). He also coached the Clayton girls to five state track-and-field titles.

Later, at Clovis, Watters coached the Wildcats to a girls state basketball title in 2005.