A time to reflect: Hall of Famers reminisce at awards ceremony

WINDOW ROCK – The wait is finally over for Alvin Begay Jr.

The Ganado running legend earned his first hall of fame honor as he was recently inducted to the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame.

“It’s a lifelong dream of mine to become a hall of famer,” the 64-year said. “I am very honored and blessed to receive this recognition.”

Begay was one of many inductees that were honored in a ceremony held Sept. 9 at the Canterbury Park Expo Center in Shakopee, Minnesota.

The other Diné inductees that were honored at the induction ceremony included basketball great Ryneldi Becenti, sportscaster icon LA Williams and running sensations Angelo Baca and Edison Eskeets.

The five individuals shared their stories with the other inductees and Begay talked about his life growing up on the reservation.

“In my younger days we didn’t have transportation, so I used to run to the post office and trading post for my mom,” Begay said. “That is how I started running.”

That trek took roughly an hour as he ran eight miles round trip. Another time, Begay said he ran to the hospital so that an ambulance could come get his sister who was going into labor.

“She ended up having a girl,” he said of his late sister Rosita Salabye.

Begay also reminisced about his college days when he earned Second-Team, All-American status in cross country in 1982 while attending Haskell. A year later, he earned that same distinction for indoor track.

“I got to see my college coach Terry Tuckwin and some of my running friends,” Begay said of Donny Belcourt, Maurice “Mo” Smith, Mike Danny, Becki Wells-Staley and Eskeets.

“He couldn’t stop talking,” his wife Wanda said. “They were all laughing and reminiscing and one of the things his college coach shared with me was when Alvin was at Haskell, he competed in one of the bigger track meets and he outran everybody except for one runner.

“He said everybody was in awe and they were like, ‘who is this person?’” she added.

After taking a brief hiatus from school, Alvin said he returned to school and enrolled at Diné College where he earned All-American honors for winning the 1986 men’s NJCAA National Marathon.

He stayed active in the running scene after college by competing in some regional races such as the Colorado Springs Pepsi Challenge.

With what he had accomplished, his family wondered why he wasn’t even considered for other hall of fame honors over the years.

After all the Ganado native paved the way for a lot of Native runners, which includes his children Alvin III and Alvina.

“This is a longtime coming,” Wanda said of her husband’s induction. “We felt that he deserved this because in some ways we felt like he was forgotten.

“We’re just so proud of him,” she added. “As a wife I supported him, and that support went all the way to my son and daughter. Running is the life we followed, and it led the way for my children to earn scholarships.”

Like Wanda, LA Williams was quite pleased that Alvin got inducted.

“He finally got recognized after so many years,” Williams said. “His children followed in his footstep and in a few years, we’ll see them in up-and-coming Hall of Fames too.”

As for her induction, Williams said she was honored to be considered in the media category.

“It was amazing to be a part of the event, being among the presence of other great Native athletes,” she said. “A lot of them have done a lot of good things for their tribes. And now they’re giving so much back to the younger generation.”

Speaking on behalf of the other inductees, Williams said they hope to inspire the next generation of athletes.

“We’re the role models for the next up-and-coming athletes,” she said. “I think a lot of us opened doors because we’ve done so much.”

Williams said she’s been behind the microphone for 31 years and it took another Native person to recognize what she’s been doing.

“I think the national broadcasting I did with the Phoenix Suns and the NCAA in the Navajo language went viral and that is how I got inducted by Dan Ninham,” she said of the director of the NAIAHF. “He recognized what I’ve done in broadcasting.”

Williams believes she’s probably the first female broadcaster worldwide that has been in the business for 30 years.

“They’re probably others (male) sportscasters who have done it 30 years or longer, but being female is huge,” she said. “Hopefully, one day we’ll see another female that’ll be up-and-coming to take on this role.”

The NAIAHF induction for Becenti was her sixth one, which is unprecedent. Before getting word of her induction, the former ASU basketball standout said she was supposed to participate in the Navajo Nation parade that was held the same day.

“I wouldn’t have passed up attending the hall of fame banquet,” Becenti said. “It meant a lot to me because it’s my sixth one. On top of that I wanted to meet all the inductees from all over the nation. Just to be a part of it means a lot to me.”

Like Williams, Becenti said Ninham was the one that approached her about including her in this year’s class.

“He contacted me, and I was kind of surprised by that,” she said. “I wasn’t really expecting this, and it’s just unbelievable.”

Becenti was not the only ASU alum to be included in the hall of fame as Oglala Lakota native Jim Warne Jr., also made this year’s class. Warne was an offensive tackle for the 1987 ASU team that won the Rose Bowl.

He was later drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1987.

“It was great to meet him,” Becenti said. “I was still in high school when he played for ASU. He was excited too because he heard that I was gonna be there.”

The former Phoenix Mercury player said she enjoyed listening to everyone’s stories about the sacrifices they made to be who they are.

“We went through the battles, and we went through mental toughness,” Becenti said. “We had to go through struggles in what we did, but we all got through it because we had a vision. We had dreams of what we wanted to accomplish.”

Becenti said she would like others to hear her life story.

“I really want to go to these remote areas to share my story through basketball camps and motivational speeches,” she said.

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