We know how all this ends, so we’ll start at the beginning. In truth, I never – ever – wanted to be the Arizona men’s basketball beat guy back in the early 1990s. I all but refused, as did Dave Petruska when it was going to be either him or me in taking over for former beat writer Cindy Somers. I had heard many a time that head coach Lute Olson didn’t like the media, and often was surly with the bunch. But I took it and don’t regret one minute of it. Two books and thousands upon thousands of stories later it all ends for the Citizen. I have no regrets. How can there be? In 18 years of covering the team, I’ve covered 625 Arizona games (minus two for the birth of my first child). But this will be a testament to the Arizona program: UA is 476-149 in my time (missed wins not included). That’s an average of 26.4 wins and 8.2 losses a season. Amazing. Thanks for the ride. Thanks for the winning. It’s better to cover a winner than it is a loser. And, Lute wasn’t that bad. He seemed to always return calls. And in this business that’s all you can ask – beginning to end. I have many memories of covering the Arizona basketball team the last 18 seasons, but here are my top three:

1) The national title run

The thing I’ll remember the most is the mad scramble after the game. When Kansas star Raef LaFrentz missed a 3-pointer from the corner in an attempt to tie the game against Arizona in the Sweet 16, the UA Wildcats were overjoyed in the 85-82 win. UA had knocked off what was perceived to be the most dominating team of that season in 1997. Jason Terry jumped on the scorer’s table. Players searched for hugs. It was bedlam crazy. Heck, I remember frantically calling the airlines to see what I needed to do to change the paper’s airplane tickets just in case Arizona defeated its next opponent (turned out to be Providence) in the Elite Eight. C-R-A-Z-Y. It helped Arizona gain confidence, paving the way to a national title. Against No. 1 Kansas, it played near flawless basketball, save for giving up an 11-0 run near the end of the game to make it close. “It had to be a perfect game,’’ Jason Terry said at the time. “We had to do it all.’’ Arizona did, behind freshman guard Mike Bibby’s 21 points in a kid-cool performance. “This was big because the whole nation was watching,’’ Terry said. “We had a lot of doubters and it feels good when you stick a fork in them.’’

2) Wildcats in the pros

Apparently 1997 was a big basketball year. Back in the day when there was a huge following for UA hoops young and old, I spent nearly two weeks traveling back and forth from Chicago to Salt Lake City following the Chicago Bulls. The reason? Former UA stars Steve Kerr, Jud Buechler and Brian Williams were with the Bulls and playing in the NBA Finals. I was able to write about Michael Jordan’s 38-point performance as he played with horrible flu-like symptoms in Salt Lake City in pivotal Game 5. Many thought he wouldn’t play at all, but he found a way and had an incredible game as Chicago won, 90-88, to go up 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. Then came the NBA Finals, Game 6. I can’t remember how I felt, but I do remember the basketball gods had me there to tell the story. And Kerr was the story. With Chicago needing a basket in the game’s final seconds, who will the Bulls turn to? Of course, Jordan. Not so fast. It was Kerr who hit the game-winning shot (with an assist from Jordan), furthering Kerr’s legend as a sharpshooter. He later would say hitting that “big shot was my most memorable moment.’’ When the Bulls had their day to celebrate in front of thousands of fans, Kerr used his typical humor to explain the play. “When we called timeout with 25 seconds to go we went into the huddle and Phil told Michael, ‘I want you to take the last shot,’ and Michael said, ‘I don’t feel real comfortable in these situations. Maybe we need to go in another direction.’ I thought to myself, well, I guess have to bail out Michael out again.’ ’’

3) UA’s collapse vs. Illinois

Sometimes I think back and still can’t believe it. Arizona had a 77-63 lead with 3:20 remaining and an 80-72 lead left with just more than a minute left and couldn’t hold off Illinois in the Elite Eight in 2005. It would have solidified UA coach Lute Olson’s legacy, as it would have been his sixth Final Four. All Arizona needed was one basket to stem Illinois’ late-game run. It couldn’t get it. And eventually it lost, 90-89 in overtime in Rosemont, Ill. Being on the losing side of that game was “unbelievably painful,’’ Olson said in his autobiography, ‘Lute: The Seasons of My Life.’ “This game ranked close to the 2001 loss to Duke in the championship game as the toughest of my career. As hard as it was for me, I’d been through more than a thousand games, for the team this was just devastating. I felt awful for our seniors.”

Moment with Candrea

I also covered two Olympics for the Citizen: 2000 in Sydney and 2004 in Athens. The 2004 Games affected me the most when UA softball coach Mike Candrea led Team USA to a gold medal. Candrea’s team dominated, not that it was a surprise in going 9-0 and outscoring opponents 51-1. It was his humility, poise and pride in the journey. It came just five weeks after his wife, Sue, died of a brain aneurysm while on the pre-Games tour. I remember him in the dugout, hand on chin, taking in the team celebration on the field. Heartfelt and memorable. “I thanked them all for the greatest moment of my life,’’ he said at the time. “I love this team.’’ And, through it all, he didn’t get a medal. Coaches don’t get medals. “That’s not what this is about,’’ he said.

———

RIVERA’S ALL-STARS

FIRST TEAM Mike Bibby, G 1997-98 Gilbert Arenas, G 2000-01 Channing Frye, C 2002-05 Jordan Hill, F 2007-09 Andre Iguodala, F (left) 2003-04

SECOND TEAM Damon Stoudamire, G 1992-95 Khalid Reeves, G 1991-94 Jason Terry, G 1996-99 Luke Walton, F 2000-03 Michael Dickerson, F 1995-98

THIRD TEAM Jason Gardner, G 2000-03 Jerryd Bayless, G 2008 Chris Mills, G 1991-93 Richard Jefferson, F 1999-01 Sean Rooks, C 1989-92

• Includes players from last 18 seasons, when Rivera covered UA.

———

TOP UA PLAYERS BY DECADE

2000s Luke Walton, F ‘00-’03 1990s Mike Bibby, G ‘97-’98 1980s Sean Elliott, F ‘86-’89 1970s Bob Elliott, C ‘74-’77 1960s Warren Rustand, F ‘63-’65 1950s Ernie McCray, C ‘88-’91 1940s Link Richmond, F ‘44-’49 1930s Lorry DiGrazia, F ‘36-’38 1920s Harold Tovrea, G ‘21-’24 1910s James Herndon, NA ‘17-’19 1900s Charles Brown, NA ‘05-’06 As picked by Steve Rivera, based on overall play and intangibles. Rivera’s favorite all-time players Great quote: Channing Frye, Gene Edgerson, Joseph Blair. Quirkiest: Tie, Gilbert Arenas and Bennett Davison. Unbelievable talent but horrible quote: Khalid Reeves. Unflappable: Mike Bibby. Unluckiest: Jawann McClellan. Surly, but good: Salim Stoudamire

Pound for pound – and in his college years he probably could have used extra weight – Tedy Bruschi is the best football player I’ve ever seen.

Covering UA at Stanford in the beginning of “Desert Swarm” in 1992, I recall Bruschi darting untouched and arriving at the quarterback – almost as soon the ball was snapped. His force and right hand stripped the ball in the Wildcat win.

He was just a part-time starter at defensive end, but I knew he was something special.

Fast forward to “the sack,” my term for maybe his greatest college play. It came in the Arizona State game of 1995, his senior season, when he sacked ASU’s Jake Plummer on third-and-19 despite being double-teamed. It was his 52nd career sack, an NCAA record at the time, and the Cats rallied from 14 down to beat ASU 31-28.

Two other things I won’t forget after 23 years at the Citizen:

• Watching Nancy Evans pitch every inning in five games as Arizona won the NCAA championship in Oklahoma City.

Carrie Dolan, who actually had more victories than Evans going into the Series, was suspended right before the CWS, leaving the Wildcats vulnerable.

“I had to keep myself ready and not get tired,” Evans said. “Fight it off.”

• Hiking the Grand Canyon – from the South Rim to the North Rim, an exercise that sends you almost 6,000 feet down and then back up 4,500 feet of heartbreaking cliffs.

My bones ached along the way – I was toting a 40-pound pack – but the hike was worth it. It’s a shocking yet soothing way to reveal the guts and bones of creation. It stays in your dreams.

The Arizona softball team broke the national home run record as it beat Tennessee-Martin 9-3 on Friday afternoon in an NCAA regional game in Louisville.

The Wildcats advance to play Louisville at 7 a.m. Tucson time Saturday.

The record-breaking blast came from Stacie Chambers in the third inning. That was the 127th home run of the season for UA, breaking the record held by Arizona’s 2001 team.

