'Pop' McKale's 1914 team led to U of A becoming the Wildcats

Note to readers: This is a reprint of a 2014 article. Go Cats!

James F. “Pop” McKale is not only the namesake of McKale Center, the University of Arizona’s basketball temple, he also had a direct connection to the U of A becoming the Wildcats.

McKale was born to William H. and Clara (Bateman) McKale on June 12, 1887, in Lansing, Michigan. His father was a contractor and his mother a housewife. He attended Lansing High School and then Albion College, in Albion, Michigan, graduating in 1910. While in college, he played football, baseball and was a long jumper who won state intercollegiate honors his junior year.

He came to Tucson in September 1911 and taught history and coached all athletics, including a three-man track team, at Tucson High School.

He also was an umpire for Tucson city league baseball, with baseball clubs like the Southern Pacific Nine, the Brannens and the Groves, doing battle at the old Elysian Grove park, where Carrillo School sits on South Main Avenue.

In 1914 he became athletic director at the University of Arizona, as well as the varsity basketball and football coach. The following year, he took on the role of varsity coach of baseball and track.

In 1915 he married Ada L. Sackett. They had three daughters: Elizabeth (1916), Ruth (1918) and Marian (1925).

Along with his many roles at the university, at least once McKale also acted as neighborhood watchman. The Arizona Daily Star reported on June 19, 1936, that, after McKale spotted a prowler at 2:40 a.m. near his home at 801 E. Second St., he fired three shots at the man and took him into custody until the police arrived.

McKale coached Arizona football from 1914-30, with a record of 80 wins, 32 losses and six ties. His winning percentage was .714.

It was one of McKale’s tough football teams that brought the nickname of “Wildcats” to the university.

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In 1914, the football team, which had little or no standing in intercollegiate football, played Occidental College in Los Angeles, and even though UA lost 14-0, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times was so impressed with the team’s determination to win that he wrote: “the Arizona men showed the fight of wildcats … ”

McKale’s passion for baseball was even stronger. During his years of coaching from 1915-49, he accumulated a record of 302 wins and 102 losses. He turned the reins over to one of his former players, Frank Sancet, namesake of the UA’s Frank Sancet Field.

McKale also coached track from 1915-20, basketball from 1914-20 and was athletic director from 1914-57.

He was known for his witty comments, affectionately called “McKale-isms.”

For example, he always referred to USC as the “University of Southern Comfort,” or after watching his first lacrosse game, when he was asked to comment on how rough the game was, he said, “It’s about as safe as alligator wrestling.”

Outside of sports, McKale’s primary interest was history, particularly the lives of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. In 1957, his work, “Abraham Lincoln: The Politician,” was published by the University of Arizona Alumni Association.

McKale died in 1967.

He was inducted into the Arizona Sportsmen Hall of Fame in 1959 and was named a charter member of the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 1976. He was added to the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

McKale Drive on the UA campus, sometimes misspelled McHale Drive, was changed to Enke Drive around 1990.

The (William G. and Dolores D.) Hillenbrand Aquatic Center, just east of McKale Memorial Center, was previously called McKale Pool, but in 1989, it was refurbished with the contributions made by local businessman William G. Hillenbrand.

Photos: 50 years of McKale Center at the University of Arizona