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Click on Tournament for Bracket & Game Stories
Hatch is well-known as the capital of chile peppers. But the Hatch Valley Bears also have been hot stuff in a variety of sports throughout the years.
Check out the Bears in the Roll Call of State Championships:
a
Football
2005…Hatch Valley grabs third straight Class 2A championship in convincing fashion by blowing out Tucumcari 54-7
2004…Bears and coach Charles Gleghorn wrap up a perfect 13-0 season by trouncing Santa Rosa 46- in finale
2003…Long suffering Hatch football fans are rewarded when Bears earn first gridiron title with a 41-12 victory over Lordsburg
Volleyball
1985…Hatch’s lone volleyball championship comes when Bears sweep Jal in three games to finish season 19-3.
Boys Basketball
1964…It’s early in the career of coach Marv Sanders as he guides Hatch Valley to a 65-58 victory over Hagerman in the Class B championship
Baseball
1982…After a year away from the championship game, Hatch Valley returns and grabs another title
1980…Three-in-a-row titles means a dynasty and the Bears have one after taking Class 2A honors yet again
1979…Hatch closes out decade by repeating as 2A champions on the diamond
1978…Never having won a baseball crown before, Hatch Valley breaks the former trend by earning the 2A championship in New Mexico
Softball
1988…Seven times in eight years HatchValley comes away with the 1A-2A title after claiming crown with a 7-5 victory over Hope Christian
1987…Coach Ann Salazar ends up with a third straight championship, and fifth in six years, culminating her Hatch career with an 8-4 win over Navajo Academy
1986…Santa Fe Indian becomes Bears victim in 1A-2A title game as Hatch Valley mauls the Lady Braves 17-2
1985…They’re back!!! Hatch returns from one-year absence and reclaims the Class 1A-2A crown
1983…Bears grab softball state honors for a third year in a row for coach Ann Salazar
1982…Hatch Valley proves year before was no fluke by winning the 1A-2A championship game over Santa Fe Indian School
1981…First softball title for Bears comes when Hatch beats St. Catherine’s 8-5 in 1A-2A finale
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And now, a word from our Sponsor…
“Ole!” greets drive-through customers from the speaker box.
If that’s the case, it can only be one business: Taco Box.
From frijole burritos to Spanish fries to pig-in-a-panchos, and quite nearly everything in-between, the restaurant has been serving up its eclectic menu for 40 years.
According to owner Tom Martin, the number one seller is the simple-and-tasty frijole burrito while tacos, chalupas and cheese sticks follow closely in popularity.
A popular side item are Spanish fries, a Taco Box-invented title for another potato-based munchie (any guesses?). Martin says his restaurant has only occasionally ventured into making regular french fries and the attempts have ultimately always been futile with the Taco Box customer base.
“I always joke that I don’t make french fries so I can help keep McDonald’s in business,” Martin says.
Other items also remain popular to an extent even though not officially on the menu board anymore – a testament to the loyalty of the typical Taco Box consumer.
The Mexi-Burger was on the menu back in the early 1980s and still gets ordered today. By those in the know, at any rate.
“There’s probably at least a dozen different items over the years like that,” Martin says. “We took it off, just because of space, but we still make ‘em. We probably sell as many as we did when they were on the menu.”
Martin lists breakfast tacos, frijole tacos, guacamole tacos as other such “underground” items. And that’s not to mention the vast array of drink combinations, utilizing the different soft drinks and flavorings, that have actually never been listed on the big board at Taco Box.
Martin, raised in Cleveland and a graduate from Cornell University in New York, ventured west after college and tried his hand with the Taco Box brand. He took over Taco Box on June 1, 1970.
Remembering his first foray into Mexican food, Martin has an oft-repeated story with some variation or another.
“I never had a taco until I was 21. I remember having a mild green chile taco and I thought I was going to die,” Martin recalls.
After having a tastebud-adjustment and following countless tacos served to his customers at Taco Box, it’s safe to say one thing about the guy who originally thought he’d be in the Land of Enchantment for “a couple of years.”
Well Tom, you’re a New Mexican now.
