Retired New Mexico lawyer, NMSU alumnus is an inspiration to many

Seventy-three years ago, Albert T. Gonzales Sr. lost his eyesight due to a diving accident. At first, he said, he thought it was the end of the world. But the retired Santa Fe attorney made no excuses and moved forward with his life.

Gonzales, who lost his vision at 17, was the first blind person to graduate from New Mexico State University, then New Mexico A & M; the first to earn a law degree from Georgetown University School of Law in Washington, D.C.; and the first to be admitted to the New Mexico Bar. He became a hero, a leader and a fixture in New Mexico courtrooms.

Gonzales received an honorary doctorate during New Mexico State’s Fall 2002 Commencement in recognition of his service to the disadvantaged and his contributions in public office.

His career is legendary not only for the famed cases that threw him into the media spotlight, but also for the pro bono work he did in his community.

“That’s what kept me so busy,” he said. “I catered to people that needed help who couldn’t afford to pay.”

Most of Gonzales’ pro bono work was with domestic and bankruptcy cases. He said he dealt with more than 8,000 domestic relations and about 3,000 bankruptcies.

“He was a legal aid before there was legal aid,” said Carmen Gonzales, his daughter and vice provost of distance education at New Mexico State. “He gave away a lot of his services. I think that he and my mother set really good examples for being successful, yet caring and giving, people.”

Two events that highlight Gonzales’ career are the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case and the Reies Lopez Tijerina case. The Rosenbergs were arraigned by Gonzales when he was serving as a judge in Los Alamos. The couple were bound over to a federal court in New York, found guilty of espionage and executed.

He was the only attorney of record for Lopez Tijerina, a 1960s Mexican-American Civil Rights leader who led the raid on the Rio Arriba Court House.

Though Gonzales has been blind for most of his life, he has never felt more handicapped than anybody else.

“There are approximately 220 million people in this country and 220 million of them are handicapped,” he said during a 1980 speech to the graduating class of Menaul High School. “If there was such a thing as a human being without a handicap, he could only—like Buddha—sit and contemplate.”

Gonzales was born in 1912, a son of a pioneer family in Lincoln County whose forefathers fought on the side of Billy the Kid. He attended Menaul High School in Albuquerque and Las Cruces High School. He married Virginia Quintana in 1944 and they had three children: Albert Gonzales Jr., also an attorney; Virginia Moench, an educator with the Santa Fe Public School system; and Vice Provost Carmen Gonzales.

His career in public service includes being a state representative for Dona Ana and Santa Fe counties and a judge in Los Alamos. He served on the Santa Fe School Board, the Santa Fe Board of County Commissioners, the New Mexico State University Board of Regents from 1950 to 1954, and on the Board of Regents for the New Mexico School for the Visually Handicapped.

Jeany Llorente ’00

Women in space film features NMSU astronomer

Remember the Mercury 13? French journalist Myriam Elhadad may be too young to remember the early days of the space program, but she’s done her research. That’s why she and a French film crew spent a day at New Mexico State University in the fall as they worked on a television documentary about women in the space program.

Astronomy Professor Bernie McNamara—to Elhadad’s delight—not only remembers the Mercury 13, he researched and wrote an article about the women who were tested by NASA in the early 1960s, and the Congressional hearings that explored the thencontroversial issue of women as astronauts. The article won first prize in the Boeing Griffith Observer Science Writing Contest in 2000 and was the basis for a chapter in McNamara’s book, Into the Final Frontier: The Human Exploration of Space.

Elhadad learned of this through an Internet search and eagerly got in touch by e-mail.

“We are precisely doing a documentary about these women!” she said as she prepared to interview McNamara and visit two of his classes, where she was joined by director Rebecca Boulanger, camera man Aymeric Alardet and sound man Arnaud Lavaleix.

The French crew is preparing the documentary for a satellite TV channel called Planete, which they described as the European equivalent of HBO. They traveled from East Coast to West interviewing some of the key players from the Mercury 13 drama. McNamara added another dimension.

“What is interesting for us is to have a historic point of view on that story,” Elhadad said. “We would also like to show that there is a university teacher who makes a lesson on them. This is important to show that they are not forgotten.”

For those who don’t remember, and haven’t taken McNamara’s Astronomy 308G class, none of the Mercury 13 became astronauts. Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the world’s first spacewoman, in 1963. It was two decades later that Sally Ride became the first American woman in space—as a mission specialist crew member, not as a pilot. Not until 1999 did a female astronaut, Eileen Collins, fly an American spacecraft.

Typically, said director Boulanger, English versions of Planete documentaries are created for the U.S. and international markets.

Karl Hill

Melvin A. “Tommy” Thomas, 1903-2002

Former Engineering Dean Melvin A. “Tommy” Thomas died June 24 at the age of 99.

He was born near Newcastle, Neb., on Jan. 5, 1903.

Thomas came to New Mexico State University, then New Mexico A & M, in 1931. In his 40 years at New Mexico State, he served as a professor and head of the Department of Electrical Engineering, and dean of the College of Engineering.

He was named a Distinguished Faculty Member by the New Mexico State Alumni Association in 1972. That same year, the university dedicated Thomas and Brown Hall in honor of Thomas and his longtime colleague Harold “Prof” Brown.

