Almost nobody goes to a freshman football game, at Sahuaro High School or at any high school. But when Sahuaro freshman coach Tom Pierson walked out of the Cougars’ locker room Thursday night, about 100 of his former players formed a corridor through which their coach walked.
At 66, Pierson would be coaching his final game at Sahuaro. It was a big deal and it should’ve been.
At 3 p.m., on school days, whether it is 100 degrees or 105, Pierson has coached the freshman football team at Sahuaro for more than two decades. He has won more than 200 games. Pay? How about $1,800 per year.
“Tom Pierson is one of the finest teachers, coaches and human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure to know,” said former Santa Rita football coach Bob Vielledent, also a former Sahuaro assistant. “If he’s coaching your son, you are in good hands.”
When he was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame a year ago, Pierson described himself as “an average and ordinary guy.” That’s way off.
Chicago Bears assistant coach Skip Peete, who played for Pierson in the late 1970s, had all of the Bears sign a helmet and shipped it to Pierson on Thursday. After the victory over Sunnyside, Cougars volunteer freshman football coach, Earl Wadsworth, presented the helmet to Pierson during a post-game celebration at BZ’s Pizza.
Good people have always found a way to get next to Pierson. His offensive coordinator is former Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Sammy Khalifa, who played for Pierson more than 30 years ago.
All of those who started with Pierson on the impressive 1973 Sahuaro football staff, a veritable list of Pima County sport hall of famers, stood and applauded Thursday night.
That group included Howard Breinig, Virg Stan, Billy Lopez, Lance Prickett and Vielledent. All became head coaches. So did Pierson, a former wrestler at UTEP and Arizona; he became the head wrestling coach at Rincon and Sahuaro.
But it was as the freshman football coach at Sahuaro that he left an indelible mark.
“He didn’t do it for fame or money,” said Vielledent. “He did it because it was a way he could help the kids. How do you put a value on that?”
If you looked closely in the crowd at Thursday’s game you could see Matt Johnson, head coach of Ironwood Ridge’s 8-1 powerhouse, and the 2012 state champs. Johnson got to know Pierson from their long-ago coaching days at Rincon.
On the week of a big game against Salpointe, Johnson drove all the way from Oro Valley to Sahuaro to help honor Tom Pierson. It was a Big Game after all.
