Santa Fe prep broadcaster's legacy will echo with those he befriended, mentored

Nov. 27—Long before Aaron Abeyta became a broadcaster, he already had someone to emulate.

Abeyta remembered growing up in the late 1980s playing the football video game Tecmo Bowl with friends and cousins. They would pull out all the stops for the games — with Abeyta doing his best broadcasting impersonation.

The voice he always chose? Carl Twibell.

"We would say, 'This is Carl Twibell and we are here at Soldier Field in Chicago ...' " said Abeyta, now a broadcaster for the streaming company Sports Primo. "Then, we would do play-by-play while we were playing games. I mean, he was just The Guy."

For 43 years, Twibell has been "The Guy" — the voice of Santa Fe prep sports, mostly for Santa Fe High, Capital and St. Michael's. His legacy is so extensive, he now has color analysts he used to cover when they were players and coaches.

Saturday brought an end to one part of Twibell's career, as he called his last football game with the Class 3A championship between St. Michael's and Ruidoso at Santa Fe High's Ivan Head Stadium as a member of KVSF-AM and FM.

Twibell said the 2022-23 school year will be the last time he broadcasts games on the radio on a regular basis for the 72-year-old. He said age finally caught up to his high standards, especially as he sometimes struggled to see jersey numbers even with binoculars in hand. Twibell added a recent move to Rio Rancho to be closer to family also encouraged his decision.

Twibell still has the basketball season left on his schedule, but Saturday's game marked the closure of one part of a career that he has cherished over time.

"It's been so much fun," Twibell said. "I mean, what's not fun about reporting on a game, any game? I've done hundreds and thousands of games, and I always wondered why more people didn't get into to either sports writing or broadcasting. I thought, 'Gee, you get to go to a ball game and watch it. What's more fun than that?' "

That philosophy carried Twibell into a journalism career that began in 1973 as a disc jockey at a Portales radio station after graduating from Eastern New Mexico University. His play-by-play career began in 1975, covering ENMU and Portales games before he moved to Santa Fe in 1978.

In his first full year in Santa Fe, he followed the Demons to their last Class 4A football championship in 1979. That career came full circle, as he broadcast from the home of the Demons.

Twibell got his start at KTRC-AM, where he spent the bulk of his career, but Twibell also worked as KSWV and KVSF. Twibell has been a constant presence in press boxes and in the stands from gyms, and not just in Santa Fe. He has traveled almost every part of the state to cover games, from football to basketball to baseball to even volleyball.

Along those long stretches of roads came friendships he formed with his broadcast team. Santa Fe Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Carl Marano was Twibell's sidekick for almost a decade and said those car rides brought the two closer together and developed a bond that continues to this day.

"We'd always tease each other, like, 'Who [is] paying for the milkshakes after the game?' " Marano said. "He loves his ice cream, so after the games we always talked about who is going to buy the ice cream."

Marano is another of the many analysts who Twibell covered as a player and coach, then did analyst alongside him. His final football analyst was Santa Fe High head coach Andrew Martinez, whom Twibell covered when he played at Capital. The two were paired for last week's 3A semifinal at Raton, and Martinez admitted he only worked the 3A championship game because of Twibell.

Twibell's presence throughout his life made it an easy decision for Martinez.

"When I was young, I'd go to my mom's room where she had the radio, and it was always Carl on the air," Martinez said. "I remember him calling games, whether it was in Los Alamos, or the Demons game or whatever it was. His voice was very familiar and as you got to high school, you realized who he was."

If anything marks Twibell, Abeyta said it is his grace and humility. When he and his brother Joe Abeyta began broadcasting games in 2004 for KSWV, Twibell was always willing to lend the duo a helping hand with equipment, batteries or even tape.

One of Aaron's treasured memories was a compliment he received from Twibell after a game he broadcasted early in his career.

"Usually he's doing the game too, but he wasn't this time," Abeyta said. "He was sitting in front of me and after the game, he came up and said, 'You're really good at calling the game,' " Abeyta said. "That meant a lot to me, that compliment from Carl. It was really cool."

Marano said he was nervous the first few times he worked with Twibell, but he made it easy to find his own voice.

"He just really made me feel comfortable, and made it easy to work with him," Marano said. "I learned so much from him, not only as a broadcaster, but also as a person."

Prior to the 3A championship game, Twibell said he was nervous as ever for calling his final game, knowing it would be his final one. Twibell and Martinez worked well as a team in relaying Ruidoso's 12-0 win over the Horsemen. However, Twibell's voice began to quiver in the final moments of the broadcast, even as he ended it with his customary, "Good afternoon, from Ivan Head Stadium."

The emotions were strong with Twibell's family, as well. When a tribute to Twibell was posted on the Santa Fe High football program's Facebook page, Twibell's daughter read it and began to cry.

"She's 35 years old and she gets emotional about that," Twibell said. "Then again, I have always been pretty emotional about that stuff. You get that way because it means something to you."

But Twibell has always meant something to the Santa Fe community. Ask 13-year-old Aaron Abeyta about that.