Trinidad honors Pete Deluca with field dedication at sports complex

Pete Deluca’s name now lives at the Gene Gagliardi Sports Complex, where Trinidad dedicated Field C as Pete Deluca Field and connected a familiar hometown figure to the next wave of student-athletes.

The field dedication took place on Saturday, April 18, in front of family, friends, colleagues and community members. Deluca, known affectionately as Grandpa Pete, was remembered as much for his service as for the field name itself. His family thanked the City of Trinidad, Trinidad State College and Coach Steve Swazo for helping make the honor possible, and said Deluca would have been humbled and proud to see the tribute carry his name forward for future generations.

Deluca’s connection to Trinidad ran deep. He was born in 1929 in Delagua and moved to Trinidad in second grade. He graduated from TSJC in 1949 and from the University of Denver in 1951, then spent a short time in the Air Force before returning to Trinidad to work at KCRT radio. In 1964, he joined Trinidad State, where he built a 40-year career in athletics, admissions, student services, fundraising and institutional development. Trinidad State says his retirement added another 20 years of connection to the college, bringing his total impact to six decades.

That long arc is what gives the field dedication its weight. Trinidad State’s remembrance says Deluca touched the lives of thousands of students, colleagues and community members, and his work helped shape the college experience for multiple generations. During the 1960s, he helped the college manage a surge in enrollment, from 465 students in 1965 to 700 freshmen in 1966, a rapid growth period that changed life on campus and in town. He also supported Trinidad State’s English Language Services program in the 1970s, welcoming students from Venezuela, Brazil, Pakistan, Korea, France, Greece, Taiwan, Japan and countries across the Middle East.

The honor also fits Trinidad State’s own institutional memory. Founded in 1925 as Colorado’s first community college, the school opened with 37 students and now serves about 1,800 students across a 17-acre Trinidad campus, additional campuses and training sites. It offers more than 28 areas of study and fields 17 athletic teams, a reach that helps explain why a sports-complex naming resonates well beyond one diamond. City Council advanced the renaming in late March and approved it in early April, with signage costs covered by the petitioner.

At a complex used every season by local athletes, Deluca’s name now stands as a reminder of who helped build the programs, the college and the civic spirit that still shape Trinidad.