Hansen's Sunday Notebook: For generations of Tucsonans, Vin Scully was voice of summer
- Updated
Star sports columnist Greg Hansen offers his opinion on recent sports news.
Vin Scully‘s presence in Tucson began in the early 1960s, when Los Angeles’ mega-watt KFI (640-AM) could clearly be heard after dark.
Hundreds of fathers and sons sat around the radio listening to Scully and the Dodgers night after night after night.
In 1967, sensing Scully’s popularity, KTUC (1400-AM) began a 25-year run, broadcasting every Dodgers game in Tucson every year. When KTUC switched to the Cubs in 1992, KTKT (990-AM) quickly joined the Dodgers network.
By 1994, KTUC owner Tom Hassey negotiated to get the Dodgers and Scully back on 1400-AM.
“I understand what Vin Scully meant to Tucsonans,” said Hassey, now retired and living in La Jolla, California. “He was gold.”
Linked by Scully, the Dodgers were Tucson’s team for 40 years. I suspect that the No. 1 summer vacation destination of many Tucsonans from 1960-1997 was Dodger Stadium. Scully’s voice was that powerful.
Younger generations probably don’t get it; who listens to the radio at night?
That age of baseball bliss ended when the Arizona Diamondbacks began play in 1998. The Dodgers and Scully disappeared from Tucson radio. Not even the Diamondbacks’ few good seasons filled the void.
This is my Vin Scully story: on a Thursday night in September, 1965, my dad called me upstairs. “Come up and listen to the Dodgers,” he said. “Sandy Koufax has a perfect game.”
My dad and I frequently listened to the Dodgers on KFI, whose after-dark signal was as clear in Northern Utah as if you were sitting in a car on the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles.
I sat on the floor. My dad leaned back in a chair.
It was the top of the eighth inning and Scully’s voice seduced me, as it always did.
Koufax struck out Ron Santo, Ernie Banks and Byron Browne. Tension mounted.
“And now we go to the ninth,” said Scully.
I looked at my dad. He didn’t make a sound. It was like being at the center of the biggest event on earth.
In the ninth, Koufax struck out Chris Krug and Joey Amalfitano.
“You can almost taste the pressure now,” said Scully, whose broadcast of the ninth inning is available on youtube.com.
My dad and I, faithful Yankee fans, sat there, wanting more.
“It is 9:41 p.m., on September 9 and there are 29,000 people and a million butterflies in the ballpark,” said Scully. “Sandy is one out away from the promised land.”
Pinch-hitter Harvey Kuenn worked the count against Koufax to 2-and-2.
“Swung on and missed, a perfect game,” said Scully, who then artfully paused for 37 seconds as the roar of the crowd filled my dad’s bedroom.
Best announcer. Ever.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Rincon/University High School grad Michael Thompson will return to the PGA Tour full time in 2016-17 after winning the Albertson’s Boise Open, part of the Web.com Tour’s playoff system last week. Thompson shot finishing rounds of 64-64 and was 23-under par. After Thompson’s breakthrough win at the 2013 Honda Classic, he struggled. So he changed almost everything. He hired a new swing instructor from South Carolina, hired a fitness trainer and a sports psychologist. He signed an apparel deal with Fairway Greene and Black Clover USA. At 31, he and his wife Rachel are in the process of adopting a baby. Thompson reminds me a lot of Don Pooley, a UA grad who won twice on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour: a gentleman who is one of the top putters in the world and goes about business the right way.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Nate Lashley played his last golf tournament for Arizona in 2005. Since then he has played on every conceivable golf tour in the world except the PGA Tour. Now, at 33, he is in his prime. He won back-to-back championships on the PGA Tour’s Latin America Tour this month, earning $63,000 total by winning the San Luis Championship in Mexico and the Copa Diners Club event in Ecuador. He is now the No. 1 money winner on tour ($75,189).
Mark Polich, who coached Catalina Foothills’ girls golf team to four state championships between 2000-11, will appear as a guest instructor on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive program Tuesday and Wednesday. He is the owner and founder of Tucson’s Mark Polich Golf, an indoor training facility. He will also be inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame on October 23 at noon at the DoubleTree Hotel. Tickets: 520-955-4424.
