Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Last summer, Stan Hodges was in his pickup truck hauling from one Texas oil site to the next. Just him, his truck and the allure of oil money. That was a foreign world for the 55-year-old Hodges: A lifelong college and high school football coach who sacrificed big paychecks for the internal reward of winning, developing young men and the camaraderie of the football world. His transition from the football field to the oil field started in May of 2023. But while he was making a...
Death was rapidly approaching. His once cancer-riddled lungs puffed out his last breaths. Hospice workers occupied his Clovis home. Yet, Hank Baskett Jr.'s face was aglow when his son Hank Baskett III and his grandkids walked in. "You saw the light in his eyes," said the younger Baskett. In that brief moment, he once again exemplified the positivity and magnetic charm that made him a pillar of Clovis for decades. His children -- his own, their kids, and the hundreds of those...
Former Clovis High football coach Andrew McCraw will once again be the offensive coordinator at Eastern New Mexico University, he said last week. McCraw, in a Monday interview with The News, conceded his resignation from CHS didn't have the best timing, just two months before the season begins. "You don't want to disappoint kids. And I did," McCraw said. But he also pointed out, "You got to take the college football job when they offer because I know how hard it is to get...
On a stretch of U.S. 70, where Clovis fades into Portales, sits a yellow fireworks stand. Tractor-trailer rigs whizz by. Wind-whipped plastic flags flutter about. The Fourth of July is rapidly approaching. And inside this fireworks stand is Seth Tischler, a senior airman at Cannon Air Force Base, hoping that a car will veer off into the gravel lot and make a purchase. That's because money from the purchase will help provide Tischler and his Cannon 5/6 private org...
Editor's note: This is one in a continuing series of interviews with local residents. Clovis' Steve Watkins is an avid pickleball player whose story illustrates the sport's meteoric rise in popularity. Q: Where does your journey with pickleball begin? A: I have a good friend by the name of Mike Willmon. I played softball with him since we were teenagers. I ran into him one day, and he said, "Hey, you need to come out and play pickleball. You're an athlete, you could do this."...
Phillip Smith, pastor at First Baptist Church of Portales, seems to always be solving a complex equation. "There is a discussion going on about the possibility of switching pews to chairs," Smith said. "Aesthetics does communicate something. So do chairs communicate something different than pews? I don't know. I'm working through some of that stuff." As Pride Month winds down, Smith is also trying to figure out how to wisely approach the topic of LGBTQ+ and Christianity as...
Editor's note: This is one in a continuing series of interviews with local newsmakers. Eastern New Mexico University graduate Steve Loy, who recently donated $2.5 million to ENMU sports programs, is a former collegiate golf coach and longtime player agent. Q: Can you walk me through what it was like to recruit John Daly? Did you think he'd become what he is today? A: John was one of the most naturally talented golfers I had ever recruited and coached at the University of...
Clovis High School on Thursday announced Corey Pickett will take over as head basketball coach for Josh Mattox. Pickett has been a CHS assistant coach since 2020 and the district's fine arts director for the last two years. Pickett was also a candidate for the position in 2018 when the program looked to replace Scott Robinson after he resigned. "After interviewing (Pickett), we determined he was the best fit for our program," CHS Athletic Director Lonnie Baca told The News,...
Eastern New Mexico University sprinter Timothy Frederick gazed up at Greyhound Stadium, a place that helped resuscitate his career. "My home," said Frederick, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, a few weeks before competing in a trial that could send him to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Back in 2018, Frederick was considered a lock to make the Olympics. Then came multiple quad tears and snatched opportunities. In 2020 he was cut from the University of Alabama track team, whi...
Shocked. That’s the word Clovis High School Athletic Director Lonnie Baca used Monday to describe the sudden departure of Wildcats head football coach Andrew McCraw. McCraw told school officials last week he’s leaving for a coaching position at Eastern New Mexico University – just two months before the season begins. “It is what it is and we just have to put our best foot forward,” said Baca, who’s looking to hire a new coach by the end of next week. As of Monday morning, Ba...
Chris Elam described the scene as "utter destruction." "It was devastating for us just to see the mass destruction of that entire neighborhood, and just knowing people lost their homes and belongings and memories. There are pictures on the wall, you know, heirlooms, things like that," Elam said. Elam and about two dozen other Clovis firefighters spent parts of last week helping fight the fires that forced evacuations of Ruidoso and much of Lincoln County. CFD's focus was to...
Shocked. That’s the word Clovis High School Athletic Director Lonnie Baca used Monday to describe the sudden departure of Wildcats head football coach Andrew McCraw. McCraw told school officials last week he’s leaving for a coaching position at Eastern New Mexico University – just two months before the season begins. “It is what it is and we just have to put our best foot forward,” said Baca, who’s looking to hire a new coach by the end of next week. As of Monday morning, Baca said CHS was looking at seven candidates....
At times it's easy to forget Clovis' Cristiano Ortega is just 8 years old. He can read nutrition labels. He recently did the Murph – a brutal CrossFit workout challenge – for fun. He doesn't play video games. And last Friday he won his second straight U.S. championship in double mini in Minnesota. Yet, here was Ortega, an elite gymnast, a week before his victory on the family's backyard trampoline staring at a tiny spider. Some fear in his brown eyes. But mostly curiosi...
