A few days before former University of Arizona AD Dave Strack‘s 90th birthday, I visited him at an assisted living facility in Oro Valley and the talk soon turned to the signature hire of his career: Fred Snowden.
“Freddie’s career was incomplete,” said Strack, who was bold enough in the winter of 1972 to hire a black coach, the first in any major NCAA conference. “But it wasn’t about his wins and losses as much as it was about him breaking racial barriers.”
The UA last week announced that Snowden will be inducted into the Pac-12’s Hall of Honor in Las Vegas during March’s conference tournament.
It is a good thing to do; Arizona’s first 13 selections to the Hall of Honor were from the Lute Olson years. But it was Snowden’s first five Arizona teams, 1973-1977, who made the transition from 3,000-seat Bear Down Gym to 14,500-seat McKale Center a success.
Snowden was forced to retire after the 1981-82 season in which the Wildcats went 9-18 and finished eighth in the Pac-10. It was sobering to see how far, and how fast, he had fallen competitively.
He was only 46, which should’ve been his coaching prime.
What happened? Snowden’s fear of flying became so acute that he virtually stopped recruiting. He would drive to Southern California when necessary, but he could no longer compete with young, aggressive recruiters who were flying coast-to-coast.
I remember meeting Olson for the first time at the 1980 Oregon high school state championship game. He was in Portland to recruit Charlie Sitton, then the top prospect on the West Coast (who would go to Oregon State).
Because of his diligence, Olson, then at Iowa, was one of three finalists in the chase for Charlie Sitton. Arizona had no chance to recruit a player like Sitton, or others like him, because Snowden wouldn’t travel.
Nevertheless, what Snowden achieved in his first five UA seasons was remarkable: 102 victories, two NCAA appearances and a 63-3 record at McKale.
The qualifications to get into the Pac-12’s basketball Hall of Honor aren’t always demanding. Former Stanford coach Howie Dallmar got in with a 256-264 career record. USC’s Tex Winter got in for his reputation in the NBA, not for his ’SC days: he was a mediocre player in just one USC season.
Snowden will be honored for the right reasons: he earned it in five of the most historic seasons in Tucson and college basketball.