“I do not think they give a national championship on home runs,” said UA coach Mike Candrea in a news release. “It is games that you have to win.”

Sarah Akamine (20-6) was the winning pitcher for the Wildcats. She pitched the first three innings and then re-entered in the seventh, allowing a run and four hits in four innings. She struck out three and walked one.

The Wildcats (42-14) had 12 hits, scoring four times in the second and three times in the third.

Senior Jill Malina started in right field in place of freshman Karissa Buchanan, who did not play because of a violation of team rules.

Host Louisville advanced with a 4-1 win over Purdue.

High school sports

At Tempe Diablo Stadium, the Canyon del Oro boys baseball team beat Phoenix Sandra Day O’Connor 6-5 on Friday to advance to Saturday’s Class 4A Division I state championship.

It is CDO’s 10th trip to a state title game. The Dorados have won six, most recently in 2002 with an 8-6 win over Tucson High.

• Tanque Verde will play Bagdad in the finals of the 1A state tournament at Surprise Stadium at 3 p.m. Saturday.

The Hawks defeated Phoenix Valley Lutheran 2-1 on Friday to advance.

VOLLEYBALL: No. 1-seeded Sahuaro advanced to the finals of the 4A/5A Division II finals after beating No. 5 Ironwood Ridge on Friday.

The Cougars won in three games 25-16, 25-15, 25-14 and will play either No. 2 Rincon/University or No. 3 Catalina at Mountain View High School at 1 p.m. Saturday.

GEOFF GRAMMER

and RAYMOND SUAREZ

Braves top D’backs

ATLANTA – Yunel Escobar hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the bottom of ninth, giving the Atlanta Braves a 4-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night after blowing a lead in the top of the inning.

With one out in the ninth, Jordan Schafer hit a single to right off Tony Pena (3-1). Pinch-hitter Kelly Johnson walked and Omar Infante singled to center. Schafer, who hesitated between second and third to see if center fielder Chris Young would catch the ball, had to hold at third.

The Associated Press

Tisdale dies at 44

Wayman Tisdale, a three-time All-American at Oklahoma who played 12 seasons in the NBA and later became a top jazz musician, died after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 44.

Tisdale died Friday morning at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, hospital spokeswoman Joy McGill said.

After three years at Oklahoma, Tisdale played in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns.

The 6-foot-9 forward, with a soft left-handed touch on the court and a wide smile off it, averaged 15.3 points for his career. He was on the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the 1984 Olympics.

The Associated Press

Manny apologizes to team

MIAMI – An “anxious” Manny Ramirez apologized to his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates Friday, the first time he was around the club since being suspended for 50 games for using a banned substance.

Ramirez used the words “I’m sorry,” said Dodgers manager Joe Torre, although many players said the apology wasn’t necessary.

“It was uncomfortable. I’ll give you that,” Torre said. “We spent some time together before we went into the meeting room and he was a little anxious. That’s the human side of this thing.

“He basically went around, shook everybody’s hand. I think guys were happy to see him. I think there was a little uneasiness on both sides.”

The brief meeting took place in a conference room at the team’s waterfront hotel in South Florida before the Dodgers arrived at the Marlins’ stadium to start a three-game series.

The Associated Press

Phelps wins in return

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Michael Phelps still remembers how to win.

The most decorated Olympian ever won two events Friday night in his first meet since Beijing, showing he’s moved on from the embarrassment of being photographed using a marijuana pipe and serving a three-month suspension.

Phelps touched first in the 200-meter freestyle at the Charlotte UltraSwim in a time of 1 minute, 46.02 seconds. He came back less than an hour later to win the 100 butterfly in 51.72.

In both races, Phelps easily broke meet records he set three years ago, and coach Bob Bowman proclaimed him ahead of schedule as Phelps looks ahead to the world championships this summer.

The Associated Press

Preakness up for grabs

BALTIMORE – Calvin Borel has complete confidence his horse will win the Preakness, the kind of certainty expected from the Kentucky Derby-winning jockey.

Except Borel won’t be riding the Derby winner on Saturday.

He made the unprecedented decision to get off Mine That Bird and onto Rachel Alexandra, the spectacular filly who is the 8-5 early favorite for the second leg of the Triple Crown.

“It’s hard to leave a Kentucky Derby winner,” jockey Robby Albarado said. “You’re the only one with the chance of winning the Triple Crown. It’s a hard decision to make.”

Mine That Bird is the co-third choice at 6-1 with Friesan Fire, the Derby wagering favorite who staggered home next-to-last on the first Saturday in May.”

The 12 other horses are going to have to run the race of their life or me fall off or something stupid happen,” Borel said by phone Friday from Louisville, Ky., where he took a break from mowing his lawn to chat. “I just got to point her in the right direction and she’ll get me there.”

If that happens, Rachel Alexandra would become only the fifth filly to win the Preakness. Ten have tried since Nellie Morse in 1924 was the last to wear the winner’s blanket of black-eyed Susans.

The Associated Press

Favre talks to surgeon

MINNEAPOLIS – With the Minnesota Vikings eagerly waiting, Brett Favre has sought the advice of a noted surgeon about his beat-up throwing arm, according to the latest report on the quarterback’s status.

Citing an anonymous source, ESPN.com reported that Favre consulted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews about options for healing the partially torn biceps tendon that has caused pain in his right shoulder. Andrews is one of the most consulted surgeons in pro sports.

Favre declared his retirement for the second time in February because of the injury, which he blamed for his poor performance in December while the New York Jets missed the playoffs.

The Associated Press

For a while, my friends blamed me instead of Dick Tomey, John Mackovic or Mike Stoops for the Arizona football program’s demise.

From 2001 to 2007, Arizona went 26-53 after I took over the beat job in the third game of 2001. Finally, I got to cover a bowl game when UA went 8-5 in 2008.

Here are two of my top memories:

• In 2004, the UA baseball team traveled to play Long Beach State in a super-regional with little hope against pitcher Jered Weaver and the 49ers. Weaver struck out 12 Wildcats, but UA won the opener 6-5 on a Trevor Crowe triple. UA lost the second game, but won the deciding contest in the 11th on a Nick Hundley sacrifice fly.

The good news was I got to cover a College World Series, but my family wasn’t too happy. We had to cancel a vacation.

• In 2003, the one Friday night I decided to go to a movie for a rare date with my wife, there were 11 messages waiting for me on my cell phone.

Had the world come to an end?

It turned out to be news of Mackovic banning several players from the team dinner the night before a game. Forty-eight hours later, he was history and UA started a coaching search.

Following tips and Internet rumors became a 24-hour job. One name kept popping up: Mike Stoops.

Although Stoops wouldn’t confirm his interest in the job, I was able to get the first interview with him. You could tell he would be UA’s next coach.

I’m glad I didn’t have to cover a coaching change last year. Despite what some might think, reporters don’t like to write about firings and buyouts. We’d rather write about touchdowns.

Fred W. Enke and Joe Batiste might have been the most versatile athletes in southern Arizona history.

Enke was named all-state in football, basketball and baseball at Tucson High in the 1940s – and starred in all three sports at the University of Arizona before playing in the NFL.

Batiste, also a Tucson High star, set a world record in 1939 in the 120-yard high hurdles at 14.0 seconds. He also was a standout running back.

Abe Chanin, a graduate of Tucson High and the former sports editor of the Arizona Daily Star, marveled in a 1999 Citizen article at the talent of Enke, whose father was the longtime basketball coach at the University of Arizona.

“He was a marvelous athlete all the way around,” Chanin said. “He was the greatest all-around athlete for the University of Arizona ever, as well. He was a great three-sports star, just superb in each of those sports.”

During his years as a Badger, Enke was voted all-state in each sport at least once: football (1941-42), basketball (1943) and baseball (1943). In his three years at the varsity level in three sports, he was on eight state title teams with the Badgers, missing a sweep in 1941 when the basketball team failed to win.

He was the quarterback in football, a guard in basketball and a fleet outfielder in baseball.

Enke was the first Arizonan to play quarterback in the National Football League. From 1948 to 1951 he played for the Detroit Lions. Then he spent a year with the Eagles and finished his career with the Baltimore Colts in 1953-54.

Batiste, an African-American, was not allowed to participate in football at first because of his race. It wasn’t until Mesa High tried to lure Batiste away that Tucson High allowed him to play. His refusal to run track unless he was allowed to play football was another factor in finally getting a shot at football.

Joe’s main talent was track. His 120-yard hurdles world record stood for 18 years.

“He could do almost anything there is in track. He was brilliant in sprints. Today, he would most likely be a decathlon athlete,” Chanin said.

