Greg Hansen's top 10 high school baseball coaches in Tucson history
- Updated
Greg Hansen breaks down Tucson's top 10 all-time high school baseball coaches.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
During a period when Arizona State’s Jim Brock was considered one of the top two or three college baseball coaches in America, he offered Sahuaro High coach Hal Eustice a job as a Sun Devil assistant.
Not once, not twice, but three times.
And each time Eustice chose to stay at Sahuaro, where he taught chemistry, baseball and life.
Eustice became Sahuaro’s first-ever baseball coach in 1969. The Cougars went 2-18. But the former Amphitheater High pitcher, the son of a blacksmith, toughed it out and by the time he died in 1991, the Cougars had won state championships in 1973, 1974 and 1982, and reached the 1984 and 1986 state title games.
If you count Eustice’s years at San Manuel High — where he led the team to a state championship in 1963 — he won a total of 436 games.
Was he the best high school baseball coach in Tucson history? It’s surely debatable. Tucson High’s Hank Slagle and Andy Tolson combined to win 17 state championships, but Eustice did so with fewer resources.
Not to diminish the remarkable accomplishments of Slagle and Tolson, but there were 5,600 students at THS when Slagle retired after winning title No. 10 in 1954. Sahuaro, a start-up school in 1968-69, had no such advantage.
When Eustice died of a heart attack in 1991 (he was only 56), Brock told the Star that Eustice “was probably the best teacher of fundamentals in the state. You wouldn’t get a lot of arguments about that. He was a great innovator and he loved the game more than anyone.”
The run of Eustice’s all-state players at Sahuaro is almost unmatched in Tucson history: Jim Olander, Bruce Ferguson, Tom Wiedenbauer, Gib Siebert, Kevin Dukes, Wes Kent, Sammy Khalifa, Steve Martin, Joe Estes, Wade Leitch, John Butcher and on and on.
Brock recruited many of Eustice’s top players and signed them to be Sun Devils, including Dukes, Khalifa, Seibert and Martin.
Our top-heavy Top 10 list starts with Eustice and doesn’t lose much spice as it gets to No. 10. The one common thread: high school baseball coaches used to serve longer terms in the mid to late 1990s.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
After his Amphi days, Eustice played at Eastern Arizona College before earning a degree at Arizona, delayed two years by a stint in the Army.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
As good as Slagle was as an Arizona shortstop/catcher — he hit a school-record .506 in 1937 — he was a better coach. The Badgers won 10 championships from 1942-54 and two of his players — Lee Carey and Cliff Myrick — later coached state championship teams themselves.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
One of Arizona’s leading pitchers of the first half-century of the 1900s, Tolson was the state’s first big-name baseball coach, winning state titles in 1930, 1932, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940 and 1941.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
His three state championships were split: two at his alma mater, and another at Rincon in 1962. Carey also coached THS and Rincon to state runner-up finishes to cap a career that began 20 years later as one of the most notable two-sport athletes (football and baseball) in Tucson history.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
His undefeated, 25-0, team of 1972 is regarded by some as the best in Tucson and Arizona history. Adkins won two state titles and reached the state championship game four times.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Some say Werbylo made his mark at Pima College, coaching the Aztecs to the 1992 NJCAA championship game and winning 297 games there. But he also led CDO to state titles in 1979 and 1984.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Officially, Romero isn’t listed as a state championship coach, although he was no less than the co-head coach with Tom Lundy of the powerful 1987 and 1988 Tucson Badger teams that went a combined 48-10 with two state championships. Romero is still swinging away. His THS teams reached the state finals in 2002, 2015 and 2016.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Part of THS’ championship teams of the mid-40s, Carrillo guided Rincon to the state championship games in 1963, 1964 and 1968, when it was big school vs. big school, with only two classifications in the state.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Although the Trojans weren’t blessed with top talent year after year, the UA grad coached the Trojans to the 1967 state title and won 329 games in 27 years.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Before he became a coaching and administrative icon at Arizona, McKale coached Tucson High to the 1912 and 1913 state championships, the first official state titles in Arizona history.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
CDO’s Phil Wright restored the Dorados as a state power, winning it all in 1994 and 1997.
