We all have our Lute Olson stories — some of us one, several of us many, and others countless. Even those who think they do not have a Lute story have one — if you have lived in Tucson at any time over the last 37 years, you are part of one.
I went to UCLA, hardly something I advertised when I arrived in Wildcat country in 1992. In 1993, I decided I wanted to devote my time and energy to improving youth basketball in Tucson because the sport had given me so much, so I started Sporting Chance Youth Basketball. One of my first stops was Lute Olson’s office at McKale Center.
The fact that an Los Angeles-born-and-bred Bruin, in Tucson little more than a year, would be invited into the private office of one of the most famous basketball coaches in the world to chat about youth basketball should tell you something.
I worked in the entertainment business and have had my share of experiences with egos and pecking orders.
Do you know how many hoops I would have to jump through to get a meeting with John Wooden? Or even a “B-list” Hollywood celebrity? Coach Olson was A-list all the way. “Coach O” did not have a pecking order.
Don Tringali, left, with Kelly and Lute Olson.
While I may have founded Sporting Chance, Lute launched it.
With his support, along with that of Tucson’s favorite son and Olson protégé Steve Kerr, we were on our way. For nearly 15 years, Coach Olson and Steve hosted the Wildcat Dream Invitational, an annual event celebrating UA basketball and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity, including the Arizona Cancer Center, which became a focus after the passing of Bobbi Olson. Some of these funds provided the down payment for the Sporting Chance Center. It would not exist today without Lute.
Like so many things in this town, the success and impact of Sporting Chance can be traced to one man, Robert Luther “Lute” Olson. In our case, it was not just his direct support; more importantly, it was his outsize impact on all of Tucson. Through his basketball success he energized a town and as many say, “put Tucson on the map.”
Through his community engagement, accessibility, and kindness, he sent a message of community. We all owe a lot to “Coach O” and will sorely miss him.
