Only a handful of Tucson athletes have become notable Arizona State Sun Devils, none more than Tucson High and UA grad Billy Mann, who died last week in Phoenix at 93. For 15 years ASU’s golf coach, and also a basketball assistant coach under Ned Wulk, Mann graduated from Tucson High in 1943 and earned letters in football, basketball and baseball. He played a season of football at Arizona before being drafted into the Army, where he awarded bronze star for action with the 7th Infantry (tank corps).
After the war, Mann played four seasons of basketball for coach Fred Enke and was an infielder on the baseball team. From 1946-49, Mann played basketball for Arizona as it won 80 games and four straight Border Conference titles and played in the first postseason game in school history. He was a second-team All-Border Conference pick in 1948.
After graduating from Arizona, he coached basketball at two Phoenix high schools, then replaced former Wildcats teammate and future UA head basketball coach Bruce Larson as head coach at Weber State in 1959.
The only other Tucsonan/Arizona Wildcat standout who in later years became a Sun Devils coach was All-America tennis player Bill Lenoir of Tucson High.
Mann is not yet a member of the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame, a notable oversight. That should be corrected soon.
