The Star’s longtime hall of fame columnist Jim Rosborough, a former cat who hit the big leagues, and Tucson’s own Graham “Moonlight” identity.
Great, charming Jim Rosborough deserves to be inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame
Impressive, engaging Jim Rosborough deserving of Pima County Sports Hall of Fame nod
Lute Olson was on vacation in Europe in the summer of 1989 when the NCAA President’s Commission announced it would recommend legislation to push back the start of the men’s basketball season to December. See the article : We all want to work in high technology. But Israel also needs bus drivers and teachers.
I called Olson’s newest assistant coach, Jim Rosborough, for comment. I never met Rosborough, who was hired in the spring of 1989. Rosborough was assistant No. 1 at Olson in Iowa from 1975-83, when the Hawkeyes emerged nationally.
Last week, after learning that Rosborough had been selected for the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2022, I went through the Star archives to find his comments from that long ago. This is what he said:
“The bottom line is, what do we have here?” said Rosborough. “We’re here to educate our players. It makes a lot of sense.”
Rosborough always made a lot of sense. For the next 19 seasons, he was the heart and soul of the UA basketball program, a coach of first players who became a shoulder to learn and a reason to play in a game that became more and more about money and for me- initial recruits.
Jim Rosborough, who was seen coaching the Wildcats in 2004, said earlier this year that basketball will always be a part of him. “It gets into your blood and you can’t stop it,” he says.
In my opinion, Rosborough is one of the top four most influential assistant coaches in modern UA history, tied with Rick DeMont in swimming, Duane Akina in football and Jerry Stitt in football. Rosborough’s selection to the PCSHOF Class of 2022 is overdue and one of the highlights of a very strong class. For the past seven years he has been assistant No. 1 for Pima College women’s basketball coach Todd Holthaus and his top-20 program.
Three decades ago, Rosborough’s feelings about education first came to the fore. In the early ’90s, the NCAA shortened the basketball season. Arizona did not open play in 1992-93 until December 6th. But that kind of education-first priority has since disappeared. UA started its last three full seasons on November 6th, November 7th and November 10th. The Adia Barnes women’s basketball team will kick off the season on the earliest date in history, Nov. 1 against NAU.
Pima County Sports Hall of Fame president Pat Darcy announced last week the entire Class of 2022, who will be honored Nov. 13 at an induction banquet at the DoubleTree Hotel. Here is the list:
• Callista Balko: A 2004 Canyon del Oro all-city softball receiver, Balko was a four-year starter for Arizona, helping the Wildcats win the 2006 and 2007 NCAA championships.
• Dave Baker: Founder of Tucson’s Summit Hut field operation, Baker was one of the most influential mountain climbers and hikers in Arizona history, and has scaled mountains 14,000 feet or higher by dozens.
• Steve Botkin: The Sahuaro High School girls basketball coach won 590 career games over 26 seasons, the No. 1 total. 2 in Arizona prep history.
• Kenzie Fowler: Fowler led Canyon del Oro High School to state championships in 2006, 2007 and 2008 — becoming the Gatorade national player of the year as a junior and senior — and then sent Arizona to the championship game of the 2009 Women’s College World Series.
• Jason Jacome: Jacome was a first-team NJCAA All-American pitcher in 1991 from Rincon/University High School, which went 17-2 as Pima College finished No. 2 in the nation. Then Jacome spent five years in the big leagues.
• Lacie Williams: One of the greatest athletes in Tucson prep history. Coleman later became one of the best officials in Southern Arizona high school sports.
• Susie Meyers: An Arizona golf standout who went on to play in four US Opens, Meyers was named one of the top 100 golf teachers in America in 2019.
• Chris Ratatter: One of Tucson’s top high school basketball players while at Rincon/University High School, Rastatter has gone on to become a Final Four basketball referee, among the top Pac- 12 for two decades.
• Dennis Anderson: The 1995 Tucson baseball player of the year and an all-city football linebacker at Canyon del Oro High School, Anderson became the starting catcher at Pima College and Arizona before playing seven seasons in the minor leagues.
• Bob Scofield: Scofield is a basketball referee in the NCAA women’s tournament Final Four, and has been one of the top Pac-12 women’s basketball officials since 1999.