This Monday afternoon, Initium Health will be meeting with Clovis city officials for an update on the proposed Regional Behavioral Health Facility. The agenda for the meeting, set for noon to 2:30 p.m. at the Clovis Civic Center, calls for updates regarding a “Phase 1 crisis triage center overview,” “financial projections and funding resources” and a wrapup discussion. Kate Bailey, a member of Initium Health, said the center, set to be located on West 21st Street south of Plains Regional Medical Center, has no schedul...
Last week, Andrew "Ranger" Kielak added Clovis to the list of cities he's trekked through as he attempts to walk across the U.S. It's a journey that started in March in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and will span 3,000 miles, ending in Southern California. And along those 3,000 miles he'll unearth wisdom, have life changing experiences – he completed The Big Texan's 72-ounce steak challenge in Amarillo – and raise thousands for three different non-profits: Future Farmers of Ame...
Editor’s note: This is one in a continuing series of interviews with local officials. Andrew McCraw is beginning his third year as Clovis High’s football coach. Q: What’re your overall thoughts on last season? A: We were excited where we finished the regular season. We kind of struggled early, and then we figured it out. We were waiting for some guys to develop a little bit. When that happened we went on a little roll. We were undefeated in district, won a district championship and had an awesome comeback in the distr...
Offensive lineman J.D. Crumby understands the sacrifice of spending time in Clovis – 739 miles from his Arkansas home – while attempting to become a pillar of Lyons College; an National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in Arkansas. Back home, a chest day for example, would feature him using a typical bench press. But here in Clovis, he's relegated to using a Smith Machine bench press at the local Planet Fitness to continue his training. Without the option of a fre...
With high stress, relatively low wages, a constant risk of dying and a negative societal perception, fewer people locally and nationally are becoming police officers. But the way Rylie Courtney, one of four newly sworn Clovis Police Department officers, sees it, the risk is worth the reward. “I just like going in and taking somebody on their worst day and trying to do whatever it is I can to help them,” she told The News. CPD, which has witnessed a steep decline in applicants partially leading to being understaffed, wan...
The experience of a lifetime. That's how Realtor Tammy Waters described working on the HGTV reality show House Hunters. The episode called "Space to Showcase in New Mexico" will show Waters helping Vinny Hall find a place to live. It airs at 8 p.m. Thursday. "A single buyer looks to move so he can be closer to family in Clovis," the show notes report. "He's looking for a stylish bungalow with space for all his stuff, but he may need to get out of his comfort zone and price...
While sitting in the Guy Leeder Complex bleachers at last weekend's Guy Leeder Invitational, Roger Jackson nodded to the field. "This kid right here, (No.) 27," Jackson said. Jackson, who helps run Clovis USSSA softball, was making the point that this "No. 27" likely never got to experience the legend that is Guy Leeder – the man who transformed adult softball in Clovis from a 1960s hobby to a cultural phenomenon – and that's why holding the tournament was so essential...
Editor's note: This is one in a continuing series of interviews with local officials. Kevin Fite was recently named athletic director at Eastern New Mexico University. He most recently worked at Oklahoma State University where he was senior associate athletics director for compliance. Q: What was the hiring process like? A: I was looking for an opportunity, and I live in Oklahoma and I was wanting to stay as close as I could to my daughter who attends University of Oklahoma....
Recently graduated Clovis High School girls' basketball star Zarai Lewis is sandwiched between two points in time: A few months removed from being the Wildcats' top scorer and shot blocker for the third straight year. A few months until she begins her next chapter at New Mexico Junior College. If Lewis can succeed at NMJC and collect a Division I offer, she can show young Clovis hoopers that it is possible to go from this rural town to the pinnacle of college athletics. "I...
Another Roosevelt County resident appears headed to the state Senate as the District 27 representative. Pat Boone, an Elida rancher, edged Roswell attorney Greg Nibert by 101 votes Tuesday night in the Republican primary. Roswell's Larry Marker was a distant third, more than 1,500 votes behind the others in a race that saw 5,653 votes cast. Results are not official until each of the district's five counties approve them and after the state's canvassing board meets June 25....
Sporting sleek aviators and a Draggin’ Main T-shirt, Sherri Wilson pointed to a parking spot while strolling down Clovis’ Main Street. “Right there,” she nodded. At a Draggin’ Main event in 2021, this spot was occupied by a bottle-nosed 1932 Ford Coupe and Wilson’s father Wiley talking to its owner for several hours. The classic whip was just a vehicle for them to stroll down memory lane. “His face just lit up,” Sherri said. After Wiley passed away more than a year later, the...
Eastern New Mexico University officially unveils its new outdoor Fitness Court at a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. today near the campus tennis courts. Open 24/7, and made for anyone 14 and up, the court features apparatuses aimed to target each body part -- pull up bars for back, boxes for step-ups to strengthen legs and a ladder for agility drills among others. It was made possible in partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico and National Fitness Campaign, officials said. The National Fitness Campaign designed...