Another stake into the heart of the golf industry in Tucson: Golfsmith, which operated a first-class store on Oracle Road, is closing. Who’s next? What’s next?
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Salpointe Catholic and UA grad John Fina, who started 131 games for the Buffalo Bills from 1993-2001, is the special guest of the Bills at Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. He will be the "Leader of the Charge," carrying a Bills flag onto the field before the game. Fina, who is a former TV analyst for college football, lives in Tucson with his wife and four children and is a sales executive for Intuitive Surgical, a firm that manufactures robotic-assisted medical devices.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Mountain View High School honored long-time football coach Wayne Jones at Friday’s football game against Poston Butte. The Mountain Lions will henceforth play on Wayne Jones Field. His undefeated 1993 team, 14-0, remains one of the handful of best teams in Southern Arizona history, winning the state championship game 63-32 over Sahuaro. Former MVHS center Wayne Wyatt, who became a starter at Arizona and was a first-team All-Academic selection in the Pac-10 in 1995 and 1996, returned to Tucson to help honor his coach; Wyatt is a dentist in Oklahoma.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
The Los Angeles Dodgers assigned Sahuaro grad Alex Verdugo to their Triple-A Oklahoma City affiliate for the Pacific Coast League championship series. Verdugo batted cleanup and played right field, hitting .333 in four games, although El Paso won the series. After spending the regular season at Double-A Tulsa, Verdugo will have a busy fall. He will be part of the Dodgers’ Instructional League camp early next month, then play for the Dodgers’ Arizona Fall League team through Thanksgiving.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Arizona volleyball coach Dave Rubio one-upped ASU’s "Curtain of Distraction" last week. During Arizona’s impressive victory over ASU at McKale Center, about 10 UA men’s swimmers sat courtside wearing only their (very brief) Speedo swimsuits. A crowd of 2,170 roared its approval whenever the UA swimmers danced around, attempting to distract Sun Devil volleyball players. Two years ago, the Sun Devils began using a "Curtain of Distraction" in attempt to disrupt opposing free-throw shooters at Wells Fargo Arena. Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps participated one night, wearing his skimpy Speedo gear. What goes around.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
The UA will stage the earliest men’s basketball media day in memory, Thursday afternoon. Sean Miller last week told Sports Illustrated that his freshman class, which includes players from New York, Georgia and Finland, is a sign of the times. "The thing about young people these days is they aren’t signing up to go to school close to home," Miller said. "One reason is, at the highest level of college basketball they aren’t picturing themselves being at that school for a long period of time. Distance from home to me has never been more irrelevant. With that we just try to find those kids who fit who we are."
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
NAU on Friday dismissed women’s basketball coach Sue Darling, a Canyon del Oro High School and UA grad who has spent two different periods as part of Arizona’s coaching staff. She was 36-82 in four seasons at Flagstaff. Darling is a good person, one of the leading figures in Tucson girls basketball history, spending time as head coach at Amphi High School and Pima College, among other stops. At 54, she should remain in demand as a coach at some level.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Terrance Ferguson, who committed to play basketball at Arizona this season and then signed with the Adelaide 36ers of the Australian pro league, made his debut Friday. He was 0 for 4 from the field in 16 minutes as the 36ers’ second sub off the bench. Former Boise State guard Anthony Drmic, a rookie, started at Ferguson’s shooting guard spot.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Kaleb Tarczewski will go to training camp with the Oklahoma City Thunder and is expected to open the year with OKC’s D League team. Zeus’ competition for the final center spot on OKC’s roster is Nazr Mohammed, 39, who played against Arizona in the 1997 Final Four championship game. Mohammed was 0 for 6 from the foul line that night.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Former Cholla linebacker Mike Scurlock, a seven-year NFL veteran and part of Dick Tomey’s Desert Swarm defenses, was featured prominently last week during CNN’s coverage of America’s racial tensions. Scurlock, a sheriff in York, North Carolina, was on the Poppy Harlow show and is now a public information officer. "We have to take this opportunity to bring people together rather than focus on division," said Scurlock, who knows the officer who shot Keith Lamont Scott last week in Charlotte, N.C.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
