Albuquerque Journal Staff Report
Albuquerque Academy on Saturday recognized a $1 million gift from a family of former students who donated the funding to honor two former Academy teachers and to improve the school’s academics and athletics.
The grant was used to both enhance a summer school program that introduces young students to the school, and to improve tennis courts used by the community and the dominant Chargers tennis teams.
The Garcia Automotive Group family gave the school the gift, which will be divided equally between a summer program that will be renamed the Vincent Cordova Summer Scholars Program and the school’s tennis courts, which are now called the Darell Gage Courts.
Both men were influential teachers for numerous members of the Garcia family.
The summer program is for students who are between fourth and fifth grades. Students can start at Academy in the sixth grade. The idea is the free, six-week summer program would introduce students who hadn’t considered Academy to the school.
Cordova, who the summer program is now named after, was a math teacher and basketball and track coach at Academy from 1969 to 2002. He also served as the director of tuition assistance, director of admission, dean of students and dean of multicultural education. He coached two boys state basketball teams in 1981 and 1984.
The Garcia family gift also led to an expansion of the Darell Gage Courts, which are open to the public as well as the championship program. The Chargers’ boys team has won 21 consecutive state championships, and the girls’ team has won 13 of the last 30 state championships.
Gage taught math and coached at Academy from 1965 to 2015. He was the winningest high school tennis coach in U.S. history, and the 21 consecutive state championship run started when he was coach. He also coached football and basketball.
About 150 people gathered at the Academy Racquet Complex on Saturday to recognize the Garcias’ donation. School officials, Chargers tennis players, summer scholars alumni and members of the Garcia family spoke.