Thomas was a life fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and a life member of the American Society for Engineering Education. He was a member of the New Mexico State Electrical Board and chairman of the El Paso chapter of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

He is survived by his wife Edna Dahl, his two sons, Stanley and Roland, a stepson Don Rierson, two stepdaughters Barbara Dahl and Beverly Petersen, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Former athletes inducted into Hall of Fame

Two former New Mexico State University studentathletes and the 1938-39 men’s basketball team were inducted into the Citizen’s Bank Intercollegiate Athletic Hall of Fame on Feb. 8.

Leo Barker was a member of the Aggie football team from 1979 to 1983. He was a starting linebacker every year he played and was second on the team in tackles his junior and senior seasons. At New Mexico State, Barker racked up 378 career tackles; enough to place him number four on the all-time Aggie list.

Barker was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round of the NFL draft in 1983. He played for the Bengals until 1992, when he retired. Barker was an integral part of the Bengals’ nickel-package defense. In 1989, Barker helped lead them to a league best 12-4 record and an appearance in Super Bowl XXIII.

Vanessa White Johnson was a member of the Aggie volleyball team from 1988 to 1991. Johnson is the university’s alltime leader in kills with 1,551. She also is the all-time leader in attack attempts (4,326), kills per game (3.62), most kills in a game (35), and most attempts in a game (87). She also holds the record for most digs at the Pan American Center in one game (32). Johnson is the second volleyball player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The 1938-39 Aggie men’s basketball team had a spectacular year, going 20-4 and 14-2 in Border Conference play. The team advanced to the postseason as they were invited to the National Invitational Tournament in New York City. The Aggies went 1-1 in the tournament, beating Roanoke 55-52 and losing to Long Island 52-45.

Head Coach Jerry Hines, who is already a member of the Hall of Fame, compiled a 157-109 record while at New Mexico State, enough to place him third on the all-time Aggie coaching list.

Members of the 1938-39 team included Joe Jackson, Frank Kozeliski, Melvin Ritchey, Pecos Finley, Kiko Martinez, Bob Sims, Otis Horton, Angie Cunico, Tom Hartigan, Otis Shows, Bob McAdams and Morris Wood. Barker, Johnson and the 1938-39 men’s basketball team will join 81 former student-athletes in the Hall of Fame.

MBA to be offered to China and Mexico

The College of Business Administration and Economics at New Mexico State University has developed a partnership with universities in China and Mexico to provide distance education to graduate students in those countries.

In the fall, the business college signed contracts with the Northern China Jiaotong University and the China Academy of Railway Sciences in Beijing, China, and the Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Under this program, New Mexico State faculty will be able to travel to these cities to teach courses in the MBA program and send instruction through WebCT.

The China project allows students to take one course per month. Professors will travel to Beijing and spend four intensive days there each month. This will be the only face-to-face contact students will have with their instructors. Faculty traveling to Mexico will teach four weekends a semester in Chihuahua, while students attend New Mexico State one weekend a semester.

The program is expected to be launched by the end of summer 2003. About $2 million is expected to be garnered from tuition fees from both contracts.

Jeany Llorente ’00

Aggie volleyball has 20-win season

The 2002 New Mexico State University volleyball season was the program’s 11th 20-win season and coach Mike Jordan’s first.

The Aggies finished with an overall record of 26-7, losing only two conference matches. They won their second consecutive Sun Belt Conference division championship and Western division title. The Aggies were also named conference tournament runner-up.

They began their season with two losses at the University of North Carolina Tournament to UNC and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. They went on to win their next eight matches, including championships at UW-Green Bay and Borderland Invitational tournaments.

The Aggies entered the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as second seed, behind Western Kentucky University. WKU was the only team to defeat the Aggies at home and the only team to beat the Aggies twice in the 2002 season.

After the final match of the season, Jordan said, “I am happy with our effort. We did play outstanding volleyball.”

Football team undefeated at home field

The last time the Aggie football team had such a successful season it was 1967. During 2002, the team won seven football games and defeated all challengers on their home field.

The Aggies began their road games at the University of South Carolina with a 34-24 loss. The following week they were defeated by the University of California at Berkeley and sophomore quarterback Buck Pierce’s shoulder was injured.

Pierce was sidelined for the next game against the Aggies’ in-state rival, the University of New Mexico. Replacing Pierce was freshman quarterback, Paul Dombrowski, who rushed 136 yards in his first collegiate start, leading the team to a 24- 13 victory over the Lobos.

In Athens, Ga., the Aggies were defeated by the eventual Southeastern Conference champion Bulldogs, and had to return to prepare for another rival game against the University of Texas at El Paso. The Aggies beat the UTEP Miners, 49-17, winning the Rio Grande trophy.

The next victory against the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State gave New Mexico State a chance at the Sun Belt conference championship. It also gave Aggie football its first undefeated home football season in more than 30 years.

The team then challenged the University of North Texas for the right to represent the conference in the New Orleans Bowl, but several forced turnovers late in the game saw New Mexico State outscored 38-27.

The final game of the season was against the Vandals in Idaho. The Aggies prevailed, 35-31, and secured their seven-win season.