"To the world's greatest trainer." - From former UTEP and NBA great, Tim Hardaway in a dedication to his former coach.

You can't get there from here, or so they say.

Actually, sometimes you can. When the athletic braintrust at New Mexico, consisting of Rudy Davalos, Dennis Franchione and Dave Bliss decided that they wanted the best athletic trainer to be found back in 1994, they made an offer that Dave Binder couldn't (shouldn't) refuse.

And like the Corleone family before him, it is all about what is best for the family, is it not? Still, he almost balked at the change of scenery.

Deeply torn and somewhat acquiescent about the decision, the only thing that he knew for sure was, if the old coach told him not to go, then he was staying put in El Paso. I think that his reluctance probably had something to do with that old family loyalty and stubbornness that had carried his father through World War Two and beyond.

Seems I was right.

"I will never forget this, Jimmy," Coach Binder says shaking his head, "I felt awful even making such a decision. I reluctantly told Coach Haskins that I was 'kind of' considering the New Mexico job, but it was going to be all up to him. He looked at me straight in the eyes - in that fierce way that he had, and said that if he were a younger man, he would never let me take the job.

Then in the same breath, he told me that I just had to take the job. 'It is a great job,' he had said. And Jimmy, it probably turned out to be the greatest thing that I ever did for my family and myself was to come to the University of New Mexico. It worked out the best for all concerned. Don would have never ever, steered me in the wrong direction, and I knew that."

Other than the fact that Coach Haskins was in the twilight of his career, he obviously placed a high value upon you and yet did not want to hold you back from something that might be positive for your career.

What other factors might have gone into his thinking?

"It was certainly the money," says Dave Binder, "but I think that he realized - as I did too, it was a much better opportunity for me at the University of New Mexico. Both for retirement purposes and for the educational purposes of my children - those were the major factors."

"Now let's just say," Binder adds with a wink, "that had I been single at the time with no children, then I would probably have remained at UTEP. In fact, I would probably still be there to this day.

Your family though, has to come first. In the big picture of what the University of New Mexico could do for me and what UTEP was willing to do for me -it was simply not there. It was no contest."

Both UTEP and UNM are pretty much floating in the same financial pond. What possibly did UNM have to offer that UTEP did not?

"Well, as we were of course, living down here in New Mexico at the time," Binder begins - completely stunning me.

Say what?? After countless hours in person and on the phone interviewing Dave Binder, I had never even had an inkling of that!

"You don't even know the half of it Jimmy!" Michelle Binder says, neatly brushing the menfolk aside. "On one side of the street was Texas, and on the other side was New Mexico. We lived on the New Mexico side of things, so I guess it all worked out. I'm a Texas girl you know, but I have lived in New Mexico far longer than I have in Texas."

Wow. Looking on a map right now, Anthony is almost like a suburb of El Paso. Must of made Dave's commute from work pretty easy.

"It certainly did," says Michelle. But when my daughter won the Presidential Scholarship to come to UNM, the stars just seemed to align for us. Soon after that, I was telling Jennifer that her folks would be following her to the University of New Mexico as Dave had been chosen for the Head Athletic Trainer position."

Okay, Mr. Binder. You really pulled a fast one on me here, leaving Michelle to explain how you were in two places at one time!

Laughing good-naturedly at my surprise, Dave exclaims, "Somehow, I guess that we just missed that part! As my wife just said, we had some acreage outside of Anthony, New Mexico and that was where we had settled down. Michelle and myself, we just never liked the city life."

Sounds kind of like an episode of "Green Acres" to me.

"Well, you should know," a grinning Binder retorts, alluding to me living on the far eastern edge of the state. "But when my daughter - who was the salutatorian at Santa Theresa High School, won that scholarship to New Mexico, it made things pretty simple. If she would have gone to UTEP, we would have had to pay out of state tuition and everything else."

I can certainly see how that would influence your decision.

"Yes, those were all factors that played into my decision," Binder agrees. "Also, the coaches down here made me feel like they really wanted me. Not that the coaches at UTEP didn't, but it just made perfect sense. That is why I became a Lobo."

