El Paso Historian Leon Metz Receives Achievement Award

At 79-years-old, El Paso historian Leon Metz isn’t shy to admit he hasn’t read all the books in his impressive home library.

In fact, the self-proclaimed “hillbilly from West Virginia” has trouble finding the titles he’s written himself.

But oddly enough it was at a West Virginia library where Metz, then 14, met his destiny.

“I checked out a book called ‘The Saga of Billy the Kid,'” Metz told ABC-7. “I thought it was the greatest book I’d ever read, it really turned me on to Western History.”

Soon after the Air Force brought Metz to El Paso, he set out to write his own books on the ol’ Paso Del Norte, a place he describes as “vast” and representing “every man’s dream.”

Decades later, he’s putting the finishing touches on his 20th book, this one about the early years of the Mexican Revolution.

But the writing will have to be put on hold Friday afternoon.

Metz and his wife are headed to Houston, where he’ll be honored with Texas Historical Commission’s Ruth Lester Lifetime Achievement Award.

Truly an ‘aw shucks’ moment for a man who seems more at home in his sea of books than on a stage.

“Why they chose me, I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve written a few books, but lots of people write books.”

Leon Metz hosts his own radio show on El Paso History. It airs Saturday mornings from 10 to noon on AM 690.