Services are pending for Northwestern State N-Club Hall of Fame gymnastics coach Armando Vega, who passed away at age 90.
Vega, who died in Dallas, Texas, led Northwestern to its first NCAA team championship when his gymnastics team captured both the NAIA and NCAA Division II titles in 1970.
A six-time NCAA champion at Penn State and a member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic Team and an alternate in 1964, Vega’s career at Northwestern began in 1968 as he extended – and built upon – the Demons’ successful gymnastics run.
After leading Northwestern to a successful defense of its Mid-South and NAIA championships in 1968, Vega guided John Elias to the NAIA and NCAA Division II individual national championships with Elias becoming the first athlete to accomplish the feat.
In addition to the 1970 NAIA and Division II titles, Paul Tickenoff won the all-around individual championship under Vega’s tutelage.
Vega was named NCAA Coach of the Year in 1970 and followed that by leading the Demons to a sixth straight NAIA championship in 1971. His 1971 team won all five meets in which they competed.
Vega capped his Northwestern career in 1972 by leading an undermanned Demon squad to an NAIA national runner-up finish. Soon afterward, the university stopped competing in the sport.
Vega, a native of Hurley, New Mexico, then went to LSU where he produced nine teams that earned top-10 NCAA finishes and earned back-to-back NCAA Gymnastics Coach of the Year honors in 1977 and 1978.
Vega was inducted into the United States Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1977 and was honored with a 2007 selection to the N-Club Hall of Fame.