Retired House clerk remembered for commitment to service, 'Mighty Midgets' basketball team

Aug. 31—Through the course of some of the most complex procedural matters in the New Mexico House of Representatives, chief clerk Steve Arias always handled the situation with ease.

Center stage in the cavernous chamber at the state Capitol, Arias would swivel his chair around, lean in to talk to the speaker of the House and recite the rules of the voluminous Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure by memory.

Arias, the longest-serving legislative clerk in New Mexico history and a member of one of Santa Fe's legendary high school basketball teams, died Sunday at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, not long after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, his sister, Alexis Byfuglin, said Tuesday.

He was 77.

"Steve is an institution himself," said Regis Pecos, who served as chief of staff to the late House Speaker Ben Luján.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle praised Arias, who served as chief clerk for 32 years until his retirement in 2014, as a consummate professional who was a distinguished and dedicated public servant.

"We will never forget his great integrity and his lifelong devotion to the people of New Mexico," Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement.

Born in Santa Fe in December 1944, Arias had an early start in legislative affairs, first serving as a page in his youth.

"Steve grew up, basically, in the Capitol," said former House Speaker Raymond Sanchez.

"He knew every aspect of the New Mexico Legislature; he'd grown up around it," Sanchez added. "He knew it from the bowels of the old Capitol [now the Bataan Memorial Building] to the construction of the new Capitol."

In 2014, Arias told The New Mexican he started his career as a reading clerk but performed various tasks, including taking legislators' coats and hanging them in an old safe that served as the coat room.

Arias became chief clerk in 1982 at the age of 37. At the time, the chief clerk worked only during legislative sessions.

From 1983-89, Arias served as executive assistant and district director for Bill Richardson, then a U.S. congressman.

In an email, Richardson wrote Arias often told him helping people with issues such as Social Security benefits for veterans and jobs were more important than how he "voted on big items like war and peace."

"When I was governor he would often advise me to pay more attention to the legislators who were truly the grassroots representatives of the people," Richardson wrote. "He loved New Mexico and representative democracy."

Outgoing House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, said in a statement that as a young legislator he "benefited tremendously from the depth of [Arias'] knowledge and wisdom, as well as his generosity with his time."

Former state Rep. Carl Trujillo, who served in the Legislature from 2013-18, said he was immediately impressed when he first met Arias.

"When I walked into [the Capitol] for the first time, one of the first places I went was to see Mr. Arias, and what I found was the utmost professional, and the amount of respect that he had for the institution was simply amazing," he said. "He made me feel at home immediately and told me to always respect the process."

Bill McCamley, another former state representative who served in the Legislature from 2013-18, wrote on Twitter that if the dictionary could define the word "gentleman" with a picture, it would be Arias'.

"He was intelligent, hard working, genteel, an excellent listener, a true public servant, and my friend," tweeted McCamley, who also served as secretary of the state Department of Workforce Solutions. "He will be very, very missed."

Pecos said he's never known anyone who had such reverence for the institution of the Legislature and the House chamber.

"When you speak of the legendary figures like the late Speaker Ben Luján, Rep. Kiki Saavedra, Rep. Lucky Varela and so on and so forth, those are very legendary and storied times of New Mexico history, and he saw that sitting in the front row," Pecos said. "He had the best seat in the House."

Arias' contributions to public service might be rivaled by his association with one of the most renowned boys basketball teams in state history. He was a part of the 1961-62 "Mighty Midgets" team at St. Michael's, a squad that reached the Class 1A championship game despite having no starter taller than 5-foot-9.

The Horsemen defeated Carlsbad and Albuquerque Valley to reach the finals, then lost on a last-second shot to Sandia before a sold-out crowd or more than 7,000 people at the University of New Mexico's Johnson Gym.

On a team that reached cult status among prep basketball aficionados, teammate Connie Trujillo joked he and Arias had the best seats in every gymnasium — on the bench.

"Steve and I use to always harass those guys [who played] that we had a big advantage being on the bench," Trujillo said. "We still have our knees, and we don't need all those replacements."

While he wasn't a key player on the hardwood, teammate David Fernandez said Arias also a good football and baseball player, and was the starting tight end on back-to-back District 2A championship teams in 1960 and 1961.

But it was the "Mighty Midgets" that Arias held dear to his heart. He became the team's de facto historian and often came to speaking engagements armed with pages of notes outlining its success. Fernandez said much of what Arias compiled was by memory, although he also had newspaper clippings to help fill in the gaps.

At an all-classes reunion event by Santa Fe Elks Lodge No. 460 that honored the "Mighty Midgets" earlier this month, Arias mentioned the schools they often played were anywhere from four to 10 times the size of tiny

St. Michael's. And he also noted the height advantage held by Sandia, which had two players 6-7 and taller.

"Did you know their shortest player was taller than our tallest man?" Arias said.

The reunion was Arias' last function representing the team; he and three other teammates attended and were given plaques commemorating their accomplishment. Trujillo said he missed the event because he had to attend a funeral and regretted missing the chance to see Arias and his teammates again.

Arias is survived by his wife, Victoria; two sons and a daughter; a stepson and a stepdaughter; and 16 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

His body will lie in honor in the state Capitol Rotunda at 9 a.m Sept. 7. A program will follow at 10 a.m. A rosary will be recited at 10 a.m Sept. 8, followed by a funeral Mass at 11 a.m., both at Cristo Rey Catholic Church.

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.