Steve Rooney made eastern New Mexico a better place

I was in the Dora School auditorium in 2009 for a student assembly when I heard a familiar voice behind me — a voice I'd heard many mornings on the radio, often engaged in light-hearted banter, but always one of the first to have information on local weather, school closings, happenings in the community.

I turned around and introduced myself to Steve Rooney.

I had met his wife Julie and the four kids ahead of that, but had not yet crossed paths in person with Steve. His daughter, Cat, was a third-grader that year, the twins William and James were in first grade, and Conner Mac was in pre-school. (Cat will be 16 next week, William and James celebrated their 14th birthday two weeks ago, and Conner is 12.)

In that first short visit, Steve made the transition from radio personality to friend. His exuberant love for his family, his children's school, and this entire community immediately endeared him to me.

The news early Sunday morning of his death is still hard to grasp. I know I'm not the only one who read it hoping it was yet another crazy stunt being pulled by Steve and his longtime best friend, business partner, and radio sidekick, Duffy Moon; a wait-for-the-punchline moment that would help them raise money for Secret Santa, draw in donations for Hartley House, or provide publicity for another of the many good causes Rooney Moon Broadcasting has embraced in 14 years of airtime on four local stations.

Steve's loss to this community is staggering, and he's been remembered all week for his contributions to local, state, and national broadcasting. But it's his roles as husband, father, and (stick with me here) "hype coach" that will endure.

Although Steve grew up in Cork, Ireland — 4,591 miles from Portales, if you're counting — and came to this area via southern California, he took to eastern New Mexico like a duck takes to water ...or maybe like a tumbleweed takes to a barbed wire fence.

Julie said when Steve and Duffy decided they wanted to strike out for themselves in radio back in 2002, they had three criteria: to stay west of the Mississippi River, live in "small town America," and find "a community where we could raise our children."

When they saw an ad for stations for sale in the Clovis/Portales area, "it met all three criteria," Julie said. "It was perfect. It was meant to be."

The first time they drove through Portales, Julie said, "I fell in love with the town square, and that's why we live here."

When they arrived, Cat was a toddler, and Julie was pregnant with the twins. Conner, "who completed our family in a way we never knew we were missing," came along shortly after his brothers.

Steve soon had a dizzying number of commitments in and out of the radio station, but as his kids grew up, he made it a priority to be involved and present in person for every activity of theirs he could make.

"If he could rearrange his schedule, he'd be there," Julie said. "He would pre-tape shows so he could attend events for the kids."

When he was invited to coach a city league football team for his sons, Julie remembered that "Steve said, 'I'm an Irish guy - I know nothing about football'." The other two coaches had shirts made identifying themselves as "head coach" and "line coach." Steve's shirt said — fittingly — "hype coach" because extravagant promotion was his cup of tea.

At basketball and baseball games, Julie said Steve — who had never played organized sports — would stand up and yell, "Hey boys! Don't suck!"

He spent the last day of his life coaching his daughter Cat and the rest of the news production team for Dora School's Business Professionals of America to a second-place finish at regional competition in House. He was thrilled that the team, fueled by his breakfast burritos and pep-talk texts, had qualified to advance to state.

It has only been weeks since Julie and her business partner Mary Strong Newell have opened The Happy Place, a new business of their own on that same square that first enchanted Julie when the family arrived.

Julie said Steve was skeptical when she first talked about a shop with candy and yarn and baked goods, and he challenged her throughout the process, but in the last six months, he'd "come around 180 degrees" about it.

"It was typical Steve," she said. "He always supported whatever I wanted, and always wanted to give me everything, but he had sneaky ways of pushing me to do it correctly, and just make me smart about it."

A woman of faith, Julie said, "I honestly think God's timing is everything." She hopes the new business — which Steve blessed with flowers the day it passed inspection — will help keep her "busy, focused, and connected with this community."

I hope so, too.

Steve Rooney made eastern New Mexico a better place for us all, and it is still too soon to even imagine life without him. I guess at some point we can place an ad: "Wanted: hype coach; but be warned ... you have very large shoes to fill."

Betty Williamson wishes like the dickens she had no reason to write this column. You may reach her at: [email protected]