When Arizona officially returned its iconic cactus-and-sunset logo to the McKale Center floor earlier this month, it wasn’t likely just a tribute to the Sonoran Desert landscape or some simple nostalgia.
It also might have served as a salute to legendary former coach Lute Olson, almost exactly five years after he passed away on Aug. 27, 2020, at age 85.
Olson’s players — and the McKale Center floor — sported the logo as his program ascended into national prominence during the 1980s and 1990s. Olson loved the logo so much he advocated to keep it after UA’s branding standards changed, and it became symbolic of his tenure, lasting until it was removed in 2009.
With the fifth anniversary of Olson’s death Wednesday, here’s a look back at five of many noteworthy moments over his 24-plus seasons with the Wildcats.
Arizona head coach Lute Olson waves to the crowd after the team won the 1997 NCAA College Basketball Championship game in Indianapolis, IN.
1. The warning: March 29, 1983
Arriving mid-career at Arizona, after proving overwhelmingly successful coaching in high school, junior college, and most recently at the University of Iowa, Olson strode confidently into his introductory news conference at McKale Center.
The Wildcats were coming off a miserable 4-24 season when an average of just 6,224 fans scattered around an arena that then had 13,316 seats.
Olson saw it as an opportunity. For him, and for UA fans.
“Get your tickets now,” he said, indicating such a possibility might not exist before long when success led to sellouts.
He was right. Olson led UA to the NCAA Tournament in his second season and into the Final Four during his fourth season, while the Wildcats began playing almost entirely in front of sellout crowds during the height of his era. Good tickets were often impossible to find, unless you invested in one of those prime season ticket packages back in 1983.
2. The magic: March 27, 1988
Unable to quickly attract significant five-star talent to a then-little-known program, Olson instead proved an elite talent evaluator and developer over his early years at Arizona. It didn’t hurt that a future all-American, Sean Elliott, was in his backyard, either.
With Elliott and the lightly recruited Steve Kerr leading the way, the Wildcats trounced talent-laden and second-seeded North Carolina by scoring 44 second-half points en route to a 70-52 win in the 1988 Elite Eight.
“The talent on that team was incredible, but there have been other talented teams at Arizona,” former UA standout guard Matt Muehlebach, now a Tucson attorney and basketball television analyst, once told the Star. “Our secret sauce was the chemistry.”
The Wildcats, who won their first four NCAA Tournament games by an average of 27.8 points, went on to lose 86-78 to Oklahoma in the Final Four semifinals. But the run that put them in their first-ever Final Four also put them, forever, into the hearts of their fans, with students and young fans of that era becoming some of the program’s core boosters today.
3. The pinnacle: March 31, 1997
Arizona’s Miles Simon clutches the game ball as his teammates celebrate as the Wildcats beat Kentucky 84-79 in overtime to win the National Championship March 31, 1997, at the NCAA Final Four Tournament in Indianapolis.
Already experiencing the sting of the one-and-done NCAA Tournament and flaming out in the first round of the 1992, 1993 and 1995 tournaments, the Wildcats flipped the script in Olson’s 14th season at Arizona.
With the young core of what was supposed to be a national title contender in 1997-98, the Wildcats instead buzzsawed their way through three No. 1 seeds en route to winning the 1997 national championship. In what is also sometimes forgotten, they also survived a first-round scare against South Alabama and outlasted Providence in overtime of the Elite Eight.
“This is one tough group of Cats,” Olson said.
Snapshots from the Wildcats’ 84-79 overtime win over Kentucky in the title game turned into iconic poses today: Forward Bennett Davison messing up Olson’s immaculately groomed hair; beaming guard Miles Simon hugging the ball against his chest in celebration; and Olson holding the NCAA trophy in his left hand while extending the right to the crowd, a pose captured in the statue of him that has stood outside the north end of McKale since 2018.
One of the most lasting images in UA history: Bennett Davison, right, gave coach Lute Olson a proper victory celebration after the ‘97 title game. “Now I’m famous for only that,” Davison joked.
4. The heartbreak: Jan. 1, 2001
All those crushing NCAA Tournament losses were put in perspective during the early hours of New Year’s Day 2001: Olson’s first wife, Bobbi, passed away from ovarian cancer at age 65.
Not only were Bobbi and Lute married for 47 years, with five children and 14 grandchildren at the time of her death, but she was an instrumental figure with her husband’s program and the city of Tucson.
Bobbi Olson became famous among recruits for her apple-cinnamon pancakes, while she was a near-constant presence at her husband’s side, her warmth eminently visible no matter her husband’s mood, no matter if the Wildcats won or lost. She also proved an invaluable buffer between the harder-edged Lute and his players.
“She made pancakes that were to die for,” former UA standout Gilbert Arenas told the Star in 2022. “‘You want me to run 10 miles? OK! Just give me the pancakes.’ She made all of the players feel loved. She was our protection.”
Lute and Bobbi Olson wave to fans while leaving the court after winning the NCAA National Championship in Indianapolis on March 31, 1997.
While the Wildcats went on to reach the 2001 Final Four after Bobbi died, the loss was difficult for the program to recover from. Arizona lost in the 2003 and 2005 Elite Eights, and Olson’s rocky second marriage coincided with a downward trajectory in Olson’s final two seasons, 2005-06 and 2006-07. Olson cited health issues while taking the 2007-08 season off, and after a brief return in the 2008 offseason, retired permanently before the 2008-09 season.
5. The meltdown: March 26, 2005
With four minutes to go, Olson’s last Elite Eight game appeared a near-certain ticket to the Wildcats’ fifth Final Four. Arizona led top-seeded Illinois 75-60 at that point in front of a quasi-home environment for the Illini in the suburban Chicago city of Rosemont, Ill.
But Illinois went on a 20-5 run to send the game into overtime, then won 90-89 after a last-desperation 17-footer from Hassan Adams missed.
“There are a number of things that are going to cause a lot of sleepless nights for everyone,” Olson said the following season. “Anytime you lose a game like that, it’s always tough. The reason it’s really tough is our seniors. That was the first senior group since ‘87 that hadn’t played in one Final Four. That will be the one thing that stands out in my mind.”
Today, senior groups — players who actually stayed at a school for four years together — really don’t exist. But the fact that Olson managed to lead four different cohorts to the Final Four over a 14-year period, remains a lofty standard that the Arizona men’s basketball program has since strived to live up to. Since Olson retired, the Wildcats have reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament nine times but not a Final Four.
