Sports a key factor in Junie Montoya’s life

RIO RANCHO — You’d have to look long and hard around Rio Rancho to find a bigger Kansas University basketball fan than 72-year-old Art “June” Montoya.

Rarely is this former city of Rio Rancho employee seen without his KU cap, and most of the time wearing his favorite team’s colors. Or you might see him wearing a green cap with a D on it — for his West Las Vegas Dons, teams he played for in his high school days.

Those football teams were darn good: In his sophomore and junior seasons (1968 and ’69), playing wingback and defensive halfback, the Dons were undefeated until they met Lovington in the 2A championship games — a 58-20 loss in ’68 and a 46-14 loss in ’69.

In the spring with the WLV track and field team, he ran the two-mile (now the 3,200 meters), “the 650 — there was no 800 then,” he said — and anchored the Dons’ medley relay team in the spring, happily recalling a school record for the two miles he broke as a freshman at a meet in Fort Sumner.

“They didn’t have anybody to run the two-mile, and coach asked if I could run it. I told him I didn’t know what it was. He said eight laps … I ran it and, I’ll be damned — the whole team was there, talking, ‘Junie, you can break the record.’ At the finish line, every time I’d run by, and they were giving me encouragement to give it more. And I did.

“Some things you do, you never forget,” he said, knowing that’s one of them — more than a half-century later. “If you have a dream, follow it.”

And now, Junie — he says there were a few other Art Montoyas when he was growing up in Las Vegas, New Mexico, hence the nickname for Junior — is a Hall of Famer. He was raised in Las Vegas by his grandmother, and he still honors a promise he made to her: “Born a Catholic; die a Catholic,” he says. “I do not miss Mass.”

Montoya once played Little League baseball, and after he turned to track and field in the spring with the Dons, he later played fast-pitch softball, still claiming slow-pitch softball is too boring.

In early May, Montoya learned the Hutchinson Los Lobos/Warriors men’s basketball team he played on a few decades ago is being enshrined in the Guadalupe Centers Hall of Fame. Guadalupe Centers was the sponsor for the basketball and fastpitch softball teams he played on, mostly with the same fellows.

The annual Mexican American Basketball Tournament there has been held for more than 70 years; the 71st running was held the weekend of Cinco de Mayo in Kansas City, Missouri, where his teams were honored.

Los Lobos won championships in every city they competed, often led to victory by team captain Vince Ramos, dubbed the “Mexican Iceman” by his opponents. He averaged 25 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists per game, and had two brothers as teammates.

In the written document about the team, Montoya was described as a “lightning fast 2 guard,” which brings a smile to his face.

He’s got numerous memories of those days, playing hoops in Hutchinson, where he headed after graduation at WLV in 1971, finding there a strong Latino community.

He spent eight years living and working in Hutchinson, where he was an engineer on a diesel locomotive in the yard. He might still be there, if not for the memory of a tornado that chased him back to his hometown, where he spent a year working security on the New Mexico Highlands University campus.

That’s where he met his wife, then Lisa Tapia, who was an NMHU student. He soon found a better job in Albuquerque, and after marrying Lisa, the two moved to Rio Rancho, where they’ve lived in the same house for 45 years.

Because he’d at one time been a social drinker — you may know how softball teams celebrate wins and drown away losses — he learned he was having problems with his pancreas: “It shut down on me” one Easter.

“It caught up with me,” is how he looks at it. It’s been a few decades since his last drink, and he returned to good health after he started riding a bike. “It was a rude awakening, but it was a blessing.”

Montoya worked for the city of Rio Rancho for 30 years; there was a time in his life when he’d ride his bike 30 miles at least three times a week. This year, he said, he’s logged 400 miles since December.

He had been a competitive bike racer for a while, often teaming with former Rio Rancho City Manager James Jimenez on biathlons: Jimenez would run five miles, Montoya would ride 25 miles and back to Jimenez, who’d run the final five miles to the finish line.

“My goal was to retire from a good job, have a nice home and have a family,” he said. “And it happened. I did it and I’m proud of it and I love my daughter and my grandson and my wife. Everything turned out pretty good.”

His daughter, Angelica, raised her son, Ethan Hampsten, like she’d been raised. Ethan played football for Rio Rancho High School, with Junie watching him every chance he got, where he graduated and then — like his grandparents — headed to NMHU for his schooling and to play football.

Montoya is a volunteer for NMAA during the football and basketball seasons, which allows him to go to any game he wants to see. Often, you’ll see him in the Cleveland High pressbox at Storm football games, or at a table courtside in the Thunderdome, but if there’s a big WLV game, he might be on the road. At the state track and field meet in the spring, he’s a paid official for the shot put.

Sally Marquez, executive director of the New Mexico Activities Association, said she’s appreciative of all the work Montoya has done for her organization.

“Junie has been a staple. You know, we have these people that are staples at our state track meets and events, and that is Junie,” she said. “It’s fantastic that he has been honored and awarded, and I’m very excited for him. He’s a gem.”

In Junie’s words: “I don’t have no regrets; life has been good to me, and I take it as it comes.”

That’s a great philosophy for a life well lived.