NM SPORTS HALL OF FAME NEWS RELEASE

The New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame will be inducting the class of 2024 on Sunday, June 29 at the Albuquerque Convention Center, in Albuquerque, New Mexico at 6 p.m.

Former rodeo star Roy Cooper, gold medal Paralympian Alana Nichols, former ENMU Greyhound football player and NFL Pro Bowler Mike Sinclair, former NMSU Aggie football player and NFL Pro Bowler Fredd Young, and former ENMU Greyhound football player, former golf coach, and golf agent Steve Loy will join the other 173 New Mexico sporting legends in the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame.

Roy Cooper – The former Hobbs, New Mexico native, who passed in the spring of 2025, is a former American professional rodeo cowboy who competed in Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) events for over two decades.

Inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1979, Cooper was part of the Hall’s inaugural class enshrined in the category of Tie-Down Roping. For his skills in calf roping, he acquired the nickname “Super Looper”. The Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame calls Cooper “one of the most dominant ropers in the sport’s history.”

Cooper also won the 1976 PRCA Rookie of the Year, the 1976 and 1980-84 PRCA calf roping world championship, the 1983 PRCA steer roping world championship, the 1983 PRCA all-around world championship, and the 1992 PRCA Texas Circuit calf roping championship.

Alana Nichols– Originally from Farmington, New Mexico, Nichols is a world-class athlete with a passion for challenging herself and others. From a young age, her passion for sports and adventure has driven her, and no matter what obstacle life throws her way, she takes a challenge head-on. After suffering a spinal cord injury at age 17 while attempting a backflip on her snowboard, Alana quickly transitioned to adaptive sports. She is the first American female to win gold medals at both the Summer (Wheelchair Basketball) and Winter (Alpine Ski Racing) Olympic/Paralympic Games.

Nichols’s impressive career includes a 2008 gold medal from the Paralympic Summer Games in basketball, two gold medals in downhill and giant slalom, a silver medal in the Super G, and a bronze medal in the Super Combined at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.

She continued her success as a 2011 NWBA National Champion, a 2011 Colorado Sports Woman of the Year Recognition, the 2011 Paralympic Athlete of the Year, the 2011 World Champion in the Downhill Super G, and the 2014 silver medalist in the downhill at the Paralympic games in Sochi, Russia. In May 2014, Nichols was inducted into the Warner Bros. “Superman Hall of Heroes” in the inaugural class of real-life heroes.

Michael Sinclair– a 1991 graduate of Eastern New Mexico University, Sinclair was a 1990 AP Little All-American Team member and a 1989 & 1990 First Team All-Lone Star Conference team member. He finished his career at ENMU with 279 tackles, 45 tackles for a loss, and 30 sacks, leading to his induction into the ENMU Athletics Hall of Honors in 1996.

Sinclair was drafted in the 6th round of the 1991 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. He played 10 seasons with the Seahawks and one season with the Philadelphia Eagles, with 353 tackles, 73.5 QB sacks, nine fumble recoveries, and two touchdowns. Sinclair ended his career as the second-leading sack artist in Seahawks history, having the most sacks of any other member of the entire 1991 draft class and the NFL leader in sacks in 1998 with 16.5, which led him to be a 1998 NFL defensive player of the year finalist.

Sinclair was recognized over his career with three Pro Bowl selections, as CBS’s greatest draft pick of the modern NFL at #155 and was one of the four greatest-value NFL Draft picks in Seattle Seahawks history. He was also selected as being on the Seahawks’ all-time GOAT Team, the Seahawks’ all-time team, and was named one of the Seahawks’ Top Ten Defensive Players of all time.

Fredd Young – a 1984 graduate of New Mexico State University. Young was a 1981, 1982 & 1983 First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference member, a 1983 Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American Team, and a 1983 Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American team member while amassing 400 tackles during his four-year career at NMSU. These statistics led him to be inducted into the NMSU Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Aggie Legend Ring of Honor in 2007.

Young was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1984 NFL draft with the 76th overall pick. Young made his name for himself as a special-teams player early in his NFL career, making the NFL Pro Bowl in 1984 and 1985 as a special-teams player. He continued his impressive career with consecutive Pro Bowls in 1986 and 1987 as a linebacker. Young finished his career with the Indianapolis Colts, amassing 601 tackles, 21 quarterback sacks, and three interceptions.

Young was recognized after his career concluded by the Seahawks by being named to the 2010 35th anniversary team, and in 2016 was honored as one of the Top 40 players of all time in Seahawks history.

Steve Loy – Loy, originally from Albuquerque, graduated from Eastern New Mexico University in 1974 and was the team captain on the 1972 and 1973 Greyhound Football teams.

After college, Loy began a successful career as a collegiate golf coach and athletic administrator. Loy started his career at Scottsdale Community College as the head golf coach and a professor. He continued his career as an associate athletic director and head golf coach at the University of Arkansas and finally moved to Arizona State University as their head golf coach. Since 1992, he has served as the president of Gaylord Sports Management, Lagardere Unlimited, and SportFive (presently the largest golf sports agency in the world, operating in 41 countries on five continents).

As a college coach, Loy was a three-time national coach of the year, coached three NCAA National Championship Teams, and his 1990 Arizona State University Men’s and Women’s teams were the only teams to win National Championships together in the same year. The dual-team win is the only time this has been accomplished in NCAA history.

Loy has coached or managed over 40 All-Americans, eight Ryder Cup players, seven national champions, four US Amateur champions, and two number-one professional golfers worldwide, including Hall of Famers Phil Mickelson and Davis Love.

The New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame induction gala will also feature special recognitions for individuals and teams who have brought honor to the state of New Mexico over the past year.

Also, the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame will award three scholarships to high school student athletes, as well as make donations to ALS New Mexico, the Boys and Girls Club of Central New Mexico, and the Coach Mike Papa Brown MSA Scholarship Fund during the ceremony.

Limited tickets are still available for the gala on Sunday, June 29, at 6 p.m. at the Albuquerque Convention Center and can be purchased today by visiting www.NMSHOF.org/events.

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