I-10 Rivalry weekend: NMSU’s Navajo connection hoping for win over UTEP on Saturday’s “Thanksgiving Weekend”

LAS CRUCES (KVIA) - A rivalry that spans over a century continues on Saturday as New Mexico State's football team will host UTEP at Aggie Memorial Stadium in Las Cruces with a 2 p.m. kickoff.

Both teams are competing for the Silver Spade Trophy and the Mayor's Cup, which dates back multiple decades here in the borderland.

The 109–year-old series between the New Mexico State Aggies and the UTEP Miners.

After UTEP's two game winning streak in the series, the Aggies took home last year's Silver Spade Trophy with a 28-7 victory in the Sun Bowl. NMSU is gunning for its 5th victory in the last seven meetings.

As we head into rivalry week here in the borderland with the New Mexico State football team hosting UTEP this Saturday, it's also a time to shine the spotlight on the rich culture that dates back multiple centuries in our region of the border southwest.

November is "Native American Heritage Month", and one New Mexico State alum continues making history by keeping the Navajo Language alive.

As he gets set to broadcast this weekend's I-10 rivalry in the Navajo languate, ABC-7 anchor Paul Cicala sat down with Cuyler Frank to introduce you to him and the indigenous broadcaster's amazing accomplishments in another edition of People, Places & Paul.

Cuyler Frank is a longtime play-by-play announcer who continues to make trips back to his alma mater in Las Cruces to broadcast games that tens of thousands of members of his tribe are able to tune in to on Navajo Tech's Radio station KCZY.

Frank has been broadcasting games in Navajo for nearly twenty years, dating back to his time as an undergrad at New Mexico State University.

 "It's kind of cool with kids getting enthused about taking that next step and going into higher education is a huge thing," said Cuyler.

Cuyler's accomplishments have even taken him to the popular TV game show "Jeopardy".

"(Alex Trebek) said my name," proclaimed Cuyler Frank, as he talked fondly about his accomplishment being the "answer" to a Final Jeopardy question, which was: "Cuyler Frank made history by being the first to call a football game in this language."

The answer, of course, was "What is Navajo?"

Cuyler added, "You always want to leave your mark in history. I think that was my little destiny to see that happen."

Cuyler takes pride in keeping the Navajo language alive, in addition to the tribe's rich heritage.  

"A lot of people have an interest," said Cuyler, who talked about the history remaining rich in Northern New Mexico and Northern Arizona, as is evident also by the annual Pow Wow "Gathering of the Nations", which was attended by ABC-7's Paul Cicala, as part of this story.

"Just to have people involved in Pow-Wows and able to find ways that they can save our language or be active in the media," said Cuyler, "and to let people know that we do exist. We're out there, and Native people are here." 

HERE... being the New Mexico State campus as well, with starting offensive tackle Shiyazh Pete, a proud member of the Navajo tribe, also appreciating Cuyler's work with the Navajo Nation and beyond.

Shiyazh, who showed his gratitude for Cuyler Frank's work as a pioneer in Navajo broadcasting, is a towering 6 feet, 8 inches tall, and has also become a role model to Cuyler's son, Ben Curt Frank.

"It means a lot to me because I'm inspired by him," said Curt Ben Frank, "I want to be like him. I want to play the same position as him (Offensive Tackle), and I want go to the same school here. I just want to be like him."

Shiyazh Pete said, "It's kind of been a dream of mine to be a beacon and to shine light back to where I grew up, and to give the youth hope that if you work hard and you strive to be the best, you design a plan and you step to it, you can do good things with your life." 

His service to the Native American community certainly stands out, and Cuyler Frank shares similar sentiments: 

"I really don't consider myself a role model, but, I do consider myself a mentor," said Frank, "The (Navajo) language has been dwindling a little bit, and they say not a lot of our youth are not speaking the language any more, but, for me, this is a way that I can reach out to those that are not speaking the language, to have that enthusiasm."

If you're wondering, Cuyler Frank began his football broadcsting career by some crazy coincidence.

While at NMSU, he always took pride in speaking the Navajo language, leading him to work translating "Demonstrational Movies" for agriculture communications when the Athletic Director at the University at the time happened to be passing by with the Aggie head football coach Hal Mumme.

Coach Mumme then asked Cuyler Frank what language he was speaking, and after answering "Navajo", he invited Cuyler Frank to broadcast a game in his native language.

Since then, Cuyler Frank's radio career has taken off.

ABC-7's Paul Cicala periodically does a segment on KVIA called "People, Places & Paul" that showcases interesting characters of El Paso, including diverse places in the borderland, along with the movers-and-shakers of our region, including Ciudad Juarez. To see more of his stories, you can click this link.