How does such a job process work in college athletics? Did someone call you, or did you simply throw your name into a hat?

"I didn't throw my name into any hat at all," Binder replies. "They contacted me about the position. Was I interested in coming to the University of New Mexico - that sort of thing. Kevin Faulkner was an assistant coach for Coach Fran over here at New Mexico and he had been an assistant coach at UTEP before that. I think that was probably one of the factors, as we had worked together before.

I also know that Coach Haskins called Coach Bliss after I had let him know about my interest in the job, and they talked about me also. After all was said and done though, I believe that Coach Fran was the one who really campaigned me for the job."

Had you met any of those three guys (Davalos, Franchione and Bliss) prior to their recruitment of you?

"Other than the former assistant coach at UTEP," Coach Binder says, "I had never met any of those other people. I had never even met a single coach at New Mexico when I first came down here."

So, walk me through the actual process once it became serious.

"In '95, we played New Mexico down here during the final game of the regular basketball season," says Coach Binder, "and Rudy of course, was going to be here as well. The next day - on Sunday morning, Rudy Davalos and Con Colbert picked me up in a car and I drove with them back down to Albuquerque.

We talked about all of the things that you might imagine. Athletic training and sports and Coach Haskins. I guess it was just a chance for them to feel me out and see what kind of person that I was. After that, they put me up in a hotel and the next day I met with Coach Fran (Franchione) first, talked to him and his staff and then went over to see Coach Bliss and his staff. Finally, all of the UNM athletic staff gathered in a conference room and asked me a few questions.

It was kind of anti-climatic for me actually, as I already felt certain that I had the job.

The only thing that could have prevented me from getting that job, was if Coach Bliss or Coach Fran had gotten some sort of "negative vibe" from me during the personal meetings that I wasn't a good person. Thankfully, that did not happen."

After all of those years trying to beat the hell out of us (metaphorically speaking of course), it had to feel pretty strange changing sides of the field.

"It was very bittersweet time for sure," says a reflective Dave Binder. "But life and growing up are always like that. In fact, I remember telling Dawn Hearn -who I had hired as my assistant athletic trainer down at UTEP, 'Dawn, after a few years down here, you might want to look around, because I am never going to leave here. This is the only job that I am ever going to take."

Famous last words...

"Exactly!", a laughing Coach Binder exclaims. "I am so proud of Dawn though. She has now been the Head Athletic Trainer at UTEP for 23 years and is one of the very best in the nation. It wasn't always easy going for her though. Back in those days, she was maybe just one of two or three female Head Athletic Trainers in the nation. But she certainly has made the most of it and earned the respect of her fellow trainers."

Sounds like you left things in good hands down there.

"I did Jimmy. I certainly did," Coach says with a huge smile. "She is very close to both Michelle and I and we consider her a part of our family. She was at both our sons and daughters weddings, for example. Along with Moe and myself, she is one of only three trainers in the Hall of Fame down in El Paso. There is no doubt that she is an outstanding athletic trainer and an even better person."

"I just love Dawn," chirps Michelle Binder. "She is like my sister. She has known my kids ever since they were little and watched them grow up. She has been at our children's graduations and their weddings. She has always been there for us and is a part of our family. In fact, we saw her just last week."

Where was that?

"At an induction into the UTEP Hall of Fame for the late, great Equipment Manager, Bob Rapanut," Michelle says."He was a great friend of ours, and so we wanted to be there for him. Dawn was there as well and so we all got together.

Even back when Dave first came to UNM if something ever came up, the two of them would talk about it and share their experiences. They weren't like rivals in the classic sense, but more like compatriots when it came to helping the kids."

That is the way it should be.

"Oh and by the way," English teacher Michelle adds, with a devious look in her eyes, "with the way that you two guys have been throwing your 'colorful' language around in this thing, I should have been keeping a 'swear jar' handy. Imagine the shopping spree I could have!"

Turning to Coach Binder with a raised eyebrow and feeling somewhat guilty of Lord knows what, I just shrug my shoulders.

"Oh, the hell with it!" he says - before bursting into laughter. "She has been threatening me with that friggin' swear jar for years! Funny thing is though, she still gets those damn shopping sprees!"

