For a quarter-century, Española Valley track and field athletes were guided by the patient hand of coach Lawrence Naranjo.
And now, 15 years after he stepped down as the track and field coach, the school’s track where so many Española athletes honed their skills under Naranjo’s tutelage, will bear his name.
The long-time coach was honored during the Sundevil boys basketball game Saturday against Capital.
“I’m very appreciative of the kids who have spearheaded this,” Naranjo said. “I was very surprised when it came up. They didn’t let me know until they had already done the footwork. It’s a heck of an honor.”
The move was probably long overdue, Española Public Schools Superintendent Carl Marano said.
“Dedicating the high school track in the name of coach Naranjo is a great gesture by the Española Public Schools Board of Education and it is well deserved,” he said. “Coach Naranjo had an impact on so many student athletes and his service will be remembered forever.”
Naranjo credited former Española athletes Andres Valdez and Miguel Valdez with helping make it happen.
And it all kind of goes back to what he always taught his athletes.
“There’s nothing you can’t accomplish if you work hard, believe in yourself and know that you’re just as good as anybody else,” Naranjo said. “If you believe, you can achieve.”
He also taught at the school, helping students develop a love of engineering and autocad programming.
“I had a lot of good kids,” he said. “The kids I had, they became engineers working at the labs and around the nation. I’m proud about that.”
They also had an impact on the school’s look, a legacy that endures to today.
“We had this one guy, I was doing my (yard) duty at the high school, and he looks around and said this school looks like a prison,” Naranjo said. “The appearance wasn’t very nice. So we jumped into the situation, getting money from a grant out of Santa Fe and my kids in autocad, we designed the landscaping. We designed the portal in the front of the school and the landscaping in the back area. And we did the work. It took us five summers from six in the morning until 2 p.m. during the summer days. We made the appearance of the school look a lot better. We made it look more like a home environment.”
Naranjo graduated from Santa Cruz High School before attending New Mexico Highlands University, where he walked on to the cross country team and ended up qualifying for the National Championships three of the four years he was there.
Naranjo’s tenure with the Sundevils also included 30 years as cross country coach until he retired in 2015 and under his leadership the Sundevils girls won the Class 4A state championship, the first in any sport in school history. He had a mini-dynasty going at the time, as Española reached the podium every year from 1992-1998, with a runner-up finish and five third-place trophies.
“It kind of woke up the Valley in a good time when they needed it,” he said. “Española never had a championship, so we made history by winning the title. If Española can do it, well, then a lot of other (Sundevils) teams jumped on the wagon and won state. It woke up a sleeping giant.”
He even coached a little girls hoops.
“Some years I was so busy going from one sport to another, it was overwhelming,” he said. “We’d go to state in cross country and then we’d immediately go into basketball and then right into track. It was really very interesting, but I like to be busy. I’m a guy who likes to get things done.”
After retiring from coaching, he remained on as a teacher for several more years before moving on.
“I was trying to wean myself from it a little bit at a time,” he said with a chuckle.
Now Naranjo plays a little golf and makes time for his grandchildren.
“I take care of the grandkids and work with them on sports and being a companion,” he said, adding he likes to tend to the grapes growing on his farm near the school.
“I accomplished a lot in my years,” Naranjo added.
Indeed he did, and now future generations will have a chance to embrace the legacy he created at Española.