The Silver Fox Comes Home: Gary Hveem Remembered as Family at Tiger Stadium

Former players and coaches from Gary Hveem's 10 Alamogordo teams gathered at Tiger Stadium to honor the coach who turned the program around. The current Tigers sent them home happy with a 48-7 win over Deming.

ALAMOGORDO — Thursday night lights belonged to Alamogordo, and for one evening they shone on a man who built much of what Tiger football still stands on.

Before the Alamogordo Tigers took the field against the Deming Wildcats, the school honored its senior football players, cheerleaders and the Gold Standard Athletic Trainers. Then, just before kickoff, the night turned to Coach Gary Hveem — "The Silver Fox" — who died Oct. 8 at age 86.

Twenty-eight players and coaches from Hveem's 10 Alamogordo teams came home to celebrate him. The reunion came together in less than three days.

A homecoming for Hveem's guys

The group posed for a team picture beneath the Tiger scoreboard. Then, as the Alamogordo Fighting Tigers headed into the tunnel, Hveem's former players and coaches followed them through it and onto Tiger Field.

They stopped short of the center logo — because, as every Tiger knows, you don't step on the Tiger. The current team formed a line and greeted each of Hveem's men one by one. A tribute to the coach rang out over the public address system as the alumni gathered for one more photo: "10 Years of Hveem."

The returning players were Deuce Sullivan, Michael J. Hopkin, Greg Lunsford, Tony Gonzalez, David Bailey, Dale Lindley, Billy Bagwell, Carlos Gutierres, Chris Sanchez, Chris Madril, Roger Romero, Jaime Rios, Jesus Macias, Mike Stringfield, Jimmy Gallardo, Doug Shoemaker, Steve Diehl, Bob Miller, Roger Black, Chris Rollerson, David Caraway and Herbert Delone. Coaches Robert Sepulveda, Joe Burton, Roger Sears and Art Lopez stood with them.

Healing an ailing Tiger

When Hveem arrived in 1976, the Alamogordo program was hurting. His predecessor had been let go after a 2-8 season, and the school picked a 35-year-old Iowan with a Norwegian name and hair already going gray — the source of the nickname that stuck for the rest of his life.

Hveem grew up on a farm in Osage, Iowa, served in the Navy and had gone 68-21-1 as a head coach at Iowa high schools. He was no stranger to New Mexico, having coached football and baseball at Eastern New Mexico in the early 1970s. He came to Alamogordo certified to teach physics, chemistry and biology, and he told his new players that past football experience wasn't required. That first fall, 20 boys who hadn't played the year before were on the roster.

The results came immediately. Alamogordo shut out El Paso Ysleta 7-0 in Hveem's first game, then beat Roswell and Goddard. At Artesia's Bulldog Bowl, the Tigers rallied from a 14-7 deficit with 37 seconds left, and quarterback Herb Delone — standing on Tiger Field again Thursday night — threw the two-point conversion that won it 15-14. Alamogordo climbed to No. 1 in the state's AAAA poll and finished 7-3, a stunning turnaround.

It was only the beginning. Over 10 seasons, Hveem's Tigers posted nine winning records and went 75-33-3. Twice they reached the AAAA state championship game, both times falling to Eric Roanhaus' Clovis Wildcats. His final team, in 1985, entered the title game 12-0 before losing 36-12.

More than a coach

Hveem never measured his work in wins and losses alone. After leaving the sideline, he spent a year with the New Mexico Activities Association, a decade as athletic director at Iowa City High School, and then another decade as the first athletic director in Rio Rancho Public Schools history, building that district's athletic program from scratch before retiring in 2007. Rio Rancho inducted him into its Hall of Honor in 2023.

His stated goal, at every stop, was to make athletics part of a student's whole education — a place for competition, integrity and honesty.

Coach Sepulveda and the staff

Robert "Bob" Sepulveda was one of the coaches who stood beside Hveem through the Tiger years, and he was there again Thursday at age 90, alongside fellow staff members Joe Burton, Roger Sears and Art Lopez. Vheem and Sepulveda remained lifelong friends and spoke as recently as a week before his death. 

A night worth remembering

The current Tigers made sure the evening ended the right way, dominating Deming 48-7.

Organizers thanked everyone who came out on short notice and said those who couldn't make it — because of travel or plans that couldn't be changed — were missed and in everyone's thoughts.

Hveem's family was close to the heart of the night: his wife, Fran — whom he had known since kindergarten and married in 1961 — and Jennifer Jennings, Josh, and Jacquelyn Hoover Hveem.

Photos above of the event were taken by Trisha Flores-Sullivan and Michele Trudeau Bagwell.

The silver hair turned white long before he retired. In Alamogordo, he will always be remembered as the Silver Fox of Tiger Stadium.

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