Feeling somewhat relieved, I try to steer this ship back on course, once Hurricane Michelle had passed through. So I ask him, what was it like to play against your protégé in those early years?

"Oh, we both wanted to win of course," says a grinning Coach Binder. "But it is different for athletic trainers. Our main concern is for the welfare of the athletes from both of the teams. Whatever we can do for the other in that regard, is exactly what we will do. There is no 'us or them' mentality when it comes to that. It is all about the kids. That is what we were born and sworn to do, and by gosh, you had better live up to that oath!

There certainly seems like there is a different dynamic between athletic trainers and head coaches sometimes in that regard. I mean, you are simply working on getting those kids home as healthy as possible - no matter which side of the ball they are on. Do the coaches always feel that charitable?

Taking a deep breath, Dave replies, "I wish that I could tell you that was always the case Jimmy. Remember when I told you that the kid always comes first? Well, sometimes, the coach thinks that he comes first, and that is not a good situation for the kids"

Sadly, big money has changed collegiate sports forever, I believe.

"With big money comes big pressure to win," Binder says. "Sometimes those guys forget about what made them coaches in the first place. And I can almost guarantee you, that it wasn't about the money for them in the beginning. Nobody puts in the time and effort required to get started in this game by expecting to get rich off of it. Like that commercial says, It is all about the love (at least initially)."

Indeed.

"But at any rate, it all worked out down here for my family. My daughter Jennifer, became a workstudy for the Tennis Club at UNM. My son became an equipment manager for the football team, which meant that him and I could room together on football road trips, which was pretty nice."

How cool is that?

"Pretty damn cool for this dad," a grinning Dave Binder says.

"Yeah, that was darn cool!" A buoyant Michelle suddenly corrects her husband, and avoiding our imaginary swear jar, which is quickly filling up. "Kyle has always had such a great relationship with his father. He was a ball boy for Coach Haskins and he was a ball boy for Coach Bliss. He grew up being around his father all of the time."

So let me ask you now, how cool was that?

"Pretty dang cool if you ask me!" Michelle near-yells, neatly dodging the swear jar once more, like Dontrell Moore in an open field. "You know, during his first year in college", Michelle says, "he would go in with his dad and come home with his dad. The next season he moved in with a couple of players from the team in Albuquerque. Do you remember Calvin McDonald?"

Yes. An offensive lineman for the Lobos.

"Well, he and Kyle quickly became best friends," Michelle relates. "Calvin later married Lady Lobo great Dionne Marsh - which I'm sure you have heard of. Well, Kyle became the Godfather of their daughter and Calvin became the Godfather of Nora, Kyle's daughter. They were each other's best man at their perspective weddings as well."

That is pretty doggone cool I say, purposely avoiding the swear jar at all costs.

"Yeah, but you sure as heck don't know this!" Michelle exclaims, while giving a 'thumbs up' to the imaginary swear jar. "While Kyle and Calvin were getting ready for another friend's wedding down in Durango (Colorado), Dionne went into labor down here in Albuquerque. David and myself stayed with her the whole time, until Calvin could get back to New Mexico."

What a great story.

"But oh my gosh, he got stopped by the cops a couple of times heading back here!" Michelle exclaims - while making sure that I noted her total avoidance of the dreaded swear jar. "He was telling the cops, 'I have got to get back to my wife! She is having our baby!'

Somehow, Calvin made it back here without hurting himself. I guess that you can tell by now that we have a rather large, extended family. Dionne and Calvin are a huge part of that family."


Sweating profusely from the Michelle-imposed gag order and hoping to speak freely once again, I turn back to Coach Binder and ask him, "During those first days at UNM, was there any animosity against you? The reason that I ask this is because I know that a couple of UNM athletic trainers had also put in for the job and were unhappy that they were not chosen instead."

"If the situation had been reversed," Binder replies, "I would have felt the very same way. I think that they only interviewed three people for that job. Myself,and the two then-current assistant trainers at New Mexico. Nobody likes to finish second, so that was to be expected. But it didn't take long for things to change. After the first year, one of those assistants left - I believe, to Fort Lewis. The other assistant stayed three or four more years and then retired.