• Robb Salant: Winner of the state singles tennis championship in 1962 and 1963 at Catalina High School, Salant went on to coach nine Tucson tennis teams (Catalina Foothills and Rincon) to state championships from 1989-2011.
• Cindy Coleman: Coleman is a longtime coach of the TUSD swim, track and volleyball teams and became a nationally ranked masters swimmer.
The Class of 2022 also includes two of Tucson’s most storied high school teams: Palo Verde High School’s 13-0 state championship football team of 1973, coached by Van Howe, and Sahuaro High School’s 1998 state champion girls basketball team , trained by Jim. Scott.
Salpointe Catholic’s Treyson Bourguet, 3, cheers on friends and family with his teammates after Salpointe’s 29-17 win over the Goodyear Desert Edge Scorpions at Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson, Ariz. on December 3, 2021.
High school football enters the new world
High school football enters new world
If you think it’s going to be weird to see USC play Big Ten football against Rutgers and Minnesota, or to watch Texas play SEC football against Vanderbilt and South Carolina, you can find some downtime watching two of Tucson’s longtime prep football. See the article : College Football Rankings 2022: Alabama Nearly Unanimously No. 1 Over Ohio State in Preseason CBS Sports 131. powerhouses play in conferences that don’t seem to fit.
Salpointe Catholic this season will be on par with USC for the Big Ten and Texas for the SEC.
The Lancers, Tucson’s only state football power, will play in the five-team Class 6A East Valley conference against Queen Creek, Mesa Red Mountain, Gilbert Williams Field and Mesa Mountain View.
The games Salpointe will play against local teams are Mica Mountain and Vail’s Cienega. Salpointe’s other non-conference games come against Scottsdale Chaparral, Anthem Boulder, Chandler Basha and Tolleson.
It’s indicative of the declining nature of Tucson prep football over the past decade.
reduced? Sonoran conference Class 5A Tucson includes the struggling Cholla football schools, which are 8-31 in its last four full seasons; Flowing Wells, 17-25 over those four seasons; Rincon/University, 11-29 in that period; and one-power Sunnyside went 18-23 during that time.
In addition, the Sabino Sabercats, who had the best overall winning percentage of any Tucson prep football team from 1990-2009, are coming off eight state championship games under Jeff Scurran and Jay Campos, in Class 3A South. What to fall. Sabino is struggling week in and week out against small schools like Safford, Thatcher, Benson and Palo Verde, which didn’t field a varsity team a year ago.
The low-enrollment Sabercats still had their neighborhood rivalry game against Class 4A Sahuaro scheduled, but otherwise play non-conference games against unlikely foes like Mesa Eastmark, Sequoia Pathway and Coolidge.
If this is the future of high school football in Tucson, it can’t be good.
The ASU president is pleased with the speed of the NCAA
ASU president bemoans NCAA’s pace
ASU president Michael Crow last week expressed frustration that the NCAA has not completed its investigation into the Sun Devils football program, now 14 months old. Crow told The Athletic there is no end in sight and the NCAA has yet to interview the former Sun Devil coaches involved in the reported violations. On the same subject : Financing to meet high-tech energy and manufacturing needs and create well-paying jobs. What did Crow expect? The FBI, IARP and NCAA investigation into the Arizona basketball program began in September 2017. That’s now 59 months and counting. Get in line, Mr. Crow.
Chicago Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki walks out of a cornfield before Thursday’s “Field of Dreams” game against the Reds.
Minors’ pace a welcome break
For the first 40 years of my life, I was a big A-level baseball fan. I knew every lineup, most of the statistics and my friends must have been bored with the minutia. But that all changed about 25 years ago, when MLB games began to grow longer and longer and difficult to watch. Here’s an example: last week’s “Field of Dreams” game in an Iowa cornfield took 3 hours and 21 minutes in a pretty low-scoring game. (The Cubs beat the Reds, 4-2). Two days earlier, the Single-A Davenport-Quad Cities “Field of Dreams” game in Iowa, which was televised nationally at the same field, took just 2:33. Why? Minor league rules were in place: an 18-second pitch clock, with batters prohibited from stepping out of the batter’s box to flex their muscles, take a few swings and otherwise halt the progress of the game. Those rules can’t be implemented in the big leagues soon enough.
Brewers pitcher Chris Saenz delivers during the first inning against the April 24, 2004, game against the Cardinals.
