Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Coach G's influence 'went far beyond hockey'

The Star's longtime columnist on late local hockey legend Leo Golembiewski, Rich Utter's quest for 500 wins, Heisman performances vs. Arizona and more.

Remembering, sadly and fondly, Tucson's 'Mr. Hockey' 

I walked into Bring’s Broadway Chapel this week full of sadness. My longtime friend, Leo Golembiewski, died last Sunday, and I couldn't shake the sense of remorse.

I was aware Coach G had been desperately ill after suffering a stroke last June but kept delaying attempts to contact him. After seven months in Tucson recovery and rehabilitation units, Golembiewski finally went home. He died three days later. He was only 73.

Although there was an undeniable sense of loss and grief at the funeral home, there seemed to be an equal sense of appreciation for Coach G's life and career. Dozens of people were outfitted in Arizona IceCats hockey jerseys. They spoke about Leo’s devotion to hockey. His wife, Paula, and brother, Chet, shared stories about his remarkable journey.

Golembiewski will forever be “Mr. Hockey,’’ in Tucson, but it goes far beyond his 634-217-23 record, his 1985 national championship, 10 visits to college club hockey’s “Final Four’’ and his ability to draw sellout crowds in excess of 6,000 to the Tucson Arena.

Paula created a collage of photographs and put them on display at the funeral home. I shook my head at the memories: Golembiewski was pictured with Ronald Reagan, Willie Nelson, Bo Jackson, Jerry Lewis and an impressive list of celebrities, almost all of whom he presented with an IceCats jersey and hockey puck.

One day at the PGA Tour’s Tucson Open in the mid-'90s, I walked to the first tee to watch Clint Eastwood tee off in the pro-am. He was standing next to Golembiewski, with an IceCats jersey in hand.

Golembiewski was the founder/coach/hustler/heartbeat of the IceCats. He did so while teaching at Salpointe Catholic High School, operating the old skating rink/bowling alley at Iceland Bowl on East Speedway, recruiting his home turf of Chicago for IceCats-good hockey talent, and working a nonstop public-relations campaign in which he became friends with celebrities like John McCain, Oliver North, Bobby Hull and famed Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia.

One day many years ago, Coach G told me that America’s No. 1 radio talk-show host, Larry King, would be the guest speaker at the IceCats' postseason banquet. I remember thinking, “No way.’’

But when I walked into the banquet hall a few days later, there was Larry King, talking hockey with Coach G.

He played golf at Forty Niner Country Club with Garth Brooks, became friends with actor Kurt Russell and was on a first-name basis with Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame baseball announcer Harry Caray.

One goal Golembiewski was unable to achieve was to have the UA absorb his hockey program into the school’s athletic program, play a Division I schedule and compete for an NCAA championship. Issues with Title IX made that a no-go, but it didn’t diminish his legacy.

After last week’s memorial services, Golembiewski was buried in St. David. Why St. David? He often drove 60 miles each way to attend services in the small-town monastery.

“It’s amazing how many people Leo touched,’’ Paula Golembiewski told me. “It went far beyond hockey.’’

Utter moving closer to 500 victories

It would be hard to imagine a more compelling story in Tucson high school basketball this season than Coach Rich Utter’s 15-5 start to the Rincon/University season.

The Rangers play in Class 6A, the state’s largest classification, and yet have more than held their own after a difficult six-year period, 2017-2022, in which Utter’s climb toward 500 career victories seemed stalled.

Rincon went 45-80 in that stretch, one that defined the difficulty of competing at a midtown public school, one not privileged in the open-enrollment, “recruiting’’ era that has helped such schools as Salpointe Catholic and Catalina Foothills.

But this season, behind leading scorers Dieumerci Byiringiro, Zaire Hays and Abrien Drazkowski, the Rangers opened 6-0 and used that momentum to put their Pima County Hall of Fame coach back on the road to 500 career victories. Utter, who became head coach at Rincon in 1990, now has 486 wins. Only Sahuaro’s Dick McConnell, with 774, has more victories in Tucson boys prep basketball history.

After winning 53-50 at Cholla on Friday, Rincon has six regular-season games remaining and a legitimate shot at the state playoffs. Utter's 500th victory should come early next season.

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White dominated Arizona in Heisman season

Charles White, USC’s Heisman-winning running back in 1979, died last week of cancer. He was 64. He became the first of seven Heisman Trophy winners to play against Arizona. Their success in those games was mostly exceptional. Here’s how they performed during their Heisman seasons:

• Charles White, USC, 1979. He rushed for 167 yards as USC won 34-7 in Los Angeles.
• Marcus Allen, USC, 1981. He rushed for 211 yards, but the No. 1 Trojans were stunned by Arizona 13-10 in L.A.
• Gino Torretta, Miami, 1992. He completed 26 of 46 passes for 289 yards and the No. 1 Hurricanes’ only touchdown in a frenetic 8-7 victory over Arizona at the Orange Bowl.
• Matt Leinart, USC, 2004. He completed 27 of 35 passes for 280 yards and three TDs in a 49-9 win over Arizona in Tucson.
• Reggie Bush, USC, 2005. He rushed for 110 yards on 14 carries in a 42-21 victory in Los Angeles.
• Marcus Mariota, Oregon, 2014. He completed 20 of 32 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns but lost a fumble in the final two minutes as Arizona won 31-24 in Eugene.
• Caleb Williams, USC, 2022. He completed 31 of 45 passes for 411 yards and five touchdowns in a 45-37 win over Arizona in Tucson.