When they left, I brought in new blood that had a philosophy similar to mine. Now, there was something else that happened about that time, which I should probably make mention of. There was this young lady in the offices (pauses to think) - I can't even tell you her name. She was a physical therapy assistant and she would come in and work with the athletes. That was all new to me, as we never did that down at UTEP. We worked with all of those athletes."

Somehow, I sense that this situation is not going to end up well.

Laughing, Dave says, "Well, we had had this football player who had to have his knee scoped. I had gone over with the doctor step by step what we were going to do for his rehab. The doctor agreed with our plan and that was going to be the protocol used for his recovery.

When this rehab was first being implemented, she came waltzing into the training room and in front of everybody - and I mean everybody. In front of the players, the coaches, the doctors and everybody else she barked, 'We don't do it that way here in New Mexico...we don't do it that way!'

I thought to myself, my God, what is going on here? The proper way to have done that would have been with just the two of us in an office. Then I could have explained to her our rehab plans and also that this was what the doctor wanted. Here I was, with over twenty years experience at this level, listening to a load of bullshit from a first-year assistant therapist who had just graduated from UNM! You never embarrass the Head Trainer in front of those kids. He is their security blanket!"

So, have they found her body yet?

Chuckling at this, Dave replies, "When practice was over with, I came back in and the doctors and the nurses were all still there. I told her that I didn't want her to come back - that was it. There was no way that I was ever allowing her back into that training facility. I then turned to all of the other medical staff -including my assistant trainers, and asked them if they had a problem with that decision. I told them that if a single one of them wanted to keep her, then we would. I had been with the team for less than a month at the time."

I think that it goes without saying, it must have been pretty quiet in there.

"Yeah, but the very next day," says Binder, "I got a call from her boss and I actually remember her name, her name was Janet Wood and she was in charge of their physical therapy department or whatever. She then asked me, 'Mr. Binder, have you ever made a mistake?'

'Yes Ma'am,' I told her. 'I have made a lot of mistakes, but the mistake that she made, I have never made and never will. We can't use her here anymore.'

Maybe that sent a message to everybody that they weren't going to bully me around or change my philosophy. If only she would have pulled me off to the side and talked to me for a second, this all could have been avoided. That made it a tough first month for me, though. I don't think that anyone went to lunch with me for a while after that (laughing)."

"David is just being very diplomatic," Michelle interjects. "He was just getting started here. He wasn't one of 'Tow's kids' as he was a total outsider - let's just put it like that. Everyone was really upset because they felt like one of Tow's guys should have been hired instead of him. It took David a good couple of months to fit in with the staff. I just never went there with that though, because it all just made me so mad! My husband is really good at what he does and it just took some time for all of them to come around."

With all of that jockeying for position, this change also meant that Dave Binder had to follow two National Hall of Fame directors in a row: Moe and Tow. That is, Ross Moore and L.F. "Tow" Diehm. Sure, there had been some interim HT's in between, but he ultimately succeeded them. I realize that nobody will ever have the same influence on you as Ross Moore did, but Tow must have cast his shadow over you in some ways.

"Jimmy, I don't know if there are any words to explain what a great athletic trainer he was," Coach Binder says. "Just like Ross Moore, he wore a lot of different hats during his career. Unlike Ross Moore however, Tow was far more into the politics of the university.

He pretty much knew everyone in the State Senate and in the House, and kept them sympathetic towards the needs of the university. The state-of-the-art training facility would never have been built without his impassioned pleas before the state government."

We certainly owe a lot to him.

"Yes we do," Dave concurs. "He was such a true gentleman and much-respected across the entire country. This will tell you just how much. The National Athletic Trainers Association had always held this big 'get together' during the summer every year. And they had always had this big event in huge metropolitan areas in the past. Well, he was instrumental in getting that event brought to little ol' Albuquerque, which will never happen again without a persuasive personality like Tow Diehm."

How cool. Yet another thing that I did not know about.

"Well, I don't think that you know about this either," Dave says with a mischievous grin on his face. "Him and Ross Moore were not just great contemporaries and adversaries, but they were also great buddies. They surely loved their Chinese food together!"

