Arizona 'just felt right' for receiver Tre Spivey, son of ex-Tucson Sidewinder

The Spiveys are no strangers to having part of their lives in Tucson.

Junior Spivey, a second baseman for the World Series-winning Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001 and National League All-Star, played for the Tucson Toros, who were renamed to the Tucson Sidewinders.

Tucson Electric Park (now Kino Veteran’s Memorial Stadium) held “Junior Spivey Bobblehead Night” for a game in 2003, before he was part of a multi-player trade with the Milwaukee Brewers.

“That ball club was awesome,” Spivey said of the Sidewinders. “We still have great friendships and keep in touch with each other. Great experience in Tucson and I really enjoyed my time in Tucson.”

In 2009, a year after the Sidewinders relocated to Reno, Nevada, Spivey returned to Tucson to play for the resurrected Toros of the Golden Baseball League; he hit a walk-off single in his debut at Hi Corbett Field. Spivey officially retired from baseball in 2010.

Spivey’s son, Tre Spivey, is moving his athletic career to Tucson this year. But instead of a sport that requires a bat and a glove, the younger Spivey will need shoulder pads and a helmet with a facemask.

Spivey, a former Kansas State wide receiver, is one of four receivers in Arizona’s 2025 transfer portal class, along with Luke Wysong (New Mexico), Kris Hutson (Washington State) and Javin Whatley (Chattanooga). In two seasons at Kansas State, the 6-4, 217-pound Spivey had 15 catches for 184 yards and a touchdown.

Now Spivey is playing for the other Wildcats in the Big 12, an Arizona program Spivey strongly considered as a recruit at Chandler Hamilton High School, the same program that produced current UA players in rising star defensive back Genesis Smith, linebacker Taye Brown and backup center Grayson Stovall.

“When I picked Kansas State, Taye and Genesis felt a little bit betrayed because we were in the same (recruiting) class,” Spivey said. “Genesis is actually my best friend, so it’s going to be an awesome experience. ... It’s going to be huge. That Hamilton-to-Arizona Wildcats pipeline is looking real good.”

Spivey played against Smith in Manhattan this past season and had a reception for 3 yards.

“I didn’t get to make any huge plays on him, but I made a crack-block on him on a run,” Spivey said. “I still tease him about that to this day.”

When Spivey entered the transfer portal, “I just felt that connection immediately” with UA receivers coach Bobby Wade, Spivey said. UA head coach Brent Brennan “was great to talk to when I met him and I trusted what he was saying,” added Spivey.

“Overall, it’s a chance to come home and play for the team I wanted to play for back in high school,” he said. “I just felt like it was a great opportunity, and I was excited when they reached out to me.

“I have a lot of friends that I played with back in high school, so I’m excited for the opportunity. It just felt right. ... Having a head coach who is receiver-based and a receiver coach with so much knowledge of the position, it allows me to be utilized in a whole bunch of different ways. I’m excited and I feel like it’s going to be a fun year.”

Signing Spivey for the upcoming season “was a huge get for us,” Brennan said on Friday.

“He’s a big-bodied receiver who is physical and can play off his feet,” said the Arizona head coach. “We feel great about the moves we’ve made in that room and I give a ton of credit to Bobby Wade and (offensive coordinator Seth Doege).”

Spivey said Doege, who was hired last month, has “such great energy” and “the film he showed me, how he’s going to utilize his players on the field and how he gets the ball to everyone to make big plays, that was a huge factor into what school I was going to pick for the next few years.” With Arizona star and Biletnikoff Award finalist Tetairoa McMillan bolting for the NFL, Spivey hopes to fill the void as a lengthy receiver in Arizona’s offense.

“Picking up where T-Mac left off along with expanding my versatility and playing in the slot and outside. It allows me to expand my role and impact the game in different avenues,” Spivey said. “There’s a lot of opportunities this year.”

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Spivey’s new quarterback in two-year starter Noah Fifita, who opted to return after a disastrous 4-8 season in 2024, “can impact the game throwing the ball and move when he needs to,” Spivey said.

“I hit the portal and we ended up calling each other and he was like, ‘Let’s do it, bro. Let’s make something happen. Come back home.’ Right then and there, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is a guy I can work with right here.’ I love his energy and I’m a fan of how he plays,” Spivey said. “I always kept tabs on Arizona because I’m a fan. I’m a big fan of his play style and his game. Together, we’re going to do some big things.”

Away from the gridiron, Spivey considers himself “a geek,” he said.

“I watch anime and play video games and I’m big into Legos,” Spivey said.

Spivey “was a really good chess player coming up (and) we had him in piano,” Junior Spivey said.

Tre Spivey is also uber-competitive, one of the character traits he inherited from his father.

Growing up, Spivey always wanted a dog but there was one caveat: To get the dog, he had to beat Junior Spivey in a free-throw shooting contest.

“He thought that I wouldn’t beat him and I ended up winning, and he said because I was talking during his turn, it didn’t count,” Tre Spivey said with a laugh. “I hold it against him to this day. I wanted that dog so bad and I was so proud of myself for beating him in the challenge. To this day, he won’t count it. That’s one of my favorite stories. We’re always really competitive.”

Added Junior Spivey: “He wasn’t talking. He stuck his hand in my face while I was shooting free-throws. You can’t do that, that’s a violation. It didn’t count.”

About a decade later, Spivey got the dog, a Rottweiler named Draco.

As the son of an MLB player, it’s easy to follow pops’ baseball path. Spivey ultimately “chose football but he was a baseball kid first,” Junior Spivey said.

“He played basketball and played a little bit of golf, soccer, everything,” said the older Spivey. “We just wanted him to be competitive and give it his all.”

Although Tre Spivey had the MLB genes, Junior Spivey “pushed me for every sport,” said the UA receiver.

“He wanted me to find my own path,” Tre Spivey said. “I played baseball, basketball, football, track. Even when I was really young, I played soccer. I was playing every sport but he never felt a certain type of way about what I was going to do. He just wanted me to put my all into it. He just didn’t want me to be lazy and not work hard.

“He explained to me that a lot of times, it can be easy for players to be entitled. He never wanted me to be in that position. He always wanted me to work for everything. He’s my hero and I look up to him for everything. When I finally decided football as my sport, he was 100% supportive. He just told me, ‘10 toes down and don’t let anybody outwork you and you’re always working to get better.’”

More than two decades after Junior Spivey was hitting home runs at TEP, now his son is hopeful to catch touchdowns at Arizona Stadium and impact a rebuilding Arizona offense entering Brennan’s second season in Tucson.

“I think it’s great, because that’s where he always wanted to be,” Junior Spivey said of Tre Spivey. “That’s where he committed out of high school. I wanted him to leave the state and grow up a little bit and he spent two years in Kansas and now he’s back home.

“I just can’t wait for everything. It’s going to be fun.”