Batiste qualified for the 1940 and 1944 United States Olympic teams as a hurdler and a decathlete, but the war forced the cancellation of those games. He died in 1958.

“Aaron passes Ruth!”

“Nixon resigns!”

Those headlines helped me sell a lot of newspapers in 1974, when my journey with the Tucson Citizen began as an 11-year-old hawker. Wearing my “Citizen Charlie” smock, I pitched the paper – which cost 15 cents back then – in front of my father’s East Side liquor store.

In between begging for tips, I pored over the sports section. I studied box scores and Citizen writers such as Regis McAuley, Corky Simpson, Jack Rickard and Bruce Johnston.

The newspaper bug had bitten me.

I took journalism at Catalina High School under J.G. Carlton, and began calling in prep box scores to the Citizen for $3 a game. By the time I landed a correspondent’s job in 1980, I knew what I wanted to do with my life.

Except for a five-year stint at USA TODAY, I worked many different jobs and many crazy hours at the Citizen until Gannett announced our closure.

Some of my favorite memories:

• High school: Sahuaro quarterback Rodney Peete threw for a then-state record 424 yards and five touchdowns in 1983 against Amphi. It ended in a 34-34 tie but was the greatest game I ever reported. Amphi countered with 361 yards on the ground in a contest that saw three TDs and one field goal scored in the final 3 minutes and 42 seconds.

• College: After covering Sean Elliott for three years at Cholla High, I watched him break Lew Alcindor’s Pac-10 career scoring record in 1989. Elliott needed 34 points and scored 35 – with six 3-pointers. It’s the loudest I’ve ever heard McKale Center, and we had a special section printed after UA routed UCLA.

• Pro: Curt Schilling sprayed champagne on me and other reporters in the locker room after the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees to win the 2001 World Series. When Luis Gonzalez singled in the winning run, strangers began hugging in the aisles at Bank One Ballpark.

• Embarrassing: On a hot night, I fainted in the elevator at Arizona Stadium during UA’s 1986 football home opener vs. Houston. When I came to, then-sports information director Butch Henry stood over me, asking in his Arkansas drawl, “Is he dead?”

• Initiation: Two Cleveland Indians players, who shall remain nameless, tried to stuff me in a locker when I was 19. To the locker-room attendant who saved me, thank you.

• Sadness: When I was an assistant city editor, I had to wake up Lute Olson to tell him that former UA basketball assistant Ricky Byrdsong had been gunned down in Evanston, Ill. After Olson’s wife, Bobbi, yelled, “No, God,” Lute gave me an eloquent quote.

• Proudest: Watching our sports staff pull together some of the biggest stories of the decade: UA football coach John Mackovic’s firing; the death of UA women’s basketball star Shawntinice Polk; Olson’s retirement and Sean Miller’s hiring as basketball coach.

I’m biased, but I considered my sports staff to be one of the hardest-working and professional in the nation.

The Associated Press Sports Editors agreed. It named us a top 10 daily sports section in the nation seven of the last nine years for our circulation category.

Credit goes to my second “family”: Steve Rivera, John Moredich, Anthony Gimino, Bryan Lee, Ken Brazzle, Geoff Grammer, Raymond Suarez and Michael Schmelzle. Correspondents Ash Friederich, Rodney Haas and Christopher Veck deserve high-fives, along with past staffers Dave Petruska, Paul Schwalbach, Michael Caccamise, Shelly Lewellen, David Pittman, Stephen Sharpton, Jessie Vanderson, Charles Durrenberger and Christopher Walsh.

More thanks go out to all the page designers I annoyed with my suggestions, Simpson for his inspiration and guidance, and Peter Madrid, who I succeeded as sports editor in 1999.

Finally, I’d like to pay tribute to all the coaches, players, parents and readers who helped suggest stories and make my job easier.

I’ll miss this place.

Defensive end Tedy Bruschi celebrates UA's 29-0 win over Miami in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl.

So we’re closing. The Big C. We’re done for. The whistle is blowing. The horn is sounding. We’ve run out of extra time. Just took a called third strike.

I’d like to think you will miss us here in Citizen sports, but I don’t want to be presumptuous.

But even if you think that only once a month we nailed a story, a scoop, a column, a feature – and I think our batting average was much higher – well, that’s one story, scoop, column, feature you won’t be getting any more.

That’s not good for anybody.

I asked Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood in February about the Citizen’s impeding demise and how it might affect his department.

“For a great number of years, we’ve had the ability to have things balanced, and all of a sudden you lose that,” Livengood said of this turning into a one-newspaper town.

“It also has an impact on the outside world, about the perception of Tucson when you lose an institution like this. There is an impression that we’re not going forward; we’re moving backward.”

Certainly, Livengood was telling me what I wanted to hear, but he also lamented a financial aspect to the closing and a potential loss of sponsorshi\n\nadvertising dollars from a reconfigured Tucson Newspapers.

I guess that’s now a story for our pals at the Arizona Daily Star to track down.

I got my start in this crazy business at the Star, back in the fall of 1986. My first byline was on a high school football game, featuring a flash of a running back from Flowing Wells. His name escapes me now.

There have been a blur of running backs, point guards, pitchers and catchers in the years since then.

It was a pleasure to chronicle the Arizona football team through most of the 1990s – the Fiesta Bowl victory over Miami, the Holiday Bowl victory over Nebraska. Waldrop. Bruschi. Bouie. McAlister. Keith and Ortege, the tag-team quarterbacks.

One of my favorite stories: Back in the early 1990s, UA football coach Dick Tomey, upset over something I had written that day, went ballistic on me after practice as the players were leaving the field.

I have never heard someone so copiously and creatively use another term for horse manure.

We agreed to disagree that day, and I feared that a good working relationship would be damaged. Football coaches have been known to hold a grudge.

But the next time I saw Tomey, it was as if nothing had happened. That was his style. Say what you have to say, and then let it go. It’s a life lesson I have never forgotten.

Elsewhere, I covered seven of Arizona’s eight national championships in softball, and had access to the mind of coach Mike Candrea for two decades. Sometimes, this job is so worth it.

No complaints here.

I had a chance to work with, travel with and learn from the twin towers of local sports columnists – retired Corky Simpson of the Citizen and Greg Hansen of the Star. Tucson was lucky to have two such voices for all those years.

So, yeah, it’s been a good ride.

It hit me a while ago, though, that the best part of this job at the Citizen for the past four and a half years had nothing to do with newspapers or journalism.

Recently, for no other reason than boredom, I reached into the closet and pulled out a box I hadn’t opened in years. It was filled with various items from college days.

Two things caught my eye.

One was a 20-year-old edition of the Tombstone Epitaph. A journalism class at the University of Arizona produced – and still does – the newspaper for the Town Too Tough To Die.

In this particular edition, I shared a few bylines with a guy named John Moredich.

As I dug deeper in the box, I found an old address book – the kind of thing we used before we all had cell phones. Thumbing through, I saw I had the old phone number of a guy named Steve Rivera.

Point is, the two writers I have worked most closely with at the Citizen since the start of 2005 – Moredich covering football, Rivera covering basketball – have been friends for more than two decades.

Working with them has been the rewarding part of the job.

Whatever you do for work, I hope you have been as lucky.

Since 1957, the Tucson Citizen has profiled more than a 1,000 of the city’s finest high school student-athletes.

Each school nominated a candidate based on academics, athletics, leadership, service to their school and an essay on who influenced them most.

In all, there were 54 winners of the Tucson Citizen Student-Athlete Award, with co-recipients named twice.

Every year, the Citizen also would revisit a past winner from a decade before. Here’s what three are doing now:

Tim Ashcraft, Sahuaro, 2004

How many AH-64D Apache attack helicopter pilots play piano, cello, drums and guitar, sing in chorus, give piano lessons and have and acted and sung with professional aplomb in musical performances?

Tim Ashcraft is one of such an elite.

A 2007 West Point grad, Ashcraft, still very much a champion of the arts, is now stationed in flight school at Fort Rucker, Ala., where he is specializing in helicopters.

Ashcraft always yearned to fly. He likes to recall when he first learned on a Cessna while at West Point and flew around the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson River. It was both business and fun.

At Sahuaro, music was as much of his growing-up years as academics (22nd in his class) and sports (nine letters in football, baseball and soccer). At the academy, he minored in music and majored in mechanical engineering.

“My granddad was in the Army, so that was the military background,” Ashcraft says, “but I didn’t think about the military growing up. But in choosing West Point, it provided the best opportunity to enjoy what I do and serve my country.”

