Leroy Chavez of Cimarron, along with his brother George Chavez, will be inducted into the New Mexico Track and Cross Country Coaches Association’s 2015 Hall of Fame this weekend. Joe Mitchell of Maxwell will be honored as the 2015 NMTCCCA Cross Country A-AA Boys’ Coach of the Year. The exemplary coaches will be recognized during the 28th Annual NMTCCCA Coaches Clinic in Albuquerque on January 22 – 23, 2016.Called “Chav” by friends, family and his athletes alike, Leroy coached for 31 years before hanging up the whistle – four years at Maxwell, thirteen years at Las Vegas Robertson and the last fourteen years at Cimarron.
At Robertson, Chavez’s teams brought home seventeen State trophies with Championship titles in both Cross Country and Track in the mid-1980s.
At Cimarron, Coach Chavez built the cross country program into a Northern Class A-AA powerhouse that brought home their first-ever Cross Country State trophies. He also coached Antonio Gallegos to a AAA cross-country title in 1981 at Robertson, April Lloyd and Kelly Barmann to Class A-AA crowns in 1995 and 2004 at Cimarron.At Cimarron, side-by-side with brother-in-law Joe Giglia, Coach Chavez’s expertise and leadership helped to orchestrate a track dynasty that brought home sixteen State trophies and eight State Championships.
The Chavez family’s cross-country odyssey began in Las Vegas, NM. Leroy was the State individual cross-country champ at Robertson in 1969, and he set the school record for the 2-mile in 1970.
Leroy and his brother George ran for Eastern New Mexico University. Leroy and George were members of ENMU’s NAIA Champion cross-country team in 1973.
Throughout their high school days, college exploits and mostly through their influence on athletes and coaches alike, the brothers Chavez had an incredible impact on the development and path of both cross country and track & field in Northern New Mexico.
The brothers, along with teammates, developed the Meadow City Track Club and created such events as the Las Vegas Fiesta Run and many other events. Some of these runs are still happening 40 years later, and many others are still patterned after their example.
Many of today’s most successful cross country and track coaches in New Mexico are very proud of the fact that they began their careers with Chav, or that they can directly trace their successes to the days spent as athletes, assistants or coaches with the Chavez brothers.
If you ask Leroy, he will say that his career has always been about his love of athletics, the kids and family. Leroy says much of his success is due to his wife, Cathy. “We met when I was at Maxwell,” says Leroy. “She has always been my assistant, officially or not. She has been a mom to so many. She helped me to teach them so much, and not just about running.”
KRTN sends congratulations to Leroy Chavez and George Chavez as inductees to the NMTCCCA 2015 Hall of Fame and to Joe Mitchell as the 2015 Cross Country A-AA Boys’ Coach of the Year. Recipients will be recognized at the 28th Annual NMTCCCA Coaches Clinic this weekend in Albuquerque..
I ran under Coach Chavez’s leadership in Tucumcari, starting more than 20 years ago. Since then I have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in the United States Marine Corps. He, Coach Chavez, is a true leader, a mentor and deserves every distinction. He is a man who has excelled at his devotion to excellence in running and cross country. He has gone far beyond the duty of what has been expected.
Thank you, Coach. Thank you for everything.
Congratulations,
Sincerely,
Keldon
Mr. Chavez was truly a pioneer to track & field for Northern New Mexico and especially for Maxwell Schools and athletes in the village. He promoted participation in summer games for track and field, coached individuals and teams to be successful at our high school, and took an active part to support Mayor Leroy Quintana and city councilmen to fund a track/ baseball facility for athletes to have a place to practice. Mr. Chavez spent his own money to purchase uniforms for our team, transported and paid fees for athletes to compete at track meets in the summer and fun runs and cross country meets. Without pay, he coached summer track and helped with fund raisers. Chav is truly responsible for track and field/ and cross country in Northern NM. The love of these sports and more participation need to resurge again!!
True greatness is cultivated over time with much commitment by leader’s like the Chavez brothers. Growing up in NE NM and running track and road races the Chavez brothers names were well known. A well deserved award….congratulations for the recognition of a lifetime commitment to positively impacting the youth in our area!