Portales, NM – September 27, 2024– Eastern New Mexico University will recognize its 2024 Homecoming Honorees at the 48th Annual ENMU Foundation Homecoming Breakfast on Saturday, Oct. 5, at 8 a.m. in the Campus Union Ballroom. The annual banquet will present awards from the ENMU Alumni Association, ENMU Foundation, and the ENMU Educator Hall of Honor.
“It is a privilege to recognize great alumni, supporters, and friends of ENMU,” said James Johnston, ENMU Chancellor. “This is a truly distinguished list, and I appreciate all they have done and continue to do for ENMU. I look forward to congratulating them in person and celebrating their awards.”
The 2024 ENMU Foundation Honorees include the Business of the Year award to the Roosevelt County Electric Cooperative, the Philanthropist of the Year award to Darwin and Patricia Ludi, and the Volunteer of the Year award to Steve and Carol Henderson.
The Roosevelt County Electric Cooperative will be awarded 2024 Business of the Year. Since starting in 1987, Roosevelt County Electric Cooperative has awarded 900 scholarships totaling $1.5 million to students graduating from high schools in Roosevelt County. ENMU students have received $392,000 in scholarships from RCEC since 2010. RCEC has also contributed over $57,000 to ENMU to support Athletics and Rodeo.
Darwin and Patricia Ludi are the ENMU Foundation Philanthropists of the Year. The Ludi family has a longtime connection to ENMU, as eight of Patricia’s family members over three generations have attended or graduated from ENMU, with several family members competing in cross country and track and field. Their generosity and support of ENMU led them to designate their trust to one day provide ENMU with approximately $3.5 million to benefit their established scholarships.
Steve (MBA 77, BBA 58) and Carol Henderson (MBA 81, BS 58) are the ENMU Foundation Volunteers of the Year. ENMU has always been a significant part of the couple’s life. Steve has been a member of the ENMU-Roswell Foundation Board since 2009 and president since 2016, providing scholarships and other financial support for students at the Roswell campus. Never forgetting how their time at ENMU in Portales changed their lives, the couple founded an endowed scholarship and included ENMU (Portales) in their estate plans.
The 2024 ENMU Alumni Association Honorees include the Outstanding Alumnus Award, awarded to Cindy Schlenker Davies and Tom Mangham; the Distinguished Service Award, awarded to Glenn Johnson; and the Honorary Lifetime Award, awarded to Larry Hays.
Cindy Schlenker Davies (BS 80), the Outstanding Alumni Award winner, showed early that she had a knack for feeding many people while attending Eastern New Mexico University. She used her cooking skills at the Christian Campus House—her “home away from home”— for various functions in her career. Cindy has worked in many facets of home economics, including nutrition, food preparation and preservation, child development, and consumer education. She eventually joined New Mexico State University’s Cooperative Extension Service Office in Albuquerque, where she spent 17 years as the family and consumer sciences agent and program director.
Tom Mangham (BS 67), the Outstanding Alumni Award winner, had a successful and rewarding career in education. Starting his career in Portales, NM, Tom was recognized for implementing a Big Brother/Big Sister program, after-school recreation, and Junior Olympics programs for students in Portales Elementary Schools. Tom later moved to California, where he was principal of Golden Springs Elementary from 1980 to 2006. During his career, he was awarded the California Physical Education Administrator of the Year and California Site Administrator of the Year. He also earned Lifetime Achievement Awards for academic excellence and school leadership.
Glenn Johnson (MS 84, BSE 81), the Distinguished Service Award winner, owns Coach J’s BBQ Shack in Portales. His business has allowed him to continue giving back to the community. Johnson has served as a guest lecturer for culinary arts classes at ENMU, showing students the fine art of preparing and serving barbecue meals. He also prepares meals as fundraisers for the Habitat for Humanity of Curry and Roosevelt counties.
Larry Hays (MA 67, BS 66), the Honorary Lifetime Award winner, currently has the tenth most wins in NCAA college baseball history, finishing his storied baseball career with 1,508 wins between Lubbock Christian and Texas Tech universities. As a result of all this success, Larry has been inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame, the NAIA Hall of Fame, the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame, the National College Baseball Hall of Fame, the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame, the Texas Tech Hall of Honor, and the LCU University Hall of Honor. His number is retired at Texas Tech, and the baseball complex at LCU is named for him and his family.
The ENMU Educator Hall of Honor will welcome Steve Baldock as their newest member. Baldock (MME 81, MM 81, BME 75) went on to a rewarding career through stops as a band director in Morton, Texas, Roswell, and Clovis, New Mexico. In 2002, he was named administrator for Clovis’ After-School Program and administered the funds for the 21st Century After School federal grant. He was the principal of James Bickley Elementary School from 2005-2008 before returning to teaching music and retiring in 2010.
For more information on the Alumni and Foundation honorees being recognized at the 48th Annual ENMU Foundation Homecoming Breakfast on Saturday, Oct. 5, please visit www.enmu.edu/Homecoming.