Granddad was Clarence L. “Stub” Ashcraft, a University of Arizona icon, who died in 2008 at age 89. He was a major in WWII, a former UA lineman and served as UA historian and athletic events coordinator (1962-85). Tim’s father is David Ashcraft, a retired Sahuaro music director. Tim credits his older brother, Chris, as his life’s inspiration.

For Tim Ashcraft, serving in the Army has been an uplifting experience.

“With everything going on in the world today,” he says, “I couldn’t be more amazed at the support the U.S. military is receiving.”

Philo Sanchez, Sunnyside, 2002

The official programs stretched Philo Sanchez’s height from 5 feet 6 to 5-7, but every one of his 195 pounds on the football field was felt by opponents.

Sanchez, the 2002 Student-Athlete winner, has known nothing other than to overachieve since the time parents Richard and Anna Sanchez gently informed him what life was about, around age 2.

As an athlete, Philo was Sunnyside’s all-time leading rusher under his dad, the head coach, and led the Blue Devils to two state playoff championship games, winning the second time.

Sanchez continued playing at Northern Arizona and was the Lumberjacks’ leading rusher his junior and senior years.

But there is a lot more to his life than football. He was a scholar from kindergarten on and graduated fourth in his Sunnyside class of 365 and has been constantly involved in community and church service.

“Winning the Student-Athlete Award was sort of the culmination of everything, all the hard work I did,” Sanchez said.

At NAU he pursued a biology and pre-med major intending to follow in the footsteps of Dr. Mark Donovan, an orthodontist. But over the last two years, in which he helped his father as an assistant coach, Sanchez decided law school was for him. He’s now in the process of applying.

“My mother always said I should be a lawyer,” he said, “because I was so argumentative. Then after I graduated (NAU), she sensed I was not that excited about (being an orthodontist) anymore. She always was the smartest person I ever knew.”

Brains and inspiration are part of any success story. Football stars such as Walter Payton drifted in and out of his imagination, but one was always No. 1.

“Some kids make a superhero out of Superman or Spider-Man but I always had my father,” Philo says. “He’s what every man should be – compassionate, though sometimes he doesn’t show it, and strong.”

Molly Reiling, Salpointe Catholic, 1984

Girls sports took off in the 1970s, when Title IX required schools to offer equal sports opportunities to females.

Molly Reiling watched her older sister play interscholastic softball, and she eagerly followed suit.

“I was the first female Student-Athlete winner from Salpointe,” she said. “It was sort of a new thing but I remember it made me feel very proud. I was one of the first generation after (Title IX). We were some of the first to see the full effects.”

Karen Christensen from Rincon High was the first girl’s Student-Athlete Award winner in 1976, followed by Kristine Bush (Sabino), Lisa Kay Baker (Sahuaro) and Vickie Patton (Marana) before Reiling won in 1984.

Paul Reiling had three daughters and no sons but he never lacked for kids active in sports. He helped coached his girls in softball. Molly’s expertise was softball and volleyball and she went on to play two years of college volleyball at Arizona State before transferring to concentrate on her architecture degree at UC-Santa Barbara.

Now the married Molly Dowd, lives in Verona, N.J., a suburb of New York City, with two preteen daughters. A freelance spatial planning and interior drafting professional, she started a middle school volleyball program for her daughters.

“I thought of going on in sports and it’s amazing the opportunities growing for women now in college and after – professional, overseas pros, coaching . . .

“I’m just grateful for the opportunities.”

TUCSON CITIZEN STUDENT-ATHLETE AWARD WINNERS

Year Student-athlete High school

1957 D.L. Secrist Jr. Tucson High

1958 Donald Parsons Catalina

1959 Edward Brown Flowing Wells

1960 Terry DeJonghe Salpointe

1961 Robert Svob Catalina

1962 Ray Kosanke Tucson High

1963 Michael Aboud Tucson High

1964 Pat McAndrew Flowing Wells

1965 Charles Begley Sunnyside

1966 Eric Evett Catalina

1967 Ron Curry Tucson High

1968 Jeff Lovin Palo Verde

1969 Bruce Pawlowski Salpointe

1970 Dave Henry Sahuaro

1971 Tom Hagen Salpointe

1972 Bill Baechler Palo Verde

1973 Francisco Gomez Pueblo

1974 Richard Rucker Canyon del Oro

1975 Guillermo Robles Sunnyside

1976 Karen Christensen Rincon

1977 Michael Wing Rincon

1978 Craig Barker Amphitheater

1979 Ralph Gay Sunnyside

1980 Kristine Bush Sabino

1981 Lisa Kay Baker Sahuaro

1982 Vickie Patton Marana

1983 Martin Tetreault Sahuaro

1984 Molly Reiling Salpointe

1985 Timothy Roggeman Salpointe

1986 Jon Volpe Amphitheater

1987 Luis A. Padilla Pueblo

1988 Nicole Stern Catalina

1989 Robert Moen Flowing Wells

1990 Grace O’Neill Salpointe

1991 Angel Phillips Rincon

1992 Zenen Salazar Sunnyside

1993 Michelle Vielledent Sahuaro

1994 Julie Reitan Sahuaro

and Brady Bennon Sabino

1995 Kelly Yablonski University High

1996 Joe Aguirre Palo Verde

1997 Andy Viner University High

1998 Scott Beck Canyon del Oro

1999 Glenn Schatz University High

2000 Nicole Voelkel University High

2001 Ai-ris Yonekura Catalina Foothills

2002 Philo Sanchez Sunnyside

2003 Tim Ashcraft Sahuaro

2004 Joe Kay Tucson High

2005 Tiffany Hosten Tucson High

and Echo Fallon Catalina Foothills

2006 Michael Smith Sunnyside

2007 Tara Erdmann Flowing Wells

2008 James Eichberger Catalina

Citizen file photo

Sahuaro multisport star Rodney Peete.

Southern Arizona has produced a plethora of talented high school athletes through the years, some who went on to professional and Olympic careers. This list is the best of the best based on their dominance during their high school years.

BOYS

All-around

• Fred Enke, Tucson High, 1940s: Multitalented athlete was the brightest star of the Badgers’ glory years, starring in football, basketball and baseball and leading the Badgers to eight state team titles.

• Joe Batiste, Tucson High, 1930s: Track legend and football star set a hurdles record that stood for years.

• Michael Bates, Amphi, 1980s: Nationally ranked hurdler and sprinter and a Parade magazine All-American in football.

• Rodney Peete, Sahuaro, 1980s: Record-setting quarterback after being all-star wide receiver, point guard on state title basketball team, pitched and won state title game in baseball as sophomore.

• Dannie Jackson, Santa Rita, 1970s: Future world-class decathlete excelled in football, basketball and track for the Eagles.

Baseball

• Sam Khalifa, Sahuaro, 1980s: Picked No. 7 overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1982, he is the highest local prep selection in the draft.

Basketball

• (tie) Sean Elliott, Cholla, 1980s: Two-time All-State pick averaged 24.8 points per game in his career.

• (tie) Lafayette Lever, Pueblo, 1970s: Two-time All-State pick led team to two state titles.

Cross country

• Kyle Cormier, Douglas, 2000s: Cormier won six state championships in cross country and distance events in track and won the 2004 Foot Locker National and West Regional championships before an All-American career running at the University of Arkansas.

Football

• Rodney Peete, Sahuaro, 1980s: Future Heisman Trophy runner-up was a record-setting quarterback as a junior, all-city receiver as a sophomore.

Golf

• Willie Wood, Sabino, 1970s: Future PGA Tour player competed here only briefly but dominated the local scene.

Soccer

• Luis Robles, Sierra Vista Buena, 1990s-2000s: Robles, who spurned the MLS after being drafted by D.C. United to play professionally for Germany’s FC Kaiserslauter, was Arizona’s Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior, a high school All-American and a member of the U.S. under-18 national team while at Buena.

Swimming

• Doug Northway, Sahuaro, 1970s: Won a bronze medal in the 1972 Olympics while still in high school.

Tennis

• Bill Lenoir, Tucson High, 1950s: First Tucsonan to win a national junior title. Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith were among his victims.

Track and field

• (tie) Joe Batiste, Tucson High, 1930s: Set a national hurdles record that stood for more than 40 years.

• (tie) Michael Bates, Amphi, 1980s: Top hurdler, sprinter and football star.

Wrestling

• Eric Larkin, Sunnyside, 1990s: In the galaxy of Blue Devils stars, this three-time state champ is the only one named national high school wrestler of the year.

Boys Volleyball

> Joe Kay, Tucson High, 2000s: Kay earned a volleyball scholarship to Stanford, but he suffered a stroke after being trampled by fans storming the court after a basketball game his senior year. He recovered enough to attend Stanford, although he could no longer participate in athletics.

