Daughter of Isotopes player to run for UNM track team
An Albuquerque Isotopes alum is sending his offspring back to his former stomping grounds, sort of.
Ryan Little, the daughter of former Isotopes utility man Mark Little, announced on Twitter this week that she has committed to run track for the University of New Mexico next school year. Ryan is a senior at Tompkins High School in Katy, Texas.
She posted a trio of pictures to mark the occasion, one of which is her being held up in her dad’s right arm at Isotopes Park. Dad’s in full uniform, joined by Ryan’s mom and brother. Another shot has her in front of the stadium (eyes closed) looking into the sun while posing under the giant bat marquee near the front entrance.
Little (the big one) played parts of four seasons in the majors, logging 148 career games with the St. Louis Cardinals, Colorado Rockies, New York Mets, Arizona Diamondbacks and Cleveland Indians. He had four at-bats with the D-Backs in the 2002 National League Divisional Series.
His big league days were behind him by time he got to Albuquerque in 2005. His career ended in ’06 at the age of 33, but at least it was a solid ending as he hit .291 with three home runs, 30 RBI and an OPS of .824.
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Former Eastern New Mexico All-American Jeff Howard has been added to the coaching staff of the Cleveland Browns. He will coach defensive backs and coordinate the passing game defense.
A Portales High graduate who got recruiting interest from Division I programs like New Mexico, Indiana, Colorado State and TCU, to name a few, he chose to stay home at ENMU largely due to his dad, Mike Howard, who was then the Greyhounds’ offensive coordinator. His high school girlfriend and future wife, PHS hoops legend Laci Lee, was also recruited to play basketball at Eastern.
Jeff blossomed into the team’s top defensive player his final two seasons, leading ENMU in tackles as a junior and senior in 2003 and 2004.
He is no stranger to the NFL. He was an assistant with the Minnesota Vikings from 2013 through last season but made the move to Cleveland when the Browns recently hired former Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski to be their new head coach.
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While the basketball community in general was stunned by the death of Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant, there were eerie parallels that seemed to honor him.
Peñasco’s Carly Gonzales scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds (both Bryant’s jersey numbers during his career) in a 69-47 win over Pecos on Monday. Thursday’s Capital-Santa Fe
High boys basketball matchup saw the two teams play to a 24-all tie, and the moment was documented and memorialized on Twitter and Facebook.
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Big No. 78 is coming closer to home, but not close enough to make Lobo fans happy.
Former Cleveland High star Henry Hattis — who was born in Santa Fe — announced Thursday that he is transferring from Stanford to Arizona State to complete his college football career. The 6-foot-6, 300-pound offensive lineman will be eligible to play immediately as a graduate transfer after earning his undergraduate degree in political science while still a Cardinal.
Hattis was New Mexico’s top football
recruit coming out of high school, helping the Storm win the big-school state championship in 2015. Not once in his senior season did he allow a sack. He earned three varsity letters with the Storm but was also a basketball player and thrower in track and field.
His dad, Bill Hattis was a baseball player in college at Miami and his sister, Sara, was a basketball player at Texas.
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The Abreu tradition continues. Chloe and Art Abreu Jr. announced Tuesday the birth of Art Abreu III. He is the couple’s first child, but he has a big legacy ahead of him. His grandfather is Art Abreu Sr., a 1977 Taos graduate who coached for 12 years at Las Vegas Robertson before returning to Taos as an assistant coach under his son.
Art Abreu Jr. played under his dad at Robertson from 1999-2001 as well as at New Mexico Highlands University. A 2013 NMHU graduate, the younger Abreu took over as head coach at Taos in 2014 and led the Tigers to a Class 4A title in 2018.