Pat Aguilar honored
Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 3:48 pm
http://elpasotimes.com/sports/ci_4498598
El Pasoan to be honored for lifetime of influence
By Bill Knight / El Paso Times
Article Launched:10/16/2006 12:00:00 AM MDT
El Paso's Pat Aguilar, center, and players Emmuel Thompson, right, and Don Washington, celebrated Texas A&I's 20-14 victory over Central Oklahoma to win the NAIA national football championship in 1979. (Special to the Times)
A man's worth never can be measured in championships or trophies or even a spot in a hall of fame. Those are nice. Those are what the world chases. But those things are almost trivial compared to the real measure of a man.
A man's worth, his greatness, his true lasting legacy truly can be measured by the lives he touches, by the souls he molds, by the breath of inspiration and encouragement he breathes into his fellow man.
By any measure, New Mexico native and longtime El Pasoan Pat Aguilar, stands tall -- stands high above the human herd.
Thursday night, Aguilar will be inducted into the New Mexico Highlands Athletic Hall of Fame.
Today, at age 65, Aguilar still has that same fierceness, resolve and toughness that made him an outstanding coach. He retired from coaching at Hanks High School in 1984 and has been a local insurance agent since. But he never has stopped being a coach and teacher, never stopped competing -- even with himself. Each morning he does 400 pushups to get his day going with some spice.
Aguilar had
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quite a coaching journey, going from Clayton, N.M., to Farmington, N.M., and back to Clayton, to Abilene High School and to Texas A&I University in Kingsville, before coming to Hanks and making El Paso home. He constructed one of the nation's greatest high school track and field teams in Abilene, winning the state championship. He was the secondary coach for A&I's (now A&M-Kingsville) 1979 NAIA national championship team.
Along the way, though, Aguilar did more than win championships. He won lives. He touched men who went on to greatness in athletics and he shaped men who went on to greatness in life. What greater achievement is there?
Stories of a winner
Any of us can tell our own life story. Some would embellish. Men like Aguilar would downplay their special moments. So, in this instance, perhaps it is best to let the others -- famous and not-so-famous -- tell the man's story.
It was 32 years ago when Billy Olson felt that tap on his shoulder. He was standing in a registration line at Abilene High, getting ready for his junior year. He turned around to face a lean, tough-looking, fiery-eyed young coach.
"Hey, I hear you do a little pole vaulting," the coach said. "I really wish you'd come and try out for track."
And Olson said that was a turning point in his life.
He went on to become an 11-time world record holder in the pole vault, the first man to clear 19 feet indoors, the first American to vault 19 feet outdoors and a three-time Olympian.
"His personality and the way he treated people commanded respect," Olson said, "and he had it from everybody on our team to a man. The runners didn't always talk positively about anybody else, especially the coaches or teachers. But it was big-time different with coach Aguilar. I don't think I've known anybody before or since that could have kept a better handle on those group of guys and taken them where he took them. He had everyone believing in themselves. And it was a fulltime job. It's pretty amazing what he did with those guys."
Aguilar's influence was pervasive, reaching young men throughout his programs at every stop along the way. It was not just Olympians who looked to him for help and advice.
Tony Sintas played football and ran track for Aguilar at Clayton in the 1960s. And Sintas called Aguilar "probably the most inspirational figure that I have ever had in my life."
Sintas said, "He made me the person I am today. I owe a lot of my successes, a lot of my accomplishments to him because my own father drank a lot, and I never really had anybody who would push me to the point that he would. I love him like a dad -- and I always will."
The late Lawrence Montoya also played for Aguilar at Clayton in the 1960s.
"He (Aguilar) was a great inspiration to Lawrence," said Montoya's widow, Jeannie. "He was one of the reasons Lawrence was so involved in sports and involved with the kids. He (Aguilar) took every one of those boys as if they were his own boys. I felt like he had such a great influence on Lawrence."
Tough as nails
Aguilar, who graduated from New Mexico Highlands and got a Master's degree from A&I, was old school. He was a disciplinarian, tough as a 10-year-old west Texas boot.
At Abilene High, he broke up vicious brawls. In Kingsville, he often would challenge bigger, younger athletes who questioned his authority to fist fights.
Once, when his secondary popped off to him, he ran them so long they missed dinner. In short, he sent his boys to bed without supper. And he sent them to bed tired. And he sent them there knowing what it meant to keep their mouths shut.