GIRLS

All-around

• Stacy Engel, Catalina 1980s: First girl to play boys varsity baseball here as well as being a softball, track & field and volleyball standout.

• Julie Reitan, Sahuaro, 1990s: Softball all-star, state long jump champ, cross country standout.

• Tara Erdmann, Flowing Wells, 2000s: Seven time state champion in track, cross country and soccer, including pulling off the track trifecta as a senior winning 5A-II state titles in the 3,200, 1,600 and 800 meters.

Basketball

• (tie) Paula Pyers, Santa Rita, 1980s: Led unbeaten Eagles to state title in 1984 before moving on to play at the University of Southern California.

• (tie) Sybil Dosty, Salpointe Catholic, 2000s: Dosty averaged 27 points and more than 11 rebounds per game during a four-year varsity career that included multiple All-America team selections.

Cross country

• Virginia Pedersoli, Amphi, 1990s: Won three straight Class 5A state titles.

Golf

• Cindy Flom, Sahuaro, 1970s: Future LPGA star played on boys varsity team.

Soccer

• Kelly Walbert, Salpointe Catholic, 1990s: City’s first major star, went on to play at Duke.

Softball

• Kenzie Fowler, Canyon del Oro, 2000s: The 2008 Gatorade National Player of the Year and former Junior Olympian is already a three-time All-American entering her senior season in 2009. As one of the country’s best-ever high school pitchers, the fact she was also one of the state’s best hitters often gets overlooked. Including a streak of four-straight no hitters and two perfect games, Fowler closed out her senior season by leading the Dorados to their fourth-straight state championship game.

Swimming

• Caitlin Leverenz, Sahuaro, 2000s: State record holder in multiple events. Missed qualifying for 2008 U.S. Olympic team by a fraction of a second after a junior year that including winning gold medals at multiple international events.

Tennis

• (tie) Kendra Strohm, Salpointe Catholic, 1990s-2000s: Lost one set in four-year career in which she became Arizona’s first girl to win four-consecutive singles state championships.

• (tie) Kirsten and Tristany Leikem, Flowing Wells, 2000s: Twin terrors became state’s first-ever four-time state doubles champions from 2005-2008.

Track and field

• Carolyn Jackson, Salpointe Catholic, 1990s: Showed tremendous range in the sprints from the 100 to the 400.

Girls Volleyball

• Bre Ladd, Canyon del Oro, 1990s-2000s: The 2001 Gatorade National Player of the Year was also a member of U.S. Junior National team. Selected by Volleyball Magazine as the No. 1 recruit in the nation for class of 2002.

COACHES

Great coaching goes well beyond wins and losses, but trying to list all the Tucson-area coaches who have touched the lives of area youths through the years would be a futile effort. Albeit not all-inclusive, here are some of the area’s most successful coaches through the years:

(* active)

• Sue Clark, Tucson High, girls tennis: From 1959 to 1972, Clark’s teams set a national record, going 213-0 in dual matches, and won 10 state titles.

• Bobby DeBerry, Sunnyside, wrestling: From 1996 to this past winter, DeBerry oversaw 13 state wrestling championship teams, including the past 12 straight.

• Bud Doolen, Tucson High, basketball: Won four 5A boys basketball championships between 1943 and 1949 and was runner up in 1940.

• Mike Dyer, Marana, girls basketball: Dyer not only won four state titles at Marana in the 1980s, he initiating a federal lawsuit against the Arizona Interscholastic Association to have the girls basketball season moved from the spring to winter, helping, among other things, spring softball blossom in southern Arizona.

• Hal Eustice, Sahuaro, baseball: Eustice brought three state titles and two runner-up trophies back to Sahuaro in the 1970s and ’80s and also won a baseball championship at San Manuel in 1963.

• Vern Friedli, Amphi, football: Still going strong, Friedli is Arizona’s all-time wins leader with 309 career coaching victories.

• Rollin T. Gridley, Tucson High, football: From 1935-47, Gridley won five state football championships and posted an 88-29-8 record.

• Mary Hines, Catalina, girls volleyball: Her 215-27 career record in 28 years at Catalina, including her 1985 national coach of the year award, are just part of the story. Her coaching tree of former players and assistants branched out across Tucson.

• Juanita Kingston, Rincon/University, volleyball: Her 34-year coaching career, which included an undefeated girls volleyball state championship season at Rincon in 1993, included coaching boys and girls volleyball, softball, basketball and track.

• Don Klostreich, Sunnyside, wrestling: From 1979-88, Klostreich’s Blue Devils squads won nine of 10 state titles, laying the foundation of the state’s greatest wrestling dynasty.

• Roland LaVetter, Pueblo, boys basketball: Coached Pueblo’s great state championship teams in 1977 and 1978 as well as having several coaching disciples move on to coaching success.

• Jeff Lockwood, Sahuaro, cross country: Under Lockwood’s guidance, Sahuaro won four girls and one boys state title between 1980 and 1990.

• Dick McConnell, Sahuaro, boys basketball: Retired in 2007 as Arizona’s winningest boys basketball coach with 714 career victories, 670 of which came at Sahuaro.

• Richard Sanchez, Sunnyside, wrestling/football: Sanchez won five straight state wrestling titles from 1990-94 and has built Sunnyside football into one of Tucson’s best since 1993, winning two titles. He currently has a 10-year streak of at least one playoff win, unmatched by any area coach or program.

• Jeff Scurran, CDO/Sabino/Santa Rita, football: Built Sabino into a decade-long dynasty with three state championships in the 1990s. Upon his return to high school football in 2007, Santa Rita went from 0-11 in 2006 to 23-4 in two seasons with semifinal and championship game appearances.

• Hank Slagle, Tucson High, baseball: Won 10 of Tucson High’s national-record 29 state baseball championships and coached the Badgers to two more title games between 1942 and 1954. Tucson High’s 52-game win streak spanning the 1942-46 seasons still stands as Arizona’s longest.

• Andy Tolson, Tucson High, baseball: Won six of Tucson High’s national-record 29 state baseball championships and coached the Badgers to four more title games between 1930 and 1941.

• “Doc” Van Horne, Tucson High, boys track & field: Van Horne was head coach for 13 state championships form 1927-1953.

• Wolfgang Weber, Salpointe Catholic, boys soccer: The dean of boys soccer in Tucson, Weber is approaching the unprecedented 500 career wins plateau in Arizona, has four state championships, three runner-up finishes and was also one of the founders of the successful Tucson Soccer Academy.

Tucson High star Joe Batiste.

Salpointe girls basketball player Sybil Dosty.

By Geoff Grammer, Michael Schmelzle

Coach Lute Olson and the UA basketball team celebrates their 1997 national title win over Kentucky. The Wildcats made three other Final Four trips under Olson - in 1988, 1994 and 2001.

KING LUTE

Athletic director Cedric Dempsey lured Lute Olson from Iowa in 1983 to rebuild Arizona basketball. Olson did much more, putting UA on the national radar before retiring. His legacy – 589 wins, 23 straight NCAA tourneys, a national title in 1997, 4 Final Fours, 11 Pac-10 titles, 33 NBA-drafted players – will be tough for new coach Sean Miller to follow.

‘THE STREAK’

In basketball, it’s UA’s 25 straight NCAA tourneys, but football fans won’t forget the Wildcats’ 8-0-1 mark over Arizona State from 1982-90, started by the late coach Larry Smith. “The Streak” took the sting out of UA being on probation for a slush fund by ex-coach Tony Mason, and it turned around a rivalry that saw ASU go 15-2 from 1965-81.

‘FOX’ WHO BUILT McKALE

The late Fred “The Fox” Snowden, the first African-American Division 1 basketball coach, ushered in McKale Center with the “Kiddie Corps” – Coniel Norman, Eric Money, Al Fleming, Jim Rappis and Bob Elliott. They took UA to its first NCAA tourney in 1976. Story, Page 6C

SPRING TRAINING

From Hi Corbett Field to Tucson Electric Park, spring training has boosted our economy and prepared three World Series champs: Cleveland (1948), Diamondbacks (2001) and White Sox (2005) and a runner-up, Colorado (2007). In 1975, the Indians’ Frank Robinson became the first African-American to manage a big-league team. But with the White Sox now in Glendale, the future is unclear.

HIGH SCHOOL DYNASTIES

In 1999, Tucson High became the nation’s first school to earn 500 victories in football and 1,000 wins each in baseball and boys basketball. Then there’s Sunnyside wrestling: 12 straight state team titles, 28 overall. Other dynasties: Amphi football, Canyon del Oro baseball/softball, Salpointe tennis and Catalina Foothills swimming/tennis.