What the heck?

"Yeah, this happened every time the two teams played each other. Lord only knows how long they had been doing this. Even back when I was a student trainer, whenever Moe and I would fly into Albuquerque for our games against the Lobos, Tow would meet us at the airport and take us to our hotel rooms. Then he and Moe would go out and grab themselves some Chinese food! They pretty much did this everywhere that they happened to be together. Now, you would think that they would be going down to some hot, little Mexican food place instead - seeing as how they were both from the Southwest, but nooooo."

That is great stuff, Coach.

"There was this one Chinese place In Laramie, Wyoming that they both loved," Binder continues. "I think that it was called The Rose or something like that. It certainly wasn't Cowboy Joe's, (laughs) although I am sure that there are some great stories about that place as well!"

Tell me more about this Cowboy place (laughing).

I can tell you that Cowboy Joe's is the only place where I have ever seen a woman thrown out of a bar for being too rowdy! (we both laugh) That was a rough place to be in. If it is still open, I'll bet it is still rough!

But getting back to the point, Moe and Tow were two great friends who were birds of a feather. Even right down to their love of Chinese food!"

You mentioned the L.F. "Tow" Diehm Athletics Facility earlier. At the time, it was perhaps the finest facility of it's type in the nation. Was that a game-changer for you when you first saw it?

"It certainly was Jimmy," says Coach Binder. "It was truly state-of-the-art when it came first out. Even the BCS or big-time conferences as I liked to call them, didn't have anything quite like that. And Tow Diehm is completely responsible for that being here at UNM. Everything is taken care of and it is all in one place. To this day, I am still amazed by it.

I simply loved to talk to recruits about that place whenever they would come in. The kids only wanted to hear about their pads and their cleats and that sort of thing, of course. But the parents wanted to know how their kids would be taken care of in the event of an emergency. And we were just able to amaze them inside of that building!

There were X-ray capabilities in there as well as our own pharmacy. There were actual doctors there seven days a week during football season and that kind of thing was unheard of back then. The athletic trainers always saw the injured first, but if an athlete wanted to see the doctor instead, we always had one nearby.

Having those doctors there to look over what we had diagnosed sure was a blessing. We had the medicine there to take care of them and we had the doctors there to take care of them. It was truly incredible and it all goes back to the work of Tow Diehm.

He had the vision and the drive to see all of those things put under one roof at the University. I believe that he could see all of the changes that were then happening in the sports-medicine field and he had designed that facility with the future in mind."

That weight room also opened-up the possibilities for someone else - who was in my opinion the greatest weightlifting trainer in Lobo history, Mark Paulsen.

"It certainly did." Coach Binder says. "He was simply the best there was. Jimmy, Mark Paulsen was just as important to the Lobo's later success on the field, than pretty much any other person. There is no doubt about it in my mind, he was the best. He turned all of those New Mexico kids that nobody else wanted, into being the most feared defensive and offensive players that New Mexico has ever had.

The weight room is a place where you turn kids into believing that they are invincible. That is where your football team is made. It creates an attitude that they can't be beat. You teach them how to fight and not give up in the weight room. The biggest mistake that Mike Locksley ever made, was when he moved Mark Paulsen out of there. That was the dumbest thing that he ever did, among a great many other dumb things.

That was...hell, I am just going to say it. Tim Cass was in charge back then, and to move that Coach - they never even asked anybody, they just did it! But when Coach Locksley moved Coach Paulsen out and brought in some kid that didn't know what in the hell he was doing, that cost us everything! That cost us any hope of being a successful program. I can't emphasize this point enough. Mark Paulsen was the best.

And as far as I am concerned today, he is still the best. There is a certain tier in this business, and Mark Paulsen had managed to achieve the 'Master' tier of his chosen profession. To remove him from that weight room, oh man, that was dumb as hell. We were doomed after that."

Rudy Davalos never would have allowed to that happen, nor would he have hired some of these jokers in the first place.

"Oh, Rudy would have kicked some serious ass for Mark," says a laughing Dave Binder. But then again, we wouldn't have been in this mess to begin with!"

