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Matthew Fletcher
GRANTS, N.M. - Matthew Fletcher, 2020 Grants High School graduate, was recently awarded the first Steve Bell GHS Athletic Scholarship. Steve was an outstanding athlete who grew up in Quemado, New Mexico and relocated to Grants after surviving cancer. He passed in 2018 and is survived by his wife, Helen and three children, Darrell, Jackie, and Michelle, two of whom still live in Grants, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the area. Steve overcame many difficulties to become the first wheelchair bound police detective in New Mexico and served the community as a police officer for many years, founding the Kids and Cops Rodeo and coaching girls’ basketball at GHS.
Matthew was also a promising athlete, with a remarkably successful year as a freshman on the Grants High School basketball team but then suffered a severe knee injury that ended his basketball career as a sophomore. However, with much hard work, rehabilitation, and determination, Matthew overcame his injury to become captain and MVP of the GHS soccer team.
Matthew is attending New Mexico State University to become a certified automotive technician and says he one day plans to, “have my own shop and be able to give back” to his community as well.
Jonnie Head of the scholarship committee said they were “delighted to award the $1,000 scholarship to Matthew, a young man we think has a bright future and who, we believe, typifies the ideals and fortitude we saw in Steve.”