‘DESERT SWARM’

Coach Dick Tomey unveiled his run-stopping defense in 1992, led by Tedy Bruschi, and the Wildcats went on to upset No. 1 Washington and beat Miami 29-0 in the Fiesta Bowl and earn Sports Illustrated’s preseason No. 1 ranking in 1994. The success helped recruiting, which led to a 12-1 season in 1998 and a Holiday Bowl win over Nebraska.

PROFESSIONAL GOLF

Ray Magnum edged Byron Nelson to win the first PGA Tour event here in 1945 at El Rio. His prize: $1,000. When Tiger Woods won the 2008 Accenture Match Play title in Marana, he took home $1.35 million! The Tucson Open rose to fame in the 1970s at Tucson National, thanks to three-time winner Johnny Miller and NBC.

RISE OF SOFTBALL

No UA team has dominated more than Mike Candrea’s softball squad: eight NCAA titles since 1991 and 21 College World Series in 22 years. From pitchers Susie Parra to Jennie Finch to Taryne Mowatt, the Wildcats have made Tucson a softball hub and energized the high school scene.

JERRY’S KIDS

Coach Jerry Kindall guided UA to its first major NCAA team title in the 1976 College World Series. The Cats captured two more NCAA crowns in 1980 and 1986, led by Terry Francona and Chip Hale, respectively. Francona managed the Red Sox to two World Series titles, and ex-UA star Trevor Hoffman is baseball’s all-time saves leader.

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE BASEBALL

From 1915 to 1958, Tucson boasted minor league teams like the Cowboys and Lizards. But it wasn’t until 1969, when the Triple-A Toros made their PCL debut, that fans got a chance to see future major league stars at Hi Corbett. The Toros won titles in ’91 and ’93 before the Sidewinders took over in 1997 at TEP and won the 2006 title. They left for Reno after 2008, but the independent Toros are back.

E ven without a major professional sports team, Tucson can make the case for being a sports town – thanks to success at the college and high school levels and a climate that draws major events. Some highlights:

Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez meets fans Kim Filip (left) and Tracy Toland in March 2009. The Cactus League was born in 1947, with Cleveland at Hi Corbett and the New York Giants in Casa Grande. The Rockies took over for the Indians in 1993.

A decade of Tucson Sports Photos

Citizen photographers had several sports images over the past decade to show Tucson sports.

Producer: FRANCISCO MEDINA

Slide 1 of 35.
Bullrider Ian Male is sent air mail courtesy Pudd the bull during the 81st Annual Fiesta de Los Vaqueros Rodeo Sunday Feb. 19, 2006.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 2 of 35.
Coach Richard Sanchez joins his team in a prayer before the game the Blue Devils went on to lose 6-0 to the Scottsdale Saguaro Sabercats on Nov. 19, 2004.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 3 of 35.
Isaiah Fox jumps up for the rebound with Wright State's Zach Williams in the first half of the Cats' game in the second round of the NIT.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 4 of 35.
Sunnyside's Mike Smith (right) jumps over some players and evades a tackle by Sandra Day O'Conner's Chad Duncan (33).
Source: RENEE BRACAMONTE/Tucson CitizenSlide 5 of 35.
Glendale Cactus Manny Solarez (1) dives for a pass as Rincon's Bryan Marchbanks defends in the second quarter. The pass was incomplete. Tucson, AZ.
Source: XAVIER GALLEGOS/Tucson CitizenSlide 6 of 35.
Lionel Dotson (54) and Paul Phillip (56) celebrate after a play as Arizona was beating UCLA 31-7 st the half.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 7 of 35.
Bo Casper hangs on at the start of a bareback horse ride on Rooster Cogburn. He scored a 75 at yesterday's La Fiesta de los Vaqueros rodeo.
Source: XAVIER GALLEGOS/Tucson CitizenSlide 8 of 35.
Arms raised in a victory salute, Robbie Ventura of Wildwood, Ill., crosses the finish line first in the 20th El Tour de Tucson in 2002.
Source: XAVIER GALLEGOS/Tucson CitizenSlide 9 of 35.
Victorious Blue Devils from Tucson's Sunnyside High School hoist the trophy from their Class 4A state football championship of 2003.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 10 of 35.
Steam rises off the head of Mountain View's Delbert Gallego after he went to the bench and watched his teammates finish off Canyon del Oro in the final seconds of game on Oct. 29, 2004.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 11 of 35.
UA Students Ricky Garrett, 19, (blue) and Brian Blessing, 19, cheer as they are surrounded by older fans during the University of Washington game. Arizona won 91-82.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 12 of 35.
Jawaan McClellan sits on the the floor with his face covered after their 90-89 overtime loss to Illinois in Chicago at the Allstate Arena.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 13 of 35.
Tucson High School swimmer Stephanie White works out in preparation for 2004 regional state competition.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 14 of 35.
Arizona fans climb the goal post as they celebrate Arizona's win over Arizona State 34-27.
Source: XAVIER GALLEGOS/Tucson CitizenSlide 15 of 35.
Sabino's Michael Dillon weeps as he meets with the Saguaro team after losing to them Saturday afternoon, December 9, 2006, in the Class 4A Division I state championship.
Source: VAL CANEZ/Tucson CitizenSlide 16 of 35.
Rick Wock Jr. tries to hold on to Avalanche for the full eight seconds but came up short during the bull riding event at the 80th annual Tucson Rodeo.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 17 of 35.
Hassan Adams slams the ball during a steal in the first half of their NAU game at McKale Center. UA struggled but pulled off the win 75-66 over NAU.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 18 of 35.
Arizona's Michael Thomas (10) keeps his eye on the ball as it is broken up by Washington's Roy Lewis (28) in the first quarter.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 19 of 35.
Santa Rita's Aubura Taylor (6) and his teammates came back to beat Coronado 38-37 to advance in the the 4A state play off game.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 20 of 35.
Acrobatic Wildcat catcher Jaclyn Coburn catches a foul ball and is prevented from tumbling into the dugout of opponent Lafayette by teammate Kristie Fox. The action took place during the playoffs in Tucson on May 21, 2004.
Source: XAVIER GALLEGOS/Tucson CitizenSlide 21 of 35.
Arizona's Jennifer Klein (3) and New Mexico's Nicole Pitcock (2) fight for control.
Source: XAVIER GALLEGOS/Tucson CitizenSlide 22 of 35.
In the return of boxing to Tucson at the Desert Diamond Casino, David Lopez lands a left hook to the face of Jerson Ravelo, knocking him out in the ninth round of a 10-round middleweight bout on March 2, 2004.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 23 of 35.
Bronco Nick Johnson (51) rallies his team during halftime in the American Youth Playoff Football game against the Redskins at Tucson High on Nov.13, 2004.
Source: RENEE BRACAMONTE/Tucson CitizenSlide 24 of 35.
Chicago's Pablo Ozuna dives to tag out Arizona's Eric Byrnes in a run down between first and second, in a spring training game at Tucson Electric Park, Thursday, March 2, 2006.
Source: RENEE BRACAMONTE/Tucson CitizenSlide 25 of 35.
Arizona State's Audree Johnson and the Utes' Kim Smith fight over a loose ball in the first half.Game action at McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona.
Source: XAVIER GALLEGOS/Tucson CitizenSlide 26 of 35.
Catcher Richard McCorkle goes after the ball as Art Radke makes it safely home during a baseball game at Udall Park, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2006.
Source: RENEE BRACAMONTE/Tucson CitizenSlide 27 of 35.
Johnny Bessett (22) heads off Cholla defender Eric Nava (14), in Friday's game at Sahuarita High School.
Source: RENEE BRACAMONTE/Tucson CitizenSlide 28 of 35.
Chaparral Firebirds Safety Adam Baily (2) goes after an interception after Sunnyside Blue Devil Wally Altamirano misses the pass in the Sept. 3, 2004, at Sunnyside High School.
Source: RENEE BRACAMONTE/Tucson CitizenSlide 29 of 35.
Hassan Adams goes for a slam during practice in this 2003 photo-illustration.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 30 of 35.
Diamondback Jay Bell jumps into the arms of teammate Matt Williams after crossing home plate with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the New York Yankees and clinch the 2001 World Series.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 31 of 35.
Tiger Woods shouts after sinking a putt for eagle at No. 17 hole to put him one up and give him the lead as he went on to beat J.B. Holmes.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 32 of 35.
Hundreds of fans rush Fourth Ave after Arizona lost to Duke in the 2001 NCAA Championship.
Source: VAL CANEZ/Tucson CitizenSlide 33 of 35.
UA basketball players mob freshman guard Salim Stoudamire after he led them to the Pac-10 Conference Tournament title on Saturday March 13, 2002.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 34 of 35.
UA's Jason Gardner is fired up after making a play to force ASU to take a timeout in the first half on Jan, 23, 2003.
Source: FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson CitizenSlide 35 of 35.
This cowboy got a little muddy during the 1999 Tucson Rodeo.
Source: XAVIER GALLEGOS/Tucson Citizen

An airplane of some sort flew over my house the other day, so high up there you couldn’t see it – just the long wake of silken contrail across the sky. At some point the white vapor line began to fold, like ribbon candy, then it broke apart.

