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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Bear Has Experience at Wheel

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
          Duane Coburn, the activities bus driver for Estancia High School, has done a lot of things in his lifetime.
        The 1951 EHS graduate drove a 5-ton truck loaded with missiles as an Army corporal at Fort Bliss, Texas; worked for Mountain Bell, the phone company, for 15 1/2 years; and owned gas stations and an auto-parts store in town. And then he steered a truck over 2 1/2 million miles hauling fuel between Tulsa, Okla., and the Estancia Valley over several years.
        But driving the Bears' bus to away games might just be his original calling. Get this — he was the school's activities bus driver as a high school senior.
        "I think it was about a '47 Chevrolet," said Coburn, who has been married to his wife, the former Lorena Metzger, a 1954 Estancia grad, for 52 years. "I don't know how many passengers it held, maybe 20. I drove it the fall and spring of '50-51.
        Things are different now. The school administration wouldn't dare allow a student to drive a bus.
        "I don't even remember if I had a driver's license or not," he said. "I did the route and the activities bus."
        Coburn recounted a tale from his early bus-driving days that might have raised some eyebrows in the 1950s.
        "Once when I was driving, one of the girls came up to me and said, 'We've got to stop to use the bathroom.' That might not seem funny now, but back then you didn't talk about things like that."
        That's not all that's different.
        "Today, the kids get more privileges," he said. "When I went to school, I played sports, I went to work, and I went home. The farthest we went for a game was like Vaughn or Belen. Today, the kids get to go everywhere."
        Now, the Bears also make those trips in style.
        Estancia High has a brand-spankin' new Thomas Built activities bus, all gussied up in the school colors and the Bears' logo.
        "It's strictly an activities bus," Coburn said. "I've driven it about 250 miles. The football team got to use it first. We went for a (voluntary workout) scrimmage in Española with McCurdy on (July 17)."
        "But," Coburn emphasized, "it's no toy. It's a good bus. They say it sits 78, but it's more about 52. It is a bear. I don't know if it's the big mirrors or what, but it's tough to drive on narrow streets."
        Dusty Giles, the new EHS athletic director, said the school has had the bus, which is powered by a Cummins 300-horsepower diesel engine, for about a month.
        "I think it cost about $125,000," Giles said. "There are a few bugs to work out. We have six DVDs on it, and three of them work. But as far as the ride, it was great."
        The bus will drive down Estancia's main drag during the Old Timers' Day parade Saturday. The event starts at 11 a.m. and the bus will be on display after the parade, the school's new booster club president, Nick Sedillo, said.
        "We're going to put some athletes on the bus and ride through the parade," Giles said.
        Once a Bear, always a Bear.
        Coburn played mostly at fullback, but he also was a running quarterback at Estancia.
        "Me and (Charles McMath) were best friends," he said. "He was the quarterback, and when he was out, I was the quarterback. I had to come out when they were going to throw the ball. I was the first one to wear a face mask (instead of the old leather headgear) at Estancia. That's because a guy kicked me in the face and broke my nose.
        "We had a hell of a rivalry with Mountainair, not just in basketball, in everything," Coburn continued. "I don't remember going to state (playoffs). We were all together (in one class) back then with Highland and Albuquerque High. We never had a championship."
        Duane and Lorena Coburn have five grown children, all of whom graduated from EHS and continue to reside in Estancia. They include Donnie, Ronnie, Troy and Mike Coburn and Cathy Johnson. The couple also have 16 grandchildren, all of whom either are or were in the Estancia school system.
        Duane Coburn enjoys his job's benefits.
        "I love to watch the ballgames," he said.
        <i>Harold Smith can be reached by phone at 823-7104 or by e-mail at hsmith@mvtelegraph.com.<;/i>