NFL legend Darrell Green played in Aguilar's secondary at A&I. Once, when approached in the Washington Redskins locker room late in his long NFL career and asked if he remembered Aguilar, Green responded, "Oh yeah ... that mean guy."
Sintas remembered the disciplinarian, too.
"He had an endless amount of determination to win," Sintas said. "He couldn't accept somebody who just slacked off. He pushed you and pushed you until you hated his guts. But it made better men out of most all of us. I can't think of anybody that he had in Clayton that just turned out bad. He had the persistence of the Energizer Bunny."
Laughing, Sintas added, "He would say, 'All right, we're going to run 440s,' and we'd be throwing up after the third one. We'd finish and we'd be saying, finally, and he'd say 'Guys, let's run two more.' And we would run two more.
"I remember many times walking off the track so sick that I'd be dizzy and throwing up and think, 'God, this guy's a killer.' We probably called him other names, too. But he commanded respect."
A source of knowledge
Aguilar also influenced coaches around him, especially some in El Paso.
Jim Melendez, the highly successful head baseball coach at Riverside High, said, "Pat was one of the mentors who taught (former Hanks baseball coach) Mike Williams, (Eastwood football coach) Wade Ardoin and myself his knowledge of secondary play. What a great source of information. He came from Texas A&I, and he brought some of the philosophies that he used over his career.
"Apart from being a good friend, he was sharing his knowledge with all of the young coaches. I was 21, 22 years old at the time. What a find. I just know that when he came in, he was this overwhelming source of information."
And Williams, who now coaches in Corpus Christi, said, "The lessons I learned from Pat are lessons for a lifetime of coaching. I learned so much from him, things I still apply today. To me, it was almost like it was yesterday. I learned about keeping myself and keeping everything organized. I learned about having a good plan and carrying it out. He was so organized. At the same time, he had such a wide experience of places he had been and used a lot of innovative things. He was creative in his coaching.
"I was in awe of him. I was probably 24 years old at the time and in my second year. When I first started sitting in on meetings, he knew defense inside and out. And because he knew so much defense, he also knew offense. He had an amazing amount of knowledge."
Pat Aguilar clearly has left his mark on so many athletes, so many coaches, so many lives. More, probably, than he will ever know.
Naturally, though, the story of an Olympian, a 19-foot pole vaulter, catches the eye.
"I was messing up about as much as I could," Olson said. "I wasn't horrible. But I was doing some dumb, dumb stuff. My junior year he got me out there and taught me a little work ethic -- which I'd never had. When I first started to get pretty good, I didn't even know I was good. And coach was saying, 'You may have something here. You really need to look at this and put forth some effort, more than piddling with it. I think you can get a scholarship.' I had never thought about going to college. But he started putting that bug in my ear.
"He got it set up that I could work out at the Olympic Health Club (in Abilene). "He got me with some good people to show me some good exercises. And he got me on the track and worked my fanny off. There would be practices with 30-40 jumps, which is what a young kid needs. He'd stand over there and, even though all those other guys were a whole lot better than me at the time, he'd give me some inspiration."
And when Olson broke the only pole that Abilene High had, Aguilar found a way to buy two more.
"I don't know how Coach Ag did it," Olson said. "Those poles cost a couple of hundred dollars. But somehow he wrangled up the money and he bought me two more poles -- a 14-foot pole and a 15-foot pole."
The rest -- along with a lot of hard work and sweat from Olson and a lot of coaching and encouragement from Aguilar -- is history.
Life's Hall of Fame
Aguilar and his lovely bride of 43 years, Carmen, live in East El Paso and still stay busy. Both are former educators, both still involved in so many lives. Aguilar has given his two sons, Mark and Matthew, his same passion for football, for sports, for life. Mark graduated from law school and is the head track coach at Americas High School. Matthew is a sports writer, covering UTEP football for the El Paso Times.
Matthew Aguilar, who will introduce his father at Thursday's Hall of Fame induction ceremony, once said he was "trying to become half the man his dad is."
Given all the stories from all those lives Pat Aguilar has touched -- and given all the untold stories from the many, many other lives he has influenced -- that is one ambitious goal. And a worthy one.
The measure of a man, after all, lies not in championships or trophies or victories, but rests quietly in all those souls he touched. Judging by the testimony on Pat Aguilar's behalf, he has not only earned a spot in the New Mexico Highlands Hall of Fame, but also in Life's Hall of Fame.