Then it became a smudge, a streak of white slowly erased from a blue chalkboard.

As you know, this great little newspaper is fading away, the victim of relentless arithmetic and a soulless economy.

And nothing will be missed more than the Citizen Sports section.

Forever ragged-on as the toy department, Sports has actually been an island of sanity in a stormy sea of political, financial and crime news.

What you’ve read here has made sense, for the most part. And that’s why you turned to Sports.

Press Row has always had an essential part in the games we love to watch. I can’t imagine a big sporting event without the ink-stained wretches of the media there to tell the story.

In times like these, the sports pages are like a warm breath blown through cold fingers.

And it saddens me more than I can tell you that the Tucson Citizen is about to draw its last breath.

We’ve been there on the greatest days of University of Arizona athletics. We covered the national championships, the Olympic gold medalists, the dreams come true.

And more than a few nightmares.

It was my great fortune to join the Citizen’s Sports department in August 1976, after two years on the news side. Bruce Johnston covered Wildcats football, Steve Weston basketball, Regis McAuley wrote columns, Naaman Nickell was the copy chief and Jack Rickard was the sports editor.

For the better part of three decades, I slid in and out of various beats. After Regis retired, I stuck mostly to columns.

Johnston became sports editor after a time, followed by Peter Madrid and then the current top guy, Mike Chesnick. Somewhere in there, the late Phil Hamilton filled in briefly.

Nothing I ever covered was as much fun as the Tucson Sky professional volleyball team. The Sky was the last world champion of the International Volleyball Association, in 1979. The league folded the following year; the Sky never did.

And every once in a while, somebody will dig up the grave of that motley mascot, Spike the Skygull, and wear the costume to a party. Doug Clark owned the Sky, along with Burt Kinerk and others. Games were played at Catalina High School. At halftime, fans would go outside on the parking lot to smoke. Some used tobacco.

Bob Garrett was the general manager, the funniest man alive. I went to lunch one day with Bob at the old Cafe Olé downtown. In order to pay for his liverwurst sandwich, he first had to go to the bank and I went along. All of a sudden I noticed Bob, standing in line as if nothing were wrong, wearing the large, yellow foam feet of Spike, including ugly toenails.

The most inspirational team was the 1980 Arizona national championship baseball team, so ably coached by Jerry Kindall, Jim Wing and Jerry Stitt. The Wildcats, led by outfielder Terry Francona, now the manager of the Boston Red Sox, were dead last in the Pacific-10 Conference Southern Division (“Six Pac”) at semester break.

They roared back, winning almost every game in the final inning or two, and took the conference title. Then they came back through the losers’ bracket at the College World Series in Omaha to win the NCAA championship, UA’s first in a team sport.

Jim Young was the finest coach I ever met. He was Arizona football coach from 1973 through 1976. He was a winner here, at Purdue and then at West Point, using different offensive philosophies at each stop.

The late Larry Smith and his Arizona football teams were a joy to cover. I still can’t believe Smitty’s been gone now more than a year. His wife, Cheryl, brought the same positive influence to Arizona football that Bobbi Olson, Lute’s late wife, did to Wildcats basketball.

Lute, of course, is a Tucson monument. His 24 years as head coach brought the school its greatest athletic accomplishments . . . 589 victories, the 1997 NCAA championship, four Final Four appearances, 11 Pacific-10 Conference championships, an unbelievable 43-7 record against Arizona State.

As sports columnist, I got to travel along with some wonderful beat writers to the big games: Dave Petruska, Steve Rivera, Bryan Lee, Charles Durrenberger and then John Moredich in football. . . . Rickard, Cindy Somers and then Rivera in basketball. . . . Petruska in baseball.

It was a pleasure to work with some of the finest athletic directors in UA history . . . Dave Strack, Cedric Dempsey and Jim Livengood. And with sports information directors Frank Soltys, Bob Jacobsen, Mike Parkinson, Butch Henry and Tom Duddleston.

Covering Tucson’s La Fiesta de los Vaqueros rodeo for many years was a treat. So was the old Tucson Open golf tournament, run so well by the Conquistadores, the greatest group of volunteers in the country.

The men and women I’ve worked with in Sports, writers and editors, were dedicated, talented people. We were an afternoon paper in an age when people preferred to read their news in the morning. We felt we had to work harder than our competitors.

We were like a Jeep battling its way out of the swamp.

I wish the Arizona Daily Star nothing but the best. You’re on your own now, guys. We can’t help you anymore. Good luck.

From the perspective of a retirement which I entered two years ago, I have grown to appreciate even more the work of the two daily newspapers in Tucson.

Now there’ll be only one.

And it breaks my heart.

Former Citizen Sports Columnist Corky Simpson’s book, “Corky: 30 Years of Sports Commentary, Heroes, Egos, Gloves, Sweat and Tears,” is still available. E-mail him at jokwriter@yahoo.com

Zach Lloyd and his wife, Nicole, throw the shot put for the University of Arizona.

The form was perfect, a classic shot-putter’s spin.

Face the rear of the circle, twist around the left foot, drive the right into the middle of the circle, reach for the front with the left foot and twist the hip and shoulders.

Finally, heave the iron ball and let loose with a primal scream.

Zack Lloyd’s shot landed with a thud of dust a few yards short of the “end zone,” the dirt beyond the 20-meter boundary.

Another training throw. Lots of application and movement but no threat to the man’s 69-foot (21 meters) personal best.

“I never look for it (the 20-meter mark),” Lloyd said. “I just concentrate on what I have to do.”

Lloyd is saving his deepest gut check for “the show,” his last NCAA Championships, which will be held next month.

He’s also busy watching his wife, Nicole, also a senior Arizona shot put and discus thrower. It’s not uncommon for the track and field pros to have a husband-wife combo, but it’s very rare in college.

For Zack to Nicole, it’s more appreciation than advice.

“My job is to keep her happy, not coach her, to give her positive reinforcement, keep her focused,” he said, citing a golden rule of domestic harmony.

The two have different technical styles born of the “spin” moves for shot and discus as opposed to the “glide,” in which one swings the launch leg (left for a right-hander) and violently swings the body toward the target.

“I’m very technically conscious,” said Nicole, who favors the discus, “and it’s been tough since I went to the spin (move) at UA. It took a long time.

“I’m a late bloomer at UA. My trouble used to be sitting around thinking too much.”

Zack is more of pure power thrower.

They met at high school track and field meets. Zack, originally from Redding, Calif., was at White Pine High, in Ely, Nev., and Nicole in the Salt Lake City suburb of Bountiful. They began dating when Zach was a freshman at Utah State in Logan and Nicole at the University of Utah.

They both attended and competed at Mesa Community College before coming to UA last year after mutual friend Craig Carter joined the UA staff in 2007.

“We were married in seven months,” Nicole said. “Fast, I guess an LDS thing.”

Nicole is a Mormon, Zach is not, but Zach said there relationship is “not so much religion, (but) a Utah thing.”

Zack, 6 feet 2 and 305 pounds, is a three-time All-American and Nicole earned her first All-American honor in the NCAA Indoor Championships this year with a shot put mark of 52-3 1/4. Her best for the outdoor season is 49-4 in a qualification for the NCAA regionals, set for May 29 at Eugene, Ore.

Her career bests are 170-1 in the discus and 52-5 in shot put.

Zack has a regional qualification mark this year of 157-8 for the discus.

The two have big plans for the future.

“Our goal is to own a gym somewhere,” Zack said.

Not some sterile, glossy works but a nice, nasty sweat place with lots of echoes and clanging.

“Real old-time style,” he said.

Fred Snowden's first recruiting class, known as the Kiddie Korps and featuring five freshman starters, took Tucson by storm.

University of Arizona basketball does not begin or end with Lute Olson, despite the four Final Fours and one NCAA title to his credit.

Olson’s 24 seasons at the helm of UA basketball cast a giant shadow, one that perhaps obscures another principal contributor to all that is Arizona basketball today.

Former UA star and current Wildcat broadcaster Bob Elliott sums it up this way: “If there’s not a Fred Snowden, there’s probably not a Lute Olson.”

