ALAMOSA – Longtime Valley Courier sports editor Lloyd Luther Engen succumbed to COVID-19 related complications Sunday morning, July 12. Engen had been in the coronavirus unit at San Luis Care Center until his condition forced a transfer to San Luis Valley Health where he passed just after 8 a.m. Sunday. He was well known in the San Luis Valley sports community, both as Courier sports editor and a former sports information director at Adams State University where he was inducted into the athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.

Engen was able to attend the 2019 Hall of Fame banquet where he reconnected with a number of athletes that he had the honor of covering over the years. Lloyd worked at Adams State for 13 years where he was the Sports Information Director and Public Information Officer. During his time at Adams State he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1987.

He went on and became the sports editor at the Valley Courier for 12 years where he was a fixture on the sidelines at thousands of sporting events in the San Luis Valley. He made it a point to get to 10 or 15 every week.

He served on several award committees including the All-Valley Football, All-Valley Cross Country and ASU Hall of Fame. Lloyd made many friends with his work especially Damon and Konnie Martin as Lloyd drove cross-country on numerous occasions to cover the Grizzlies in their national title endeavors.

After suffering a career-ending accident doing what he loved, covering a football game, Lloyd spent ten years in Fort Collins with longtime friends Ron and Holly Dea. His reach was larger than sports with his weekly column titled “Saturday’s Soap Box” and occasional tributes titled “All the Heroes I Need” that moved readers across the Valley and beyond.

Cremation was chosen and a celebration of his life will be planned later as announced by Rogers Family Mortuary. See a complete obituary on page 2.