Hall of Fame
Varela was named RMAC men’s basketball Player of the Year in 1995-96. He was an honorable mention All-America pick in 1993 and 1994, following his freshman and sophomore seasons. Varela is the all-time leading scorer in the history of Colorado Mines with 2,551 points. He was First Team All-RMAC as a freshman, sophomore and senior and second team as a junior (he played that entire season with a broken hand), and started all 106 games in his career. His career scoring average of 24.1 points is among the best in the history of the RMAC. In 1994, he finished 11th in the nation in scoring as a sophomore (26.1 ppg). Varela graduated in 1996 with a 3.2 GPA in Mechanical Engineering.