El Pasoan to be honored for lifetime of influence
By Bill Knight / El Paso Times
Article Launched:10/16/2006 12:00:00 AM MDT
El Paso's Pat Aguilar, center, and players Emmuel Thompson, right, and Don Washington, celebrated Texas A&I's 20-14 victory over Central Oklahoma to win the NAIA national football championship in 1979. (Special to the Times)
A man's worth never can be measured in championships or trophies or even a spot in a hall of fame. Those are nice. Those are what the world chases. But those things are almost trivial compared to the real measure of a man.
A man's worth, his greatness, his true lasting legacy truly can be measured by the lives he touches, by the souls he molds, by the breath of inspiration and encouragement he breathes into his fellow man.
By any measure, New Mexico native and longtime El Pasoan Pat Aguilar, stands tall -- stands high above the human herd.
Thursday night, Aguilar will be inducted into the New Mexico Highlands Athletic Hall of Fame.
Today, at age 65, Aguilar still has that same fierceness, resolve and toughness that made him an outstanding coach. He retired from coaching at Hanks High School in 1984 and has been a local insurance agent since. But he never has stopped being a coach and teacher, never stopped competing -- even with himself. Each morning he does 400 pushups to get his day going with some spice.
Aguilar had
Advertisement
quite a coaching journey, going from Clayton, N.M., to Farmington, N.M., and back to Clayton, to Abilene High School and to Texas A&I University in Kingsville, before coming to Hanks and making El Paso home. He constructed one of the nation's greatest high school track and field teams in Abilene, winning the state championship. He was the secondary coach for A&I's (now A&M-Kingsville) 1979 NAIA national championship team.
Along the way, though, Aguilar did more than win championships. He won lives. He touched men who went on to greatness in athletics and he shaped men who went on to greatness in life. What greater achievement is there?
Stories of a winner
Any of us can tell our own life story. Some would embellish. Men like Aguilar would downplay their special moments. So, in this instance, perhaps it is best to let the others -- famous and not-so-famous -- tell the man's story.
It was 32 years ago when Billy Olson felt that tap on his shoulder. He was standing in a registration line at Abilene High, getting ready for his junior year. He turned around to face a lean, tough-looking, fiery-eyed young coach.
"Hey, I hear you do a little pole vaulting," the coach said. "I really wish you'd come and try out for track."
And Olson said that was a turning point in his life.
He went on to become an 11-time world record holder in the pole vault, the first man to clear 19 feet indoors, the first American to vault 19 feet outdoors and a three-time Olympian.
"His personality and the way he treated people commanded respect," Olson said, "and he had it from everybody on our team to a man. The runners didn't always talk positively about anybody else, especially the coaches or teachers. But it was big-time different with coach Aguilar. I don't think I've known anybody before or since that could have kept a better handle on those group of guys and taken them where he took them. He had everyone believing in themselves. And it was a fulltime job. It's pretty amazing what he did with those guys."
Aguilar's influence was pervasive, reaching young men throughout his programs at every stop along the way. It was not just Olympians who looked to him for help and advice.
Tony Sintas played football and ran track for Aguilar at Clayton in the 1960s. And Sintas called Aguilar "probably the most inspirational figure that I have ever had in my life."
Sintas said, "He made me the person I am today. I owe a lot of my successes, a lot of my accomplishments to him because my own father drank a lot, and I never really had anybody who would push me to the point that he would. I love him like a dad -- and I always will."
The late Lawrence Montoya also played for Aguilar at Clayton in the 1960s.
"He (Aguilar) was a great inspiration to Lawrence," said Montoya's widow, Jeannie. "He was one of the reasons Lawrence was so involved in sports and involved with the kids. He (Aguilar) took every one of those boys as if they were his own boys. I felt like he had such a great influence on Lawrence."
Tough as nails
Aguilar, who graduated from New Mexico Highlands and got a Master's degree from A&I, was old school. He was a disciplinarian, tough as a 10-year-old west Texas boot.
At Abilene High, he broke up vicious brawls. In Kingsville, he often would challenge bigger, younger athletes who questioned his authority to fist fights.
Once, when his secondary popped off to him, he ran them so long they missed dinner. In short, he sent his boys to bed without supper. And he sent them to bed tired. And he sent them there knowing what it meant to keep their mouths shut.
