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Thursday, July 10, 2008

Estancia AD Retires A Class Act

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      This is what I know best about Mike Draper: He is straightforward, always honest and sincere.
    Yes, Draper got a little burned out toward the end of his five-year stint as athletic director and director of discipline at Estancia High. But at age 57, that kind of thing can happen to a hard-charging guy who gave it his all during a 35-year coaching career.
    I certainly knew I was tired after 21 years, 10 months and 21 days spent as a career Marine. It hit me in my last year or so as I sat in a tent in Pohang, Korea, that I needed to retire, that I must retire.
    I just didn't have the same drive as I had had the previous 20 years, physically and emotionally. And I knew I needed that internal impetus to be successful and to be fair to my fellow Marines.
    Draper fathomed that in himself, as far as being in school administration was concerned, as well. So, he retired with his last day on the job being June 30.
    But that doesn't mean it's all over. One can go on to other things.
    For Draper, there are probably other teaching and coaching gigs in his future. He said he wants to do that at some juncture, and I know, in my heart, that he still has something to offer in the educational field.
    For the students and athletes, at the very least, he can lead by example in the integrity department. But I know Draper has “had it”, as he puts it, with being a part of the administration.
    Draper is a good man. And he had quite a coaching career, with a lot of positive highlights.
    He was an offensive lineman and a deep snapper for New Mexico State University's football team from 1971 to'72 after playing at center and tackle for Navarro Junior College in Corsicana, Texas, in 1969 and '70 and earning all-district honors as a tackle at Fort Worth's R.L. Paschal High School, from which he graduated in 1969.
    By 1973, Draper was a full-fledged New Mexican. He was a graduate assistant under Aggies coach Jim Bradley in 1973-74, and he coached at Lynn Junior High in Las Cruces for four years beginning in 1974.
    He earned a bachelor's degree from New Mexico State in secondary education, majoring in physical education with a minor in social studies in 1974. He also acquired a master's degree in educational management and development from NMSU in 1979.
    Draper went on to Las Cruces' Mayfield High in 1978, where he was the junior varsity football coach for six years and the varsity coach for 10. Some of his best years, as far as records and postseason successes are concerned, were during his time with the Trojans.
    “In 1987, we had to beat Las Cruces (High's Bulldawgs) because of a tie,” he said. “We had to win by something like 10 points or more, and Cruces was heavily favored. And we did it. We got into the state playoffs.
    “That team, the '87 team, had to be the highlight of my career…,” Draper continued. “We upset Alamogordo that year.”
    Roswell High, with Bradley now the coach of the Coyotes, ultimately defeated Draper's Mayfield squad 29-7 in the state Class 4A championship game that year. His former mentor edged him out at yet another crucial point.
    “I was let go at Mayfield,” he said. “Bradley got the job back. Then, Larry Miller and Jim Gray were up here (in Moriarty). They told me, 'You should come here and see this place.'”
    So, after a year teaching P.E. at East Picacho Elementary in Las Cruces, Draper and his family moved to Torrance County.
    He was a volunteer assistant coach for Moriarty's football team in 1994. He was the Pintos' head coach from 1995 to 2002.
    “The highlight at Moriarty was the season when we went to the playoffs and played at (Las Vegas) Robertson,” Draper said. “Injuries and illness hurt us that game. Roper Arnold (a linebacker) got sick on the way up there. And I moved some linemen around. In hindsight, I probably should have stayed with our original game plan. Sometimes, you outsmart yourself.”
    The best of his football moments at Estancia, for which he was the coach from 2003-05, came early.
    “Estancia beat Santa Rosa my first year,” he said. “That was big. We really played well that game. But that was the last time we fielded that team. We had injuries, illnesses and some of the players had other commitments. That may be the hardest I've ever seen a team play, regardless of where I was at.”
    There were administrative successes at Estancia while he was the AD, too.
    “At Estancia, we added C-team basketball at the high school and middle-school baseball and softball,” Draper said. “We have A and B (hoops) teams at the middle school in eighth-grade and below. We added quite a bit of programs.”
    Draper was the throws coach for the Bears' boys track and field team that won back-to-back state Class 2A titles in 2006 and '07. He also served two terms as president of the New Mexico High School Coaches Association.
    Draper and his wife of 32 years, Elaine, will remain in their home in Moriarty.
    His daughter, Rebekah Richard, and her husband, Nathan, live in Eunice with Mike's four grandchildren: Stanton, Charli Mae and twins Sadi Belle and Cadi Marie. Rebekah was a Lady Pintos' soccer and softball player.
    Michelle Barela, his daughter, lives in Estancia with her husband, Jonathan. Michelle played soccer and ran cross country at Moriarty.
    Jonathan played football for his future father-in-law at Estancia. Nathan played for him at Moriarty.
    Then, there's D.J., his son. The two-time state Class 4A javelin champion, who started at quarterback for Mike's coaching successor at Moriarty, will be a sophomore track and field athlete at Eastern New Mexico University in 2008-09.
    “God's directing our paths,” Mike Draper said.
    Harold Smith can be reached by phone at 823-7104 or by e-mail at hsmith@mvtelegraph.com.>   

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