Longtime local sports writer Stevens dies at 70

Oct. 15—His Albuquerque sports media counterparts called him "Slick," because, well, he was.

Many of the Duke City sports figures he wrote about called him "Sniper," a reference to the well-timed, well-targeted poison that often flowed from his pen.

He called himself — or at least, his alter ego — "The Linz," a wacky insult comedian.

Above all, say his former co-workers and his two children, Richard Stevens was a mentor, a friend and a proud and devoted dad.

Stevens, an Albuquerque Tribune sports reporter and columnist for some 34 years, died on Wednesday after being stricken with an aggressive form of leukemia. He was 70.

He loved his work, his former colleagues say, and was remarkably good at it. But, they said in virtual unanimity, his greatest love was for his son, Trevor, and his daughter, Kelsey.

That love was returned in full.

"I don't think everyone has as close a relationship with their dad as we've had," Trevor Stevens said on Thursday in a phone interview. "He was our best friend, he really was.

"God, we love that guy."

An Albuquerque native and a UNM graduate, Stevens started at the Tribune virtually straight out of school. He stayed with the city's afternoon paper until it folded in 2008.

"(Stevens) was a really, really talented writer," said Edgar Thompson, who worked at the Tribune from 1990-2002 and now covers University of Florida athletics for the Orlando Sentinel. "I've seen a lot of really great, really talented people.

"Richard could really write, man."

Stevens' contributions to the department, said Iliana Limon Romero, another former Tribune sports writer, transcended his own work.

"He took a lot of young writers and photographers and staff members under his wing and made sure to give timely feedback, timely advice, immensely thoughtful," said Limon Romero, now the deputy sports editor at the Los Angeles Times. "He really took time to read and care and watch and look and observe, and that meant a lot to so many of us."

If the above paints the picture of a gentle and nurturing soul, think again. Both in the pages of the Tribune and in the newsroom, Stevens' needle — sharp and accurate — was always out.

"He pushed my buttons, for sure, and he knew how to get to me," Thompson said. "And I'm an easy mark, pretty thin-skinned.

"But he was always there on the other side, pushing me in good ways to become a better writer."

As a columnist, Stevens rarely held back in assessing the state of UNM athletics — be it on the playing field or in the administration building. His humor could be wicked, never more so than in the "Lindsey Line," a feature that didn't run under Stevens' byline and supposedly was composed by someone calling himself "The Linz."

As sophomoric as The Linz's humor could be, the feature became a favorite of Tribune readers — and of Stevens'.

"He loved doing The Linz," said former Tribune sports writer Jeff Carlton. "The Linz was almost more Richard than Richard."

Stevens was, in his own right, a fine athlete. Virtually every year that the Jaycees Invitational indoor track meet was held at Tingley Coliseum, Stevens would win the celebrity 60-yard dash. A fine recreational softball player, he had the Wee Willie Keeler knack for hitting 'em where they ain't — spraying the ball at will to all fields.

He came by his athletic talent honestly. His father, George Stevens, was among New Mexico's finest amateur boxers.

The Stevens line continued in the form of Trevor and Kelsey.

Kelsey Stevens was an all-state softball pitcher at La Cueva and Volcano Vista, then starred at Stanford and Oklahoma from 2013-16. Trevor Stevens was La Cueva's wrestling team captain in 2006-07 and went on to wrestle at Stanford.

Both were honor students.

"He gave me my love of sports and my sense of humor," Kelsey Stevens said of her father. "He was a really good coach and mentor to me and was always helpful for me, whenever I wanted to play, whatever sport it was."

After the Tribune folded in 2008, Stevens signed on as a senior writer in UNM's sports information department. When former Journal sports writer Greg Archuleta took a job in sports information in 2011, he found himself relying on Stevens' advice and experience.

The two became good friends, and, after both had left UNM, had lunch together periodically. They talked sports, of course, but one subject never failed to come up.

"No lunch, no conversation," Archuleta said, "went by when Richard didn't brag about Trevor and Kelsey."

Above all, Carlton said, Stevens — Don Rickles tendencies and all — was a friend who could be counted on.

"I've met a lot of people who would say all the right things and then not really be there for you," Carlton said. "Richard, for me, was somebody who almost delighted in saying the wrong thing on purpose.

"Then he'd show up for you every time."