Unique scholarship awarded to Los Lunas High School football player

LOS LUNAS — Kyle Valdez is the recipient of the inaugural Dominic Garley Memorial Scholarship, a $1,500 award sponsored by Los Lunas Pop Warner, the youth football league.

Applicants for the scholarship were required to be a college-bound graduating senior and, most uniquely, a football offensive or defensive lineman in Los Lunas Schools.

“It’s really cool knowing there is a scholarship like this,” said Valdez, who was an offensive tackle and guard for the Los Lunas Tigers.

The scholarship is named after Dominic Garley, a 2003 LLHS graduate, who was an interior lineman for the Tigers as well as a Pop Warner coach. Garley died unexpectedly in 2024.

“It fills my heart that his legacy will continue,” said Jeremy Garley about his brother, Dominic.

“They (Pop Warner officials) saw what an impact he had,” with the young athletes Dominic coached, said Derrick Garley, another of Dominic’s brothers. “They wanted to do a scholarship in his name.”

Applicants were required to write an essay about the impact football has had on their lives. Valdez shared the values it taught.

“Being early, being on time. Respect was a big thing,” he said.

In the fall, Valdez will study sports business at Arizona State University.