Short stuff: Opportunity for Sands, Tucson's softball stars and a two-sport standout

• Tucsonan Donny Sands, who spent the last month of the 2022 MLB season with the World Series runner-up Philadelphia Phillies, was traded to the Detroit Tigers last week, which seems to improve Sands’ chances to play more regularly. Sands, 26, who had little chance to beat out Phillies All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto, is now projected as Detroit’s No. 2 catcher. The Salpointe Catholic 2015 grad hit .309 in Triple-A Lehigh Valley last season, making him an attractive option for the Tigers.

• One of college softball’s leading information sources, D1 Softball, last week ranked the nation’s top 100 players entering the 2023 season. It included three Tucsonans. At No. 19 was Salpointe’s Yanni Acuna, who hit .437 and became an All-Pac-12 outfielder for Arizona State last season. At No. 44 was Tucson High grad Carlie Scupin, who hit .369 with 19 homers for Arizona last year. And at No, 56 was CDO grad Ellessa Bonstrom, who hit .376 as an All-Pac-12 outfielder at Utah last season. Yes, Tucson is a softball town many times over.

• Ironwood Ridge senior Andrew Cain made a school-record 10 3-pointers Friday and scored 36 points in the Nighthawks’ victory over Sunnyside. Cain, averaging 20.3 points, is one of the best two-sport athletes in Tucson of the last 25-30 years. He hit .536 last spring for IRHS, earning a scholarship to play for Arizona coach Chip Hale. It has been three decades since Tucson produced a star-level three-sport prep athlete, Anthony Sanders of Santa Rita High. In 1991-92, Sanders was the first-team all-city quarterback, signing with Arizona. He then started for SRHS’ state finals basketball team and was Tucson’s baseball player of the year who ultimately played for the Toronto Blue Jays and is now the first-base coach of the Baltimore Orioles.

• The NCAA last week moved to restore some sanity to the growing vagabond nature of college sports. It will now limit athletes from a second jump into the transfer portal, unless the athlete has circumstances such as chronic injuries or illnesses. Arizona has been a double-transfer hot spot in recent years, with basketball’s James Akinjo (Georgetown, Arizona, Baylor); football’s Jerry Roberts (Bowling Green, Arizona and a third school TBD); and basketball’s Bendu Yeaney (Indiana, Arizona, Oregon State). I’m all for the freedom of player movement, but not to excess.

• After former Arizona cornerbacks coach DeWayne Walker recently tweeted that he had “parted ways’’ with the UA, he followed it last week with this message: “Parents and players, how do you know what real leadership looks like? Real leadership is when leaders care less about the results, they care more about what’s right. This is a hidden trait in the coaching profession. Our kids need to be around leaders, not pretenders.’’ Whether Walker meant that as a thinly veiled criticism of UA coach Jedd Fisch is unclear. It wouldn’t be the first time there has been discord on a Pac-12 football coaching staff. Keeping 10 assistant coaches happy is a challenge that rarely goes away, especially when you’re on a staff that went 1-11 in its first season.

• The Martin Luther King Basketball Classic will celebrate its 19th anniversary Monday at McKale Center with eight games, beginning at 9 a.m. with coach Tom Danehy’s Amphitheater High girls team playing Sahuarita High. The MLK Classic, which traces its origins to a similar event in the Mesa Public School system, was pioneered in Tucson by former TUSD athletic director Herman House, with considerable help over the years from Pima County Sports Hall of Fame sports activist Dale Lopez. The initial 2004 event had five boys and girls games, from 1:30-7:30 p.m.

• How times change: Finalists for the 2023 McDonald’s All-American basketball games, boys and girls, include 21 Arizona players. However, only four of the 21 are from traditional high schools. The other 17 either play for Glendale’s Dream City Christian or Chandler’s AZ Compass Prep, two open-enrollment schools that are stocked with out-of-state prospects. The coach of the boys AZ Compass Prep team is former Sabino 2020 state champion girls coach Jaamal Rhodes. His ‘20 Sabercats title team now has three college players on various trajectories: Kiya Dorroh is averaging 2.1 points at Colorado State after transferring from Missouri; Kam’Ren Rhodes is averaging 2.4 points at Illinois; and Kamryn Doty is averaging 4.9 points at Elon.

My two cents: Challenges ahead for Lloyd's team after another loss in Eugene

Arizona hasn’t been a win-at-home, split-on-the-road basketball program for decades. The prevailing doctrine of UA basketball has been to win ’em all.

But it’s starting to appear that Tommy Lloyd’s second UA team — beset by consistency issues from its perimeter players and lack of reliable bench production — might have to modify that approach.

The adjusted goal: Hang on and hope Azuolas Tubelis stays healthy the next two months,

Predictably, Arizona got Oregon’s best shot on Saturday — perhaps the first time all season the Ducks have delivered a “best shot’’ — and lost 87-68 at Matthew Knight Arena.

The new-look Ducks won every phase of the game: defensive competitiveness, sharing the ball, controlling tempo, shooting, passion and purpose. What else is there? It was one of the rare games in Lloyd’s 1½ seasons that Arizona’s big men did not dominate inside.

How in the world did the Ducks lose on their home court to Utah Valley and UC Irvine and get blown out 90-73 by Arizona State 48 hours earlier?

At 4-3 in the Pac-12, the Wildcats have imposing home games this week against USC and UCLA and no longer have a reasonable chance to rally and challenge the Bruins for the Pac-12 championship.

Winning at Oregon has become the most lingering problem since Lute Olson rebuilt the Arizona program almost 40 years ago, The Ducks have won six straight against Arizona in Eugene and are 8-1 at home against Arizona the last 10 years.

The rematch with Oregon is Feb. 2 at McKale. Given the way the Ducks dominated Saturday’s game in Eugene, the one word that might best describe the rematch is “gulp.’’

Oregon appears to be finding itself before it’s too late. Arizona? We should find out Saturday at high noon when UCLA shows up at McKale.