In many ways, you became a member of the team during the golden age of New Mexico athletic personnel - and I certainly include you within that elite group. SID Greg Remington is another former Lobo who doesn't get nearly as much credit as he deserves.

"No question about it," says Dave Binder. "He was a good one. Back then you didn't have three or four SID's running amok as you do here now. You just had Greg Remington. And he ran the show. Greg Remington did football. Greg Remington did basketball. Greg Remington did everything. He had an assistant that helped him, but that was pretty much it.

He ran all of those NC2A tournaments and he made sure that they were all done right. I mean, he was always on top of those things. Greg Remington was another one of those fellows who made the athletic department and Rudy Davalos look good. He was a pro and at the top of his game."

There is another all-time Lobo great that you went to work with back in '95, who needs to be mentioned here. I am talking about longtime Lobo equipment manager Rudy Garcia.

"Rudy, he was simply the best," Binder says. "And he was a special friend of Coach Rocky Long and myself as well. As much golf as Rocky Long played during the entire time that he was here at the University of New Mexico (and it was a lot!), I would say that he played more golf with Rudy Garcia and David Binder than anybody else!

For some reason, I am picturing scenes from the movies 'Caddyshack' and 'Tin Cup' after you said that.

"Not at all," says Coach Binder. "Well, maybe some of the time," he laughs. "We would tee off at the University golf course early in the morning. We would be the very first to tee off early in the morning and we would be done by ten o'clock. Sometimes long before ten o'clock. Often, they would let us in to play before they had even finished mowing the greens. We would be out there that early. Rudy and myself were always included whenever Coach Long wanted to shoot a few rounds.

Coach Long always had such a special feeling for Rudy - going back to when he was a graduate assistant here. They really went way back. But I think Coach Long liked playing with us because we didn't cheat! If I got a ten on a hole then I just got a ten on a hole - it was that simple. Now, we were certainly out there competing, don't get me wrong. We tried like hell to beat each other, there is no doubt about that."

So, who was the better golfer?

"We were all about the same," says Dave Binder, while swearing on his newly printed copy of Golf Digest. "Honestly, I think that we all subconsciously took turns winning and losing. But getting back to Rudy Garcia, just the hardest working and most dedicated Lobo you will ever find.

He was certainly a very knowledgeable equipment manager. If there was ever something special that I needed - for instance, if I had an idea for something, Rudy made it happen. Maybe a kid had a bad shoulder and I would ask Rudy what we could do to maybe give him a little more protection. Well, Rudy always had an answer, no matter what the task might be.

I would just turn it over to Rudy. He would bring the kid in and we would talk about it and viola! - Rudy would design a pad or adjust the pads or whatever the situation called for. I was just so fortunate that when I came down to New Mexico, we were all pretty much on the same page when it came to protecting the athletes."

So, how is he doing now that he is retired?

Lowering his head just a bit and wondering if perhaps he was speaking out of turn, Dave Binder looks into his hands - the hands that have cared for so many throughout the years and says, "Sadly, Rudy has had a very tough time since his retirement. His wife has lupus and he has diabetes which caused both of his legs to have to be amputated.

I wish that I could have done more to help him, but Rudy has always traveled to a beat that only he could hear. For instance, we haven't kept in touch the way that I would have liked. It has been kind of like when a wounded wolf goes off to his den to be alone - come what may."

My gosh, I had no idea of this.

"It wasn't just that Jimmy," Dave says almost in a whisper. "He has had such a hard life that nobody even knows about - except for his friends, who also know that he was a military veteran prior to becoming an equipment manager. We all love him and miss him though. Even with his constant bragging about the New York Yankees and the University of Michigan!"

With a sad smile forming on his face at the memories, Dave adds, "But most of all, we will miss him with that 9-Iron of his out on the 18th hole. That and his total 12-hours a day - 7-days a week, dedication to the University of New Mexico. Trust me Jimmy, they don't make them like Rudy Garcia anymore and they probably never will."

Hard for me to add anything here, except to say that he was a hard working man in the Detroit mold. The narrative you convey in these chapters is full of everyday heroes such as he. What was it about such men?

