Such sad news on hearing of the passing of Eddie Mullens last week, a longtime Sports Information Director at Texas Western and the University of Texas at El Paso.

A 1995 inductee into the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame, Mr. Mullens was well known in the country for his journalistic skills and abilities.

A gifted writer he was also known for garnering nicknames for individuals, one of those was for the famed UTEP Basketball player Jim Barnes. Mullens upon seeing Barnes in action one day called him “Bad News” for the opponents and thus the famous nickname was born and became legendary of Jim “Bad News” Barnes.

El Paso Hall of Fame President Dr. Scott Stein said of Mullens, “If you know UTEP Sports history, much of that written history in the 1960’s 1970’s 1980’s and 1990’s was written about by Eddie Mullens until his retirement in 1996 as he was a UTEP treasurer.”

Listen to the “Welcome to the Hall” podcast episode with Eddie Mullens