Folks wandering in off the streets and into the Rudy Davalos Basketball Center might have thought they stumbled upon a funeral for the practice facility's namesake.

Linda Estes, a former athletics administrator at the University of New Mexico, corrected the record.

"This is beginning to sound like a eulogy," Estes said. "Rudy has a lot of good years left and I don't want him to be sad."

About 200 people gathered Friday to eulogize the career, if not the life, of Davalos, the athletics director at UNM for the last 14 years who is set to retire this summer. Part roast and part celebration, the gathering was an official dedication of the $4.2 million practice center.

A "This Is Your Life" hybrid of professional colleagues, personal friends and a mixture of the two came to honor Davalos, 67, and trade jibes about who really was responsible for the building of the center. (Gov. Bill Richardson and state Rep. Kiki Saavedra each claimed credit.)

Sitting among the crowd was Davalos' mother and children, several members of the Board of Regents, ex-New Mexico State men's basketball coach Lou Henson and members of the UNM men's and women's basketball teams.

Included among the speakers were the two politicians, acting UNM President David Harris, Board of Regents President Jamie Koch, women's basketball coach Don Flanagan and Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson.

They spoke warmly about a man who increased the athletics budget from $9 million to $22 million and oversaw the rise of football, women's basketball, skiing and men's soccer to unprecedented heights.

Speakers also took friendly but telling shots at Davalos' gruff exterior, his shoot-from-the-lip style and his quick-on-the-trigger opinions.

"I've served on many committees with Rudy," said DeLoss Dodds, the athletics director at Texas and an old friend of Davalos. "And I'm still waiting for an opportunity to speak."

Said radio broadcaster Mike Roberts: "He has views. And he doesn't mind expressing them - time after time after time."

Estes might have done the best job of capturing her sometimes abrasive but highly effective former colleague.

"Rudy, you don't have to worry. I'm not going to ruin your hard-ass reputation," she said. "The next AD has some big shoes to fill."