How times have changed: Perhaps the most anticipated high school football game of the next month is Desert View vs. Marana on October 21. Coach Robert Bonillas‘ Jaguars are 5-0, a remarkable change from the 0-10 Desert View teams of 2004, 2011 and 2014. Bonillas started 5-25 at DVHS and could be 8-0 when they face Marana, although beating Mountain View in two weeks will be a challenge. Coach Andy Litten‘s Marana team, blessed by a group of sophomores that includes Trenton Bourguet, Tariq Jordan, Diego Miranda and T.J. Cephers, is 3-2, but has beaten more tradition powers CDO and Sahuaro the last two weeks. The Tigers project to be 6-2 when they meet Desert View. Both Litten and Bonillas have learned under the best: Litten played for Wayne Jones at Mountain View, and Bonillas coached under Richard Sanchez at Sunnyside.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Had to laugh last week when Pusch Ridge linebacker Dakota Haynes, who is being recruited by Arizona, was invited to be the UA’s guest at Saturday’s Washington game. He tweeted to Rich Rodriguez: “If I sack your son tomorrow, will my stock go up or down?” Hilarious. Haynes did not sack Rhett Rodriguez Friday night as Catalina Foothills beat Haynes’ Lions 31-20.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Although Scooby Wright was demoted from the Cleveland Browns’ active roster to its practice squad, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Browns will continue to pay him his full salary of about $26,500 per week. The customary practice squad weekly check in the NFL is about $7,000.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Arizona women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes continues to recruit at a high level. She had a home visit last week with Canada’s 17U national team center Christina Morra of Kings Christian Collegiate School in Ontario. Barnes learned last week that Arizona will be featured on the Pac-12 Networks in 11 games, the fewest of any Pac-12 team. Washington, ASU and Stanford all will have 16 games broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
UA athletic director Greg Byrne hopes to someday remodel the infrastructure and seating at Arizona Stadium, reducing capacity to about 50,000. There have been no announcements about potential funding or a timeline.
But the school’s Planning, Design and Construction web site suggests the stadium project is near.
The RFQ deadline, (essentially a bidding process) was June 2. Interviews with potential designers and builders were to begin August 17. The full feasibility study is scheduled in November and December.
Dates for design and construction have not been set, but, clearly, it is no longer just a wide-eyed dream that the 87-year-old stadium will soon be one of the best in college football.
Vin Scully‘s presence in Tucson began in the early 1960s, when Los Angeles’ mega-watt KFI (640-AM) could clearly be heard after dark.
Hundreds of fathers and sons sat around the radio listening to Scully and the Dodgers night after night after night.
In 1967, sensing Scully’s popularity, KTUC (1400-AM) began a 25-year run, broadcasting every Dodgers game in Tucson every year. When KTUC switched to the Cubs in 1992, KTKT (990-AM) quickly joined the Dodgers network.
By 1994, KTUC owner Tom Hassey negotiated to get the Dodgers and Scully back on 1400-AM.
“I understand what Vin Scully meant to Tucsonans,” said Hassey, now retired and living in La Jolla, California. “He was gold.”
Linked by Scully, the Dodgers were Tucson’s team for 40 years. I suspect that the No. 1 summer vacation destination of many Tucsonans from 1960-1997 was Dodger Stadium. Scully’s voice was that powerful.
Younger generations probably don’t get it; who listens to the radio at night?
That age of baseball bliss ended when the Arizona Diamondbacks began play in 1998. The Dodgers and Scully disappeared from Tucson radio. Not even the Diamondbacks’ few good seasons filled the void.
This is my Vin Scully story: on a Thursday night in September, 1965, my dad called me upstairs. “Come up and listen to the Dodgers,” he said. “Sandy Koufax has a perfect game.”
My dad and I frequently listened to the Dodgers on KFI, whose after-dark signal was as clear in Northern Utah as if you were sitting in a car on the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles.
I sat on the floor. My dad leaned back in a chair.
It was the top of the eighth inning and Scully’s voice seduced me, as it always did.
Koufax struck out Ron Santo, Ernie Banks and Byron Browne. Tension mounted.
“And now we go to the ninth,” said Scully.
I looked at my dad. He didn’t make a sound. It was like being at the center of the biggest event on earth.
In the ninth, Koufax struck out Chris Krug and Joey Amalfitano.
“You can almost taste the pressure now,” said Scully, whose broadcast of the ninth inning is available on youtube.com.
