Old-school Hart was leader on, off field
In his 15 years as Flowing Wells football coach, Larry Hart coached the Caballeros to six state championship games.
From 1971-73, his teams went 8-1-2, 9-1-1 and 10-1, but he couldn’t win the state title. Finally, in 1975, on his sixth try, Hart’s Cabs won it all.
Hart had style. He wore a Tom Landry-type fedora and was an old-school disciplinarian.
Only one football coach in Tucson history, Jeff Scurran, with seven state title game appearances, has had so many teams play so deep into the season.
Hart died last week. He was 83 and had been struggling with his health for a few years, but it didn’t keep him from being a key part of the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame leadership, or from helping the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame’s Southern Arizona chapter.
“Larry did a lot more than coach,” his brother, Mike Hart, said last week.
“He was a principal. A teacher. I’m 11 years younger than Larry, and I grew up idolizing him because he was such a great athlete. But he was just as good off the field. He was a terrific human being.”
Hart played football at Amphitheater High School and at the University of Idaho. He was an English major who returned to Tucson and made his mark as a teacher, administrator and coach.
In recent years, he would conclude the monthly Southern Arizona Retired Coaches and Officials Association luncheons with a funny line, or a joke so bad that it got everybody laughing.
On Monday, the coaches/officials association will hold its monthly meeting at the Randolph Golf Complex, and for the first time in years, Larry Hart won’t be there to wish everyone well.
A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Northminster Presbyterian Church at 2450 E. Fort Lowell Road.