Thoughtfully considering the question, Dave replies, "I guess that we all just worked our asses off back then. But make no mistake about it, we had fun. We all liked being around each other in that department and we did things together that they just don't do anymore. Comrades down in the trenches. That was what we were back in those days."

"This is such a difficult subject for us," Michelle says. "Frances (Rudy Garcia's wife) told us, 'It is all in God's hands now, and if he takes us, then he just takes us.'

You know, David is really just so sensitive. That really needs to be said here. When his mother passed away, one of her very best friends and myself were the ones who spent the most time there. David just couldn't bring himself to tell her it was okay to go. He will hang on to those people for dear life! One of the hardest things that I ever did was to tell his mother that everything was going to be all right and that David was going to be taken care of.

David simply loved his mother so much, that he wasn't willing to tell her that, as he himself was not ready to let go. The nurses had asked him to tell her that it was okay to let go, but he just couldn't do it. He never gives up on anyone."


Humbled and amazed by all that I had just been told and not wishing for it to be relived upon her son, I asked Coach Binder if we had left out anyone whom he had worked closely with at the University of New Mexico as Head Trainer.

"We certainly did," Dave Binder smiles. "But I wasn't going to let you go without talking about him. This guy was the most important one of them all. Gavin Bevis was the Director of Football Operations when I got down here and he was in charge of every little detail that you can imagine. From study hall, to feeding the kids and making the travel arrangements, he did it all.

He even made sure that the program kept within their budget. Just about anything and everything that you could think of that dealt with Lobo football. He and I worked closely together on almost a daily basis. It was just that type of a job and friendship. He and I were both on the Senior Staff together, back when that was a part of the athletic department."

So is there no longer a senior staff department at New Mexico?

"Well, when the new people came in," Binder says - referring to Paul Krebs and Mike Locksley, "Mark Paulsen and myself were demoted. Gavin got to stay on for a while until Coach Davie came, but then he too was removed from that particular group.

Now, it was certainly an honor to be on that and to participate in the day-to day processes."

Not to derail this train as I so often do, but that seems to really show the importance that Rocky Long placed upon you guys.

"No Jimmy," Coach Binder corrects me -while straightening himself up in his seat to emphasize the point. "Rocky had nothing to do with that. It was all Rudy Davalos. He made those decisions. I was a part of it from the day I got there until the day he left."

Would I be remiss if I asked if it got more political when he left?

Carefully considering this, coach replies, "Jimmy, I think that every administration wants to do things differently (and hopefully better) than the way it was done before. I don't think it was personal. I think that they just wanted to make things in their own design. I didn't take it personally as a vengeance deal or anything like that."

Just the normal business of college sports?

"Exactly," Dave explains. "Absolutely. It just comes as part of the job."

Well, before I so rudely interrupted you like some jackass (Michelle shakes the imaginary swear jar at me, demanding more money), you were talking about Gavin. I have a feeling that there is a lot more that you'd like to say about him.

"Jimmy," he begins in earnest, "I don't believe that in my lifetime, I have ever met an individual that was as loyal to an athletic department, and especially, the football team, than Gavin was. He was a miracle-worker, that guy. He was able to get things accomplished through his many relationships in the community that were simply incredible.

For instance, he was able to get people to donate meals to feed the team at night and things like that. He was able to build relationships with those people and get things done, which didn't affect our budget in any way. I can remember when he and I would go to Costco and load up on the necessities. He had borrowed a trailer from some construction outfit, and so off we went!

We would get to Costco, and load up on Gatorade, for instance. We would fill that trailer up and take it back to the university so that it would be available to all of the players the next morning."

Hearing how seemingly simple things like that actually work in the athletic department is purely amazing to me. Somehow, I never saw two senior staff members having to make a trip to Costco for Gatorade.

"That is just the way it works for a school of our size," Binder says, rather matter-of-factly. "Gavin always got the things that needed to be done, done. Here is a story about that which comes to mind. We were playing the Air Force Academy and it was an early (10:00 AM) game. I always got up early to make sure that the people at the hotel always had our breakfast or pre-game meal correct and ready to serve.