My dad and I, faithful Yankee fans, sat there, wanting more.
“It is 9:41 p.m., on September 9 and there are 29,000 people and a million butterflies in the ballpark,” said Scully. “Sandy is one out away from the promised land.”
Pinch-hitter Harvey Kuenn worked the count against Koufax to 2-and-2.
“Swung on and missed, a perfect game,” said Scully, who then artfully paused for 37 seconds as the roar of the crowd filled my dad’s bedroom.
Best announcer. Ever.
Rincon/University High School grad Michael Thompson will return to the PGA Tour full time in 2016-17 after winning the Albertson’s Boise Open, part of the Web.com Tour’s playoff system last week. Thompson shot finishing rounds of 64-64 and was 23-under par. After Thompson’s breakthrough win at the 2013 Honda Classic, he struggled. So he changed almost everything. He hired a new swing instructor from South Carolina, hired a fitness trainer and a sports psychologist. He signed an apparel deal with Fairway Greene and Black Clover USA. At 31, he and his wife Rachel are in the process of adopting a baby. Thompson reminds me a lot of Don Pooley, a UA grad who won twice on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour: a gentleman who is one of the top putters in the world and goes about business the right way.
Nate Lashley played his last golf tournament for Arizona in 2005. Since then he has played on every conceivable golf tour in the world except the PGA Tour. Now, at 33, he is in his prime. He won back-to-back championships on the PGA Tour’s Latin America Tour this month, earning $63,000 total by winning the San Luis Championship in Mexico and the Copa Diners Club event in Ecuador. He is now the No. 1 money winner on tour ($75,189).
Mark Polich, who coached Catalina Foothills’ girls golf team to four state championships between 2000-11, will appear as a guest instructor on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive program Tuesday and Wednesday. He is the owner and founder of Tucson’s Mark Polich Golf, an indoor training facility. He will also be inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame on October 23 at noon at the DoubleTree Hotel. Tickets: 520-955-4424.
Another stake into the heart of the golf industry in Tucson: Golfsmith, which operated a first-class store on Oracle Road, is closing. Who’s next? What’s next?
Salpointe Catholic and UA grad John Fina, who started 131 games for the Buffalo Bills from 1993-2001, is the special guest of the Bills at Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. He will be the "Leader of the Charge," carrying a Bills flag onto the field before the game. Fina, who is a former TV analyst for college football, lives in Tucson with his wife and four children and is a sales executive for Intuitive Surgical, a firm that manufactures robotic-assisted medical devices.
Mountain View High School honored long-time football coach Wayne Jones at Friday’s football game against Poston Butte. The Mountain Lions will henceforth play on Wayne Jones Field. His undefeated 1993 team, 14-0, remains one of the handful of best teams in Southern Arizona history, winning the state championship game 63-32 over Sahuaro. Former MVHS center Wayne Wyatt, who became a starter at Arizona and was a first-team All-Academic selection in the Pac-10 in 1995 and 1996, returned to Tucson to help honor his coach; Wyatt is a dentist in Oklahoma.
The Los Angeles Dodgers assigned Sahuaro grad Alex Verdugo to their Triple-A Oklahoma City affiliate for the Pacific Coast League championship series. Verdugo batted cleanup and played right field, hitting .333 in four games, although El Paso won the series. After spending the regular season at Double-A Tulsa, Verdugo will have a busy fall. He will be part of the Dodgers’ Instructional League camp early next month, then play for the Dodgers’ Arizona Fall League team through Thanksgiving.
Arizona volleyball coach Dave Rubio one-upped ASU’s "Curtain of Distraction" last week. During Arizona’s impressive victory over ASU at McKale Center, about 10 UA men’s swimmers sat courtside wearing only their (very brief) Speedo swimsuits. A crowd of 2,170 roared its approval whenever the UA swimmers danced around, attempting to distract Sun Devil volleyball players. Two years ago, the Sun Devils began using a "Curtain of Distraction" in attempt to disrupt opposing free-throw shooters at Wells Fargo Arena. Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps participated one night, wearing his skimpy Speedo gear. What goes around.
