Seven tabbed for ENMU Hall of Honors

PORTALES — Eastern New Mexico University has announced the selection of seven individuals to its Hall of honors class for 2022.

The inductees include current ENMU president Patrice Caldwell, Larry Chavez (track), Earl Diddle (men’s basketball), Lauren Frye (volleyball), Becky Meek Lewis (rodeo), Luis Quinones (baseball) and Heath Ridenour (football). They will be recognized during Homecoming weekend, with ENMU’s football team slated to host Central Washington on Oct. 1 at Greyhound Stadium.

Caldwell has been at ENMU for more than 40 years. Prior to becoming the university president, she served as an assistant professor, a program director, a dean and chief of staff at ENMU.

Chavez, who qualified for NAIA national competition in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track in the late 1970s, is a member of the Rio Rancho H.S. Sports Hall of Fame and the New Mexico Activities Association Hall of Fame. A graduate of Las Vegas-based Robertson H.S., he has served as an athletic director at multiple schools across the state.

Diddle coached ENMU men’s basketball from 1987-97, posting a career mark at the school of 156-124. The second-winningest coach in program history, he is one of two coaches to lead the Hounds to at least nine double-digit-win seasons, and in 1992-93 paced ENMU to a 23-7 record and a berth in the NCAA Division II South Central Region final.

Frye earned All-LSC recognition four times and as a senior helped the team post a 19-13 record, earning all-region and All-American recognition in the process. Frye, who finished with 1,402 kills in her career, is one of two ENMU volleyball players to earn Lone Star Conference offensive player of the year recognition.

Lewis was a member of Southwest Regional championship teams in 1980 and 1981, including an NIRA national championship in 1981, and later served as rodeo coach at ENMU (1998-2000). She is retired after spending 27 years as a teacher in the Melrose school system.

Quinones, a 2013 ENMU graduate, led the baseball team in hitting in 2012 at .374 and was third on the team the following season with an identical mark. Primarily a leadoff man, he spent most of his college career in center field but also made two starts at shortstop and 42 in left field for the Hounds.

Ridenour, who also played some basketball at ENMU, was All-LSC three times in football and earned the Division II national player of the week award after a 37-34 victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville when he carried 31 times for 294 yards and four touchdowns. The Lovington native coached at Clovis and Portales before leading Rio Rancho Cleveland to a 96-18 record and four large-school state championships over 10 seasons, and now serves as the quarterbacks coach at the University of New Mexico.