During a period when Arizona State’s Jim Brock was considered one of the top two or three college baseball coaches in America, he offered Sahuaro High coach Hal Eustice a job as a Sun Devil assistant.
Not once, not twice, but three times.
And each time Eustice chose to stay at Sahuaro, where he taught chemistry, baseball and life.
Eustice became Sahuaro’s first-ever baseball coach in 1969. The Cougars went 2-18. But the former Amphitheater High pitcher, the son of a blacksmith, toughed it out and by the time he died in 1991, the Cougars had won state championships in 1973, 1974 and 1982, and reached the 1984 and 1986 state title games.
If you count Eustice’s years at San Manuel High — where he led the team to a state championship in 1963 — he won a total of 436 games.
Was he the best high school baseball coach in Tucson history? It’s surely debatable. Tucson High’s Hank Slagle and Andy Tolson combined to win 17 state championships, but Eustice did so with fewer resources.
Not to diminish the remarkable accomplishments of Slagle and Tolson, but there were 5,600 students at THS when Slagle retired after winning title No. 10 in 1954. Sahuaro, a start-up school in 1968-69, had no such advantage.
When Eustice died of a heart attack in 1991 (he was only 56), Brock told the Star that Eustice “was probably the best teacher of fundamentals in the state. You wouldn’t get a lot of arguments about that. He was a great innovator and he loved the game more than anyone.”
The run of Eustice’s all-state players at Sahuaro is almost unmatched in Tucson history: Jim Olander, Bruce Ferguson, Tom Wiedenbauer, Gib Siebert, Kevin Dukes, Wes Kent, Sammy Khalifa, Steve Martin, Joe Estes, Wade Leitch, John Butcher and on and on.
Brock recruited many of Eustice’s top players and signed them to be Sun Devils, including Dukes, Khalifa, Seibert and Martin.
Our top-heavy Top 10 list starts with Eustice and doesn’t lose much spice as it gets to No. 10. The one common thread: high school baseball coaches used to serve longer terms in the mid to late 1990s.
After his Amphi days, Eustice played at Eastern Arizona College before earning a degree at Arizona, delayed two years by a stint in the Army.
As good as Slagle was as an Arizona shortstop/catcher — he hit a school-record .506 in 1937 — he was a better coach. The Badgers won 10 championships from 1942-54 and two of his players — Lee Carey and Cliff Myrick — later coached state championship teams themselves.
One of Arizona’s leading pitchers of the first half-century of the 1900s, Tolson was the state’s first big-name baseball coach, winning state titles in 1930, 1932, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940 and 1941.
His three state championships were split: two at his alma mater, and another at Rincon in 1962. Carey also coached THS and Rincon to state runner-up finishes to cap a career that began 20 years later as one of the most notable two-sport athletes (football and baseball) in Tucson history.
His undefeated, 25-0, team of 1972 is regarded by some as the best in Tucson and Arizona history. Adkins won two state titles and reached the state championship game four times.
Some say Werbylo made his mark at Pima College, coaching the Aztecs to the 1992 NJCAA championship game and winning 297 games there. But he also led CDO to state titles in 1979 and 1984.
Officially, Romero isn’t listed as a state championship coach, although he was no less than the co-head coach with Tom Lundy of the powerful 1987 and 1988 Tucson Badger teams that went a combined 48-10 with two state championships. Romero is still swinging away. His THS teams reached the state finals in 2002, 2015 and 2016.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
Part of THS’ championship teams of the mid-40s, Carrillo guided Rincon to the state championship games in 1963, 1964 and 1968, when it was big school vs. big school, with only two classifications in the state.
Although the Trojans weren’t blessed with top talent year after year, the UA grad coached the Trojans to the 1967 state title and won 329 games in 27 years.
Before he became a coaching and administrative icon at Arizona, McKale coached Tucson High to the 1912 and 1913 state championships, the first official state titles in Arizona history.
CDO’s Phil Wright restored the Dorados as a state power, winning it all in 1994 and 1997.
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