Elliott explains that Olson was already a Final Four coach who had his choice of schools to move on to – and that Snowden’s success here showed Lute the possibilities.

“It’s a lot easier to go to a program where the fire had already been lit. . . . Lute knew the fire had been lit by Freddy,” Elliott says.

Snowden is the man who took the Cats from the 3,000 seats or so of Bear Down Gym to brand new McKale Center and its nearly 15,000 seats in 1973.

It was a lot of pressure for a rookie head coach. Not only was he tasked with filling McKale and creating a national reputation for the program, he also had the added glare of publicity that came from being the first African-American head coach in men’s Division I basketball.

Snowden’s first recruiting class, known as the Kiddie Korps and featuring five freshman starters, took Tucson by storm. By the time McKale opened at midseason, Tucson’s love affair with basketball was in full bloom and sellouts were the norm.

“Fred was the catalyst,” says Jerry Holmes, an assistant coach under Snowden.

“The Fred Snowden regime in that time started the tradition of Arizona basketball, without question,” Holmes says.

Success built quickly, as Snowden’s breakneck offense captivated Tucson.

“The community really bought into this team. . . . It was the most exciting time in UA sports history,” Holmes says.

Two members of the Kiddie Korps, Eric Money and Coniel Norman, left early for the NBA, and another, John Irving, transferred. But two of them remained to take the Wildcats to then-unheard of heights: the final eight in the NCAA Tournament and within eight minutes of the Final Four.

That 1976 team, which featured Elliott at center, was led by Kiddie Korps holdovers Al Fleming and Jim Rappis. In what was certainly Snowden’s finest season, his Cats beat John Thompson’s Georgetown Hoyas in the first round. It was also the first meeting of two black head coaches in the NCAA Tournament.

Next up was Nevada-Las Vegas, ranked No. 3 in the country. The Cats won 114-109 in overtime, propelled by what may have been the finest backcourt performance ever by a Wildcat twosome. Rappis and junior Herm Harris combined for 55 points on 23 of 36 field-goal shooting and 21 assists. They did it without the benefit of the three-point shot.

Then came mighty UCLA in the West Region final, on its home court at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. The Bruins broke open a tie game with eight minutes to go and went on to earn the Final Four berth.

“It was the first team in Arizona history to go to the Elite Eight. That set a benchmark,” says Elliott.

Combined with Olson’s first UA Final Four squad in 1988 and the 1997 NCAA title team, they form a trio of milestones that new UA coach Sean Miller will try to surpass.

“The milestone is to win two national titles. Everything else has been done,” says Elliott.

Fred W. Enke played three seasons for the basketball Wildcats, 1945-48, becoming team captain in the 1947-48 season.

Arizona outfielder Hunter Pace easily could have moped and complained, and even left the team because of the lack of playing time.

But he didn’t. He stuck around for three years, sitting behind T.J. Steele, who was a fourth-round selection in the Major League Baseball draft a year ago.

Pace, who graduates with a regional development degree, will start his last home series when the Wildcats play Washington at Sancet Stadium at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The Pac-10 series runs through Monday.

“Hunter Pace is the reason why I enjoy coaching,” UA coach Andy Lopez said.

Pace is one of four seniors playing their last home series, joining pitchers Preston Guilmet and Cory Burns, and outfielder Brad Glenn.

Pace was a standout at Chandler Hamilton High. But Steele took over the center field position and became one of the top outfielders in the country.

“Unfortunately T.J. had to come in the same year, but it was good for me,” Pace said. “I learned a lot from watching T.J. and the way he went about his business.”

Pace wasn’t bad, having been a 28th-round draft choice out of high school.

He just didn’t get too many chances. He had only 83 at bats entering this season.

Pace is making the most of his final season. A starter this year, he’s second on the team with a .369 average, and second in stolen bases with 13.

“It has been rewarding to finally see all the time you put in and the extra work paying off,” Pace said. “At the same time you have to stay hungry and stay humble so nobody else passes you up.”

A couple of times Pace met with Lopez about playing time. He wanted to know what had to happen in order for him to play.

“They were never the kind (of meetings) where he leaves and you say, ‘What a jerk,’ ” Lopez said. “I have always respected the way he has handled that. There is not a guy in this program who would say a bad thing about that guy.”

———

UA BASEBALL

Washington (23-25, 12-9) at Arizona (25-23, 8-13)

Saturday: 7 p.m.

Sunday: 6 p.m.

Monday: noon

> At Sancet Stadium, 1290 AM

Corky Simpson and Jeff Smith

The parade’s gone by. No more trumpets. No more drums. No hoofbeats, no streamers.

And the hush of the street is overwhelming.

The death of a newspaper is very much the end of a living, breathing soul. And there’s never been one quite as unique as the Tucson Citizen.

Years from now when you tell young people what the Citizen was like, remember this: It had a heartbeat.

It was the harvest, the milling and the preparation of ideas by people of character, most of whom were characters. They gave the paper its heart, its spirit and its blemishes.

Some had swagger, and over the years many had stagger.

We’ve been peopled by saints and sinners, wise men and flim-flammers and in the old days, a few fall-down drunks who always got up in time to put the old gal to bed.

We’ve had Daniel Boone characters who talked like Jed Clampett and wrote like Stephen Vincent Benet.

We’ve had stutterers who sounded like Mortimer Snerd but had a mind like Carl Sagan.

And there were the legends.

Ted Craig was a gifted editor and writer, but his real talent was the telling of tall tales. Well, that and sizing down human monuments to arrogance.

Ted was a fine athlete, though he didn’t exactly look the part. He was an outstanding golfer because he hit the ball so straight, no matter what club he used.

He also played a good game of tennis and was known to pack the most potent “grapefruit juice” ever tasted in his Thermos bottle.

Phil Hamilton was an Okie. I mean, he dripped Okie. He lived in my part of town and gave me a ride one day after I’d left my old Ford with Bill the mechanic at Palo Verde Automotive out on East 22nd Street.

“Cain’t have a body out in this heat, footback a’ walkin,’ ” Hamilton drawled.

Phil did everything. Reported, edited, wrote a column, covered politics, read copy, wrote headlines. And he was superb.

Bob Campbell was one of the funniest men who ever lived. Our liaison with the back shop when we actually had a back shop, Bob occasionally came to work late – and always had a story to tell to start off the day.

Such as the time, around Halloween, when Campbell announced he knew exactly how many people had come to his house to trick or treat – even though Bob wasn’t at home.

“I went to the bank and got 20 shiny new silver dollars,” he said, “and I spread them out on a card table in my front yard. When I got home, every one of them was gone, so I know conclusively, that there were 20 trick-or-treaters.”

Stu Robertson was a copy editor who occasionally nodded off late in the day. One afternoon he had a cigarette between two fingers and he had that hand on his forehead as he drifted into dreamland – and set his hair on fire.

Micheline Keating wrote the most beautiful movie reviews you’ve ever read. Somebody told me “Mike” had been a friend of the famous writer-poet Dorothy Parker, known for her wit and wisecracks.

John Jennings may not have been the best storyteller on the old Citizen staff, but he could imitate storytellers in such a way that he outdid their talent. Just recently we laid our beloved “J.J.” to rest.

There were so many characters. Such as the guy on the copy desk way back when, who came to the Citizen out of rehab and who thought he was Humphrey Bogart. Had the lisp, the voice and the mannerisms. Unfortunately, he didn’t have Lauren Bacall.

For nearly 140 years the Citizen brought you news from around the community, the state, nation and world. Through war and peace, famine and times of plenty. From the frontier of territorial days through statehood.

Not just anyone can do this job and do it right. Not even trained journalists. Especially trained journalists!

It takes newspaper people, some of whose personal flaws over the years somehow enabled them to create professional refinement.

The awards, the prizes, the hardware from corporate honchos were just trinkets. The Citizen’s real honor was a decoration of the heart – hardworking professionals doing their best to give Tucson its best news coverage and presentation.

Now the little paper at Park and Irvington has been given its summons to join the innumerable once-upon-a-time caravan.

When you remember the time this city had two newspapers competing – and making each other better – don’t think of this one as the loser.

The loser is the community. Tucson has lost an essential voice, living, breathing, ink-stained history recorded by the finest, most competent and dedicated ding-a-lings on Earth.

Things happened, news broke and time passed away. So, now, has the Tucson Citizen.

The parade’s gone by.

And now, final words from Corky and Jeff

Our heart beat as one with the Old Pueblo’s

Corky Simpson is a retired sportswriter who graced our pages regularly from Labor Day 1974 to Dec. 22, 2006.