Tucson has its own Graham ‘Moonlight’
Tucson has its own ‘Moonlight’ Graham
The game (and movie) “Field of Dreams” never fails to capture my attention. It’s a big part of Graham’s “Moonlight” saga, the story of a career minor playing in one big league game. Tucson has its own “Moonlight” Graham. That was former Tucson High and Pima College pitcher Chris Saenz, who appeared in one MLB game – on April 24, 2004 for the Milwaukee Brewers. Saenz, then 22, was huge that evening, pitching six shutout innings against St. Louis, striking out Albert Pujols twice. But soon after that memorable day, Saenz injured his elbow, required Tommy John surgery, missed two entire seasons and never pitched past Triple-A baseball again. He retired from baseball in 2008. …
Tommy Lloyd embodies UA prospects
Tommy Lloyd embraces UA’s expectations
Arizona basketball coach Tommy Lloyd did not back down from expectations or use the loss of NBA draft picks Bennedict Mathurin, Dalen Terry and Christian Koloko as a reason to modify the expectations of the 2022-23 season. Lloyd told CBS’ Seth Davis last week: “When you’re coaching Arizona, you know there’s going to be high expectations every year. We’ve got some really good players. As a team we have to add everything to still together, but at the end. of the day we will be hard to beat.” Only UCLA will open the Pac-12 season ranked higher than the remodeled Wildcats.
Oakland Athletics’ Cal Stevenson (37) runs home to score Tony Kemp twice past Los Angeles Angels catcher Max Stassi during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022.
Cal Stevenson makes his Major League debut
Cal Stevenson makes big-league debut
Arizona starting pitcher Cal Stevenson made his MLB debut last week, for the Oakland A’s. He became the 90th former Wildcat to play in the major leagues. It was also one of the least likely. Stevenson was not an All-Pac-12 selection in his UA seasons, 2017 and 2018. If I were a baseball scout, I would have wildly missed my draft day picks. I thought his teammate, third baseman Nick Quintana, was a green major leaguer. The Quintana muscles looked the part. But Quintana is now in Double-A, with a .215 career minor league average and 249 strikeouts in 245 games. Quintana hit .342 with 15 homers and 77 RBI at Arizona, in 2018, and was feared, drafted by Detroit in the second round. By comparison, Stevenson was a starter, a contact hitter with hustle, versatility and the ability to make a difference in half a dozen ways.
Will Cats’ QB drought end?
One of my initial reactions when USC and UCLA announced they were abandoning the Pac-12 was that Arizona’s chances of producing a first-team All-Pac-12 quarterback nearly doubled. The Wildcats are the only Pac-12 team in the entire 1978-2021 period without a first-team QB. But upon further research, USC and UCLA did not lead in the all-league QB selections. USC had just 10 in that span — more like 30 — and UCLA had just two. Seriously. Two. Troy Aikman won it in 1987 and Cade McNown in 1998. What comes first for long-suffering UA football fans, the Rose Bowl appearance of an all-league QB? Maybe the other one is needed.
My two cents: Wildcats sprinter survives Selma tour
My two cents: Selma trip sticks with Wildcats sprinter
The best thing I read last week did not come from a journalist but from Arizona Wildcats sprinter Diego Marquez, a sophomore from Salpointe Catholic High School.
Marquez was one of 24 Pac-12 student-athletes who visited Selma, Alabama, from July 15-17 to explore one of America’s most historic Civil Rights centers. Marquez and his Pac-12 teammates marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, site of the infamous “Bloody Sunday” violence in 1965.
In an essay posted to ArizonaWildcats.com, Marquez, in part, described his sometimes-positive experience, thus:
“I grew up in an affluent part of town, and I was ignorant of racism for most of my life. I didn’t see a lot of black people, I didn’t see a lot of racism, so I didn’t pay attention to it. And I I think it’s important to admit that now. I’m upset that I was so ignorant of this dark part of history, and I’m upset at the superficial teaching I received about black history in school.
“I understand that some of this stuff is hard to teach children, but it’s vital to understanding our society, and a shock like that could be good for young adults. It was definitely a shock for the black children who had to see these attacks. with their own eyes. Black history is sugarcoated in front of us, and I’m grateful for this trip because it gave me perspective.”
Contact sports columnist Greg Hansen at 520-573-4362 or ghansen@tucson.com. On Twitter: @ghansen711
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