1993

Vince Cappelli came to Albuquerque from the Bronx in 1942.  He originally intended to stay home and play baseball at Fordham University, however, that school dropped most of its athletic program when World War II started.  So, Cappelli and two of his former prep teammates somehow found their way to the University of New Mexico.

After serving in the Maritime Service, Cappelli returned to UNM after the war.  He was a three-year starting catcher for the Lobos, graduated in 1950 and immediately began a service to the game he worshipped.

Vince Cappelli was once called “Mr. Baseball of New Mexico.”  This appropriate title came about after Cappelli spent nearly four decades in the Duke City working at Stronghurst Elementary, Albuquerque Indian School, Valley High School, the University of Albuquerque, and, eventually, as UNM’s head baseball coach from 1977-89.

Taking over a sagging program, Cappelli resurrected the Lobos with eight winning seasons in a 13-year career.  He posted a 384-350 overall record, including a school-record 42-win season and a Western Athletic Conference division title in 1985.

Cappelli also fashioned a career in professional baseball as a coach, scout, minor league manager and instructor with the Yankees, Mets, Indians, Royals and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

According to head coach Bob King, the rise in basketball quality at UNM really began when Ira Harge came to UNM after two seasons at Burlington (Iowa) Junior College.  When the 6-9 Harge reported in 1962, he was the tallest player ever to wear a New Mexico basketball uniform. 

Lobomania was front and center for the first time during Harge’s senior season of 1963-64.  UNM finished 23-6, tied for first in the WAC and made a sensational run in the NIT in Madison Square Garden.  In the NIT, the Lobos beat Drake and NYU, but lost to Bradley in the final.  Nonetheless, thousands of UNM fans greeted the team upon its arrival at the Albuquerque airport and the program has flourished ever since.

Harge scored 1,016 points in two seasons at UNM.  He was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA, but signed with the newly-founded American Basketball Association, where he eventually played on six league playoff teams, including the 1968 ABA champion Oakland Oaks.

From the first day he walked onto the UNM campus, it was obvious that Ira Harge would be more than a basketball player.  He graduated in 1964.  While playing professionally, he completed a master’s degree in 1969.

Harge, a Mississippi native, has been a New Mexico resident since first setting foot here in 1962.

“I knew that I had chosen a profession in which nobody ever got rich,” Charles Renfro once said, “but the years of seeing the kids grow and learn, and the hundreds of lifelong friends I have made, are riches enough for anyone.”

When he retired in 1970, Charles Renfro had set in motion one of the broadest-based city and county recreation programs in the nation, one that included sports, arts and crafts, dance, music, camping, nature study and year-around physical education programs.  That’s why, in 1961, he had the overwhelming title of Coordinator of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Safety of the Albuquerque Public School System, which included Bernalillo County.

Over his long career, Renfro collected too many honors to list, but his proudest achievement was that, through the years, he affected positively the lives of thousands of young New Mexicans.

Renfro graduated from UNM in 1927 where he participated in football, basketball and track and field for Roy Johnson.

The 1952 football team was a mystery as the season unfolded.  Neither a band of ragamuffin players nor, it seemed, a team of destiny, they eventually became one of the most successful UNM teams ever. 

Coach Dudley DeGroot had assembled a mix of veteran players – military veterans that is – and two years’ worth of good recruits that included 25 lettermen.

When the year was over, the Lobos had the stingiest defense in major college football, having allowed just 46 points to nine opponents.  That included five shutouts over New Mexico State, Wyoming, Denver, Colorado State and Utah State on the way to a 7-2 record.  Sadly, they lost a chance at the Skyline Conference title in the first game of the season when a touchdown play in the final seconds was nullified because of an offside penalty.  BYU won the opener 14-10 in Provo.

Some of these young players went on to outstanding careers on the playing field – Larry White, Jim Bruening, Bobby Lee, A.L. Terpening, to mention a few.  Others became doctors, engineers, space scientists, businessmen, developers, teachers, airline pilots, ministers, artists and career military men.

That came as no surprise because the 1952 football team had the highest grade point average of any men’s group on the UNM campus.

Volleyball

• Four-year starter from 1989-92

• All-American and Academic All-American as a senior in 1992

• Dean’s List, UNM Athletic Honor Roll and WAC All-Academic team as a sophomore

• High Country Athletic Conference All-Academic team as a freshman

Golf

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• First team All-American and WAC Player of the Year in 1992 and 1993

• Finished 7^th at the 1993 NCAA Championships

• 1993 WAC individual champion

• 1^st team all-WAC all four years at UNM

• Shot UNM Championship Course record 62 at the 1992 William H. Tucker

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