Garley administered Little League with fairness, passion
To know the “Metro Burger” was to know Cliff Garley. It was the prized concession item at any Santa Fe Metro Little League game, and Garley was the one who put it on the map. While Garley wore many hats with the league, including a stint as its president, it was his work on the grill that set it apart from others. Garley, who also was the District 1 administrator for the state Little League during a 38-year career from 1960-98, died Nov. 22 at the age of 80 in Los Lunas.
“It was a super duper burger,” said Bill Sedlacek, who lived in Los Alamos for 31 years and umpired Little League games in the region before moving in 1997. “People used to stop by Metro and ask for them to take home. They were that good.”
Francisco Guerra, who replaced Garley as the district administrator, said Garley’s passion in making the burger was merely an extension of his passion for helping kids. And he went about whatever his job was with the same ardor as he did in making his burgers.
“He took pride in how he made the Metro Burger and how they had to be cooked to his specifications,” Guerra said. “He made sure everybody who did that was trained properly and did it the right way.”
It was the same way when it came to his job as district
administrator, as he oversaw 11 leagues to help ensure they were operating within the bounds of the Little League handbook. He emphasized to league presidents, administrators and coaches the importance of knowing the rules — because it was the kids who could pay the price for violations. Guerra recalled Garley had to rule players ineligible twice.
“He was very fair, but strict,” Guerra said. “It was by the book and he followed it pretty closely. He expected the presidents to do that, as well. When they didn’t, I think that’s what bothered him the most. When the leagues didn’t follow the rules, at the end of the year, it falls on the district administrator to make the hard decisions that impact the players, and he did not like that very much.”
Mark Diener, who worked with Garley as a high school ref and a Little League umpire, said Garley’s greatest passion was Little League, adding that he spent much of his waking hours in the spring and summer on a diamond. He did this even though he worked as a purchasing agent for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. His dedication helped him earn a spot as an umpire for the 1985 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
“The biggest star in his sky was his passion for Santa Fe Little League baseball and the countless hours he put into it,” Diener said.
Garley’s reach went beyond Little League. He also was a referee for high school basketball and football games in Northern New Mexico as well as an umpire. Danny Lujan, a former official who was a regional basketball assigner for the New Mexico Officials Association, said Garley was a part of a group of local officials who helped him learn the ropes when he started officiating in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
“He was one of the better officials around,” Lujan said. “He was a Little League ump, but him, Dickie Rodriguez and Rick Gutierrez were the guys back then. They had the Babe Ruth leagues at the time, and it was really big in Santa Fe. So, that’s how they recruited guys to officiating.”
Garley was born in Belen in 1939 and lived in the area until 1960 when he took a job with the New Mexico State Land Office before moving on to Game and Fish. He earned an accounting degree at the College of Santa Fe in 1974 and eventually started his own business, Piñon Nuts, in which he sold piñons at various outlets across the state.
Services will take place at 8:30 a.m. Friday at San Clemente Catholic Church in Los Lunas.