Wright: Curmudgeons need not apply — these seniors know their stuff

There was not a curmudgeon in sight — unless it was the guy holding the recorder.

In fact, I’d describe the Albuquerque seniors who gather for breakfast burritos and stimulating conversation each Friday morning at a Northeast Heights park, ardent UNM Lobo fans all, as Renaissance men.

Or, at least, Renaissance guys.

Two days out of three, I walk three laps around this particular park as a substitute for the running I did before my knees betrayed me. On my walk Fridays, during the spring, summer and fall, I began seeing this group, sitting in lawn chairs and chatting on the north side of the park.

It was clear as I walked past, seeing their hats and shirts and catching snippets of their conversations, that these were Lobo fans. One of them, Fred Hultberg, I’d known and written about many times as the now-retired executive director of the New Mexico Games.

That’s nice, I thought, never once stopping or even slowing down — speaking only in answer to an occasional greeting from Fred.

Got to keep that heart rate up.

But then, there was my wife.

Barbara, who walks our dog Charlie every day along the same route, will talk to anyone and usually does. “You should interview those guys,” she told me. “I think it would make a good story.”

So, the morning of May 30, a no-walk day for me, I did.

And here’s the story.

First, the lineup: Hultberg, Dan Baca, Tony Pino, Steve Griego, Mike Rafferty, Stan Chavez and Henry Espinosa. Leonard Espinosa, Henry’s cousin and a regular part of the group, was absent on this particular Friday.

Steve Geis, another regular attendee, has been ill. Henry Tafoya, the famed Henry T of radio and TV fame, had been part of the group in the past.

They range in age from 69 to 82 — I’m 77, thanks for asking — and make no mistake, those who grew up here — not all of them did — fondly recall those Lobo days of yore. Names like Bobby Santiago and Joe Gale (UNM’s first Black varsity football player), and places like Carlisle Gym and Zimmerman Field, were mentioned with reverence. Local high school greats of the 1950s such as Tommy McDonald, Tony Gray, Bob Crandall and Jim Blair were referenced.

Yet, for a full half-hour, the words “back in my day,” were never spoken, at least not in that particular order.

These gentlemen are current — beyond current, if that’s possible — on today’s college sports.

There’s no “the world has gone to hell” sports curmudgeonry here. These men don’t hate NIL and the transfer portal, only wanting to see UNM negotiate the current landscape as effectively as possible. They love the 3-point shot and hope to see more 3s go up under new Lobos men’s coach Eric Olen.

Unanimously, they like what they’ve seen and heard from Olen, new UNM football coach Jason Eck and new athletic director Fernando Lovo.

They’re excited about what second-year UNM track and cross country coach Darren Gauson, who recently signed a new five-year contract, has done in succeeding the highly successful Joe Franklin.

They’re up on the latest developments. Hultberg noted that Texas Tech, never before a power in NCAA softball, became one almost overnight after luring star pitcher NiJaree Canady from Stanford with a whopping NIL offer.

Three days later, Canady and the Red Raiders eliminated Oklahoma, the winner of the previous four national titles, and would eventually lose to Texas in the 2025 championship.

“(Canady) ended up getting just a little over a million dollars, for women’s sports,” Hultberg said. “Now, that’s unheard of, and look where they are.

“They’ve never done anything (in the past),” he said, arguing respectfully against Griego’s contention that a winning culture ultimately is more important than NIL money.

Someone in and around Texas Tech athletics, Griego responded, had to care enough to come up with that kind of money.

“I would say that it has more to do with interest and paying attention to somebody,” he said. “The money happened to be there, yeah, but they’ve now felt like they’re worth something, and so they rose to the occasion.

“It’s more than money, I’m telling you. It’s culture.”

So, do they engage in healthy debate? Sure. Arguments? Almost never. Politics, the subject most likely to raise temperatures, are studiously avoided.

With some trepidation, I asked the group what they think about the Albuquerque Journal in its present form. Are they incensed, as are some seniors who’ve made their feelings known, with the lack of Major League box scores in the paper?

No. While unanimous in saying it’s not a good thing that the printed edition of the Journal sports section has shrunk in size over the years, they all have computers and know how to use them.

It was Pino, the kid of the group at 69, who enhanced my own cyberspace knowledge. GameChanger is an app that allows him to track sports results in real time.

“Dick’s Sporting Goods owns it,” he said. “It’s major all over the country.”

The group began to form, Rafferty said, in the wake of COVID.

“We came back from the (2020) Mountain West tournament (in Las Vegas) … and then everything shut down,” he said. “In May of ‘20, Dan and Stan and myself started it in this park, and then we gradually brought other guys in. …

“Just trying to get out in the fresh air and just talk about everything we like to talk about in terms of sports.”

The conversation doesn’t end, though, when the weather turns cold. The friends gather in the park from approximately May through November, then congregate at Hello Deli during the winter and early spring.

On future Fridays, when I walk past, I’ll wave and say hello. Though they said I’m welcome any time, I have no wish to insinuate myself into their group. It’s their time, not this self-styled curmudgeon’s.

Besides, got to keep the heart rate up.