Usually, we would eat the pre-game meal about four hours before the game. Being a 10:00 game, we moved that up to 7:00 AM as we did not want the kids getting up at 5:00 AM or something like that. Well, the hotel got our itinerary all screwed up and there was no cook -nor was there anybody else there to seve us or anything like that.

So, my student trainers and myself set up all of the tables. Then Gavin and I cooked the entire pre-game meal by ourselves for the team (I can't help but laugh!). We just ran into the kitchen and went to work!

Were there any hair-nets or plastic gloves involved?

"I can't really say," says a laughing Dave Binder. "But the bottom line was, we won that game. Gavin's job was to make sure those players never had to worry about anything but playing the game. The coaches never had to worry about those sorts of things, of course. While they were still in their hotel rooms, my staff - along with Gavin and I, were making sure that the players were being fed properly.

It really wasn't that unusual of a deal for us. We were used to being the 'plumbers' on the team who got things done. And we certainly enjoyed being those two guys together."

That is really neat that you guys could count on one another whenever there was a crisis for the team.

"It really is - it really is," says Coach Binder. "But you know what? We can still count on each other to this very day just like family. That being said, I think that the New Mexico Lobos football team were Gavin's only real family. Brian Urlacher and all of those guys did a lot of things for that program later on simply because they just loved Gavin Bevis.

Like I said earlier, he is probably the most dedicated individual that I have ever met during my career. He carried those teams on his back in more ways than one and nobody but those kids ever knew about it. I hope that this story changes all of that, because he truly was an unsung hero for the Lobos."

I certainly never knew what a key role he had played for us. Hopefully, everyone else will realize it now.

Michelle, Do you have anything else to add to this before we end the chapter?

"As a matter of fact I do," Michelle says with a determined look upon her face. "That 'swear jar' business that you concocted is making me look pretty silly. Truth is, I am twice the outlaw of both of you two put together!"

Quickly looking towards Dave for help, who was doubled over with laughter, I suddenly realized that I was in this one alone. Taking a deep breath, I asked her, An outlaw eh? What could a former cheerleader and longtime English teacher possibly do to earn such notoriety?

"It is in my genes," she replies, calmly for once. "Do you remember that 'Corleone' reference that you made at the start of this chapter?"

Yes, I answer cautiously.

"Well, my father actually was in the Mafia!"

Flabbergasted, I looked to Dave once more. Wisely offering no moral support, he simply nodded his head in the affirmative and grimaced.

"My dad was originally from New Jersey," Michelle says, "and you know what that means. Anyway, that is where it all got started, I believe. Our family didn't know anything about his Mob ties until he passed away and I was in my thirties. Someone called our house right after he died and told my mom that if she ever needed anything, all she had to do was ask. We started to figure things out from there."

Sounds like a Scorsese movie. Did you ever find out exactly what it was that he did for La Cosa Nostra?

"My dad was fluent in Spanish," she says, "and he was a bodyguard for a prominent mobster who was over in Mexico hiding from the Feds. His name was Sam Giancana. Ever heard of him?"

Yeah, he is one of the more famous ones I say, still somewhat in disbelief. How did he keep it so secret from his immediate family all of those years?

"Well, we moved around a lot," Michelle replies. "I went to like fourteen different schools in Colorado, Arizona and Texas. We never had a phone during that entire time, and my dad was a 'milkman' (laughing). We still don't know a whole lot about what my dad did during those days, but we do know that the person who called my mom was later assassinated and was in the papers for a long time."

That is incredible.

"I think that dad just really fit in for them at that particular time", she says. "He was really dark-skinned as his family was from Greece and he spoke Spanish fluently, which certainly would have been an asset down in Mexico. So, now you know the whole story. David Binder married a Mafia princess, but he didn't know about it at the time and neither did I! (laughing)

But I have to make one thing perfectly clear here. My dad was a great dad - no matter what he did to support us. He loved us unconditionally and insisted that we all go to college and every single one of us did. So, can you boys keep the swearing in here down to a minimum now?"

Yes ma'am I say, not wishing to get whacked.

Chapter Four: Red or Green?

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