NFL legend Darrell Green played in Aguilar's secondary at A&I. Once, when approached in the Washington Redskins locker room late in his long NFL career and asked if he remembered Aguilar, Green responded, "Oh yeah ... that mean guy."
Sintas remembered the disciplinarian, too.
"He had an endless amount of determination to win," Sintas said. "He couldn't accept somebody who just slacked off. He pushed you and pushed you until you hated his guts. But it made better men out of most all of us. I can't think of anybody that he had in Clayton that just turned out bad. He had the persistence of the Energizer Bunny."
Laughing, Sintas added, "He would say, 'All right, we're going to run 440s,' and we'd be throwing up after the third one. We'd finish and we'd be saying, finally, and he'd say 'Guys, let's run two more.' And we would run two more.
"I remember many times walking off the track so sick that I'd be dizzy and throwing up and think, 'God, this guy's a killer.' We probably called him other names, too. But he commanded respect."
A source of knowledge
Aguilar also influenced coaches around him, especially some in El Paso.
Jim Melendez, the highly successful head baseball coach at Riverside High, said, "Pat was one of the mentors who taught (former Hanks baseball coach) Mike Williams, (Eastwood football coach) Wade Ardoin and myself his knowledge of secondary play. What a great source of information. He came from Texas A&I, and he brought some of the philosophies that he used over his career.
"Apart from being a good friend, he was sharing his knowledge with all of the young coaches. I was 21, 22 years old at the time. What a find. I just know that when he came in, he was this overwhelming source of information."
And Williams, who now coaches in Corpus Christi, said, "The lessons I learned from Pat are lessons for a lifetime of coaching. I learned so much from him, things I still apply today. To me, it was almost like it was yesterday. I learned about keeping myself and keeping everything organized. I learned about having a good plan and carrying it out. He was so organized. At the same time, he had such a wide experience of places he had been and used a lot of innovative things. He was creative in his coaching.
"I was in awe of him. I was probably 24 years old at the time and in my second year. When I first started sitting in on meetings, he knew defense inside and out. And because he knew so much defense, he also knew offense. He had an amazing amount of knowledge."
Pat Aguilar clearly has left his mark on so many athletes, so many coaches, so many lives. More, probably, than he will ever know.
Naturally, though, the story of an Olympian, a 19-foot pole vaulter, catches the eye.
"I was messing up about as much as I could," Olson said. "I wasn't horrible. But I was doing some dumb, dumb stuff. My junior year he got me out there and taught me a little work ethic -- which I'd never had. When I first started to get pretty good, I didn't even know I was good. And coach was saying, 'You may have something here. You really need to look at this and put forth some effort, more than piddling with it. I think you can get a scholarship.' I had never thought about going to college. But he started putting that bug in my ear.
"He got it set up that I could work out at the Olympic Health Club (in Abilene). "He got me with some good people to show me some good exercises. And he got me on the track and worked my fanny off. There would be practices with 30-40 jumps, which is what a young kid needs. He'd stand over there and, even though all those other guys were a whole lot better than me at the time, he'd give me some inspiration."
And when Olson broke the only pole that Abilene High had, Aguilar found a way to buy two more.
"I don't know how Coach Ag did it," Olson said. "Those poles cost a couple of hundred dollars. But somehow he wrangled up the money and he bought me two more poles -- a 14-foot pole and a 15-foot pole."
The rest -- along with a lot of hard work and sweat from Olson and a lot of coaching and encouragement from Aguilar -- is history.
Life's Hall of Fame
Aguilar and his lovely bride of 43 years, Carmen, live in East El Paso and still stay busy. Both are former educators, both still involved in so many lives. Aguilar has given his two sons, Mark and Matthew, his same passion for football, for sports, for life. Mark graduated from law school and is the head track coach at Americas High School. Matthew is a sports writer, covering UTEP football for the El Paso Times.
Matthew Aguilar, who will introduce his father at Thursday's Hall of Fame induction ceremony, once said he was "trying to become half the man his dad is."
Given all the stories from all those lives Pat Aguilar has touched -- and given all the untold stories from the many, many other lives he has influenced -- that is one ambitious goal. And a worthy one.
The measure of a man, after all, lies not in championships or trophies or victories, but rests quietly in all those souls he touched. Judging by the testimony on Pat Aguilar's behalf, he has not only earned a spot in the New Mexico Highlands Hall of Fame, but also in Life's Hall of Fame.