BYU's 'Cougs Care' tailgate collects books, food for Tucson's Sunnyside School District

Every student at BYU quickly learns the university’s mantra: “Enter to learn, go forth to serve.”

It’s a rallying cry that symbolizes education and serving others in the community.

“That has kind of carried over into our tailgating,” said Tucson native and BYU alumnus Mick Stewart.

Wait, huh?

“BYU tailgates differently than a lot of places,” Stewart said.

In the hours leading up to Arizona’s matchup with 18th-ranked BYU, the BYU Alumni Association was set to host “Cougs Care: Feed and Read” tailgate at UA’s Jimenez Field, which is the home venue of Arizona sand volleyball.

In partnership with the UA College of Education and BYU’s McKay School of Education, the BYU Alumni Association announced it would collect nonperishable food and books to benefit the Sunnyside Unified School District. BYU’s mascot, Cosmo, and Arizona’s mascot, Wilbur, along with cheerleaders from both schools, planned to assist with the tailgate.

“It’s a celebration with a purpose,” Stewart said. “It allows our local alumni here in Tucson to welcome our other alumni in Tucson and give to the community we all love. ... When we visit a community, we want to give back and build bridges.”

Stewart was born in Tucson, but moved to Kingman for high school and then attended BYU in the 1980s, when the Cougars had quarterbacks Jim McMahon and Steve Young.

“As he walked around campus, he was the coolest person I had ever seen,” Stewart said of McMahon.

Stewart was a student at BYU when the Cougars won a national championship in 1984.

“It was amazing,” Stewart said. “I was driving on snow and almost went off the road. I don’t do snow very well. I was just excited and yelling in the car.”

After he graduated, “I wanted to come back to Tucson,” Stewart said. For the last 15 years, Stewart has been an economics and political science teacher at Sunnyside High School.

“We have amazing students at Sunnyside,” Stewart said. “Sunnyside prepares their students for the next step — community- and college-ready, as we call it. We have programs for college prep that I love and participate in. We have a lot of soon-to-be first-generation college kids, and they need to be ready and they need to be prepared. That brings me happiness when I’m able to help kids do whatever they want to do next and feel like they’re ready for it.”

Stewart’s love for BYU and Sunnyside collided on Saturday with the Cougs Care tailgate. In addition to the tailgate, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints delivered 40,000 pounds of food to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.

Preceding each game during the tailgate, BYU’s national TV and podcast networks air feature stories on someone associated with the university BYU is playing against — also called “Big Stories.” BYUtv had a feature on former UA swimmer Amanda Beard, who’s now an assistant coach for the Arizona women’s swimming and diving team, and how she overcame depression and bulimia and how she’s helping younger athletes overcome their battles.

The last time Stewart attended a BYU tailgate in Tucson was the 2018 season, which was the year before “Cougs Care” started.

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“Now it has elevated into an amazing community give-back,” Stewart said.

Cougs Care has hosted fundraising tailgates in 19 states in four time zones across the U.S. This season, BYU hosted a “Cougs Care” tailgate at East Carolina and Colorado. ECU fans donated more than 2,000 pounds of food for the university’s student food pantry, along with $5,000. Colorado fans donated 300 multi-lingual books for The Learning Center of Boulder.

Last season, Cougs Care hosted over 13,000 attendees and raised over 6,000 pounds of food and over 3,000 books.

“We want to put a book in every kid’s home and improve the libraries,” Stewart said. “The alumni love to come to a place and give back and show that we care about the communities that we compete against. The alumni love hosting and showing off the community we live in. The bridge that the athletic departments have put together with the college of eds, it’s been great working with the U of A athletic department.”

The Sunnyside Unified School District Foundation is accepting monetary donations at SunnysideFoundation.org.

Sudler Trophy added to Hall of Champions

The Pride of Arizona Marching Band has its own exhibit in the Jim Click Hall of Champions at McKale Center, after the UA won the Sudler Trophy last year.

The biannual award is given to the top college band nationally, and the Wildcats are the 34th band all-time to win the Sudler Trophy.

Arizona unveiled a permanent Sudler Trophy display at the Jim Click Hall of Champions on Thursday.

“You don’t win that award unless you’re exceptional at what you do,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan. “That thing is really cool. ... We have so much respect for them. That’s one of those groups that represents the University of Arizona at an incredibly high level in everything that they do.”

UA football team gets ‘Redline’ pace car escort

As part of Arizona’s “Redline” collaboration with Phoenix Raceway, which cross-promotes the Wildcats’ mantra and NASCAR championship weekend later this month, a redline-themed pace car was scheduled to escort the team buses leading up to the “Wildcat Walk” on Cherry Avenue.

Phoenix Raceway planned to have an interactive booth at the “Bear Down Bash” and Phoenix Raceway president Latasha Causey was selected to have an on-field presence during the pregame coin toss.

Numbers game

19: Years since Arizona kicker Nick Folk kicked a game-winning field goal against BYU in Tucson. Folk is still kicking in the NFL and is the only Mike Stoops-era Wildcat playing in the NFL.

87: Number of high school football prospects Arizona hosted on Saturday. The Wildcats also had several members of their 2026 recruiting class in attendance, including four-star quarterback Oscar Rios, three-star defensive tackle Keytrin Harris, offensive tackle Malachi Joyner and linebacker Dash Fifita. Arizona also hosted three-star Northern California running back Deuce Jones-Drew, the son of former NFL standout Maurice Jones-Drew.

5: Number of UA sporting events in Tucson in a 24-hour period. UA men’s swimming and diving hosted its home opener against Arizona State, Grand Canyon and Northern Arizona. UA volleyball upset 16th-ranked Baylor at McKale Center on Friday. Arizona soccer lost to Utah, 1-0, on Senior Night on Friday. UA softball hosted its Red-Blue Scrimmage at Rita Hillenbrand Stadium Friday night. Arizona football concluded the sports-heavy period with its game against BYU.

He said it

“I wanted to be a part of an underdog and be a part of a team that brought the program back to bowl games. ... My time at Arizona, honestly, some of the best years ever. There have been a lot of good years of life since and there have been a lot of great things that have happened; I’ve been blessed. I look back on my time at Arizona and love every bit of it.” — Former Arizona offensive lineman Eben Britton, who was the honorary captain on Saturday, on his time as a Wildcat from 2005-08