The UA will stage the earliest men’s basketball media day in memory, Thursday afternoon. Sean Miller last week told Sports Illustrated that his freshman class, which includes players from New York, Georgia and Finland, is a sign of the times. "The thing about young people these days is they aren’t signing up to go to school close to home," Miller said. "One reason is, at the highest level of college basketball they aren’t picturing themselves being at that school for a long period of time. Distance from home to me has never been more irrelevant. With that we just try to find those kids who fit who we are."
NAU on Friday dismissed women’s basketball coach Sue Darling, a Canyon del Oro High School and UA grad who has spent two different periods as part of Arizona’s coaching staff. She was 36-82 in four seasons at Flagstaff. Darling is a good person, one of the leading figures in Tucson girls basketball history, spending time as head coach at Amphi High School and Pima College, among other stops. At 54, she should remain in demand as a coach at some level.
Terrance Ferguson, who committed to play basketball at Arizona this season and then signed with the Adelaide 36ers of the Australian pro league, made his debut Friday. He was 0 for 4 from the field in 16 minutes as the 36ers’ second sub off the bench. Former Boise State guard Anthony Drmic, a rookie, started at Ferguson’s shooting guard spot.
Kaleb Tarczewski will go to training camp with the Oklahoma City Thunder and is expected to open the year with OKC’s D League team. Zeus’ competition for the final center spot on OKC’s roster is Nazr Mohammed, 39, who played against Arizona in the 1997 Final Four championship game. Mohammed was 0 for 6 from the foul line that night.
Former Cholla linebacker Mike Scurlock, a seven-year NFL veteran and part of Dick Tomey’s Desert Swarm defenses, was featured prominently last week during CNN’s coverage of America’s racial tensions. Scurlock, a sheriff in York, North Carolina, was on the Poppy Harlow show and is now a public information officer. "We have to take this opportunity to bring people together rather than focus on division," said Scurlock, who knows the officer who shot Keith Lamont Scott last week in Charlotte, N.C.
How times have changed: Perhaps the most anticipated high school football game of the next month is Desert View vs. Marana on October 21. Coach Robert Bonillas‘ Jaguars are 5-0, a remarkable change from the 0-10 Desert View teams of 2004, 2011 and 2014. Bonillas started 5-25 at DVHS and could be 8-0 when they face Marana, although beating Mountain View in two weeks will be a challenge. Coach Andy Litten‘s Marana team, blessed by a group of sophomores that includes Trenton Bourguet, Tariq Jordan, Diego Miranda and T.J. Cephers, is 3-2, but has beaten more tradition powers CDO and Sahuaro the last two weeks. The Tigers project to be 6-2 when they meet Desert View. Both Litten and Bonillas have learned under the best: Litten played for Wayne Jones at Mountain View, and Bonillas coached under Richard Sanchez at Sunnyside.
Had to laugh last week when Pusch Ridge linebacker Dakota Haynes, who is being recruited by Arizona, was invited to be the UA’s guest at Saturday’s Washington game. He tweeted to Rich Rodriguez: “If I sack your son tomorrow, will my stock go up or down?” Hilarious. Haynes did not sack Rhett Rodriguez Friday night as Catalina Foothills beat Haynes’ Lions 31-20.
Although Scooby Wright was demoted from the Cleveland Browns’ active roster to its practice squad, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Browns will continue to pay him his full salary of about $26,500 per week. The customary practice squad weekly check in the NFL is about $7,000.
Arizona women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes continues to recruit at a high level. She had a home visit last week with Canada’s 17U national team center Christina Morra of Kings Christian Collegiate School in Ontario. Barnes learned last week that Arizona will be featured on the Pac-12 Networks in 11 games, the fewest of any Pac-12 team. Washington, ASU and Stanford all will have 16 games broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.
UA athletic director Greg Byrne hopes to someday remodel the infrastructure and seating at Arizona Stadium, reducing capacity to about 50,000. There have been no announcements about potential funding or a timeline.
But the school’s Planning, Design and Construction web site suggests the stadium project is near.
The RFQ deadline, (essentially a bidding process) was June 2. Interviews with potential designers and builders were to begin August 17. The full feasibility study is scheduled in November and December.
Dates for design and construction have not been set, but, clearly, it is no longer just a wide-eyed dream that the 87-year-old stadium will soon be one of the best in college football.
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