Tucsonβs prominent high school coaches of the 20th century didnβt just fade away. Schools were named in their honor, celebrated for posterity.
Gridley Middle School? Itβs named after five-time Tucson High state championship football coach Rollin T. Gridley.
Van Horne Elementary? It honors James βDocβ Van Horne, who coached Tucson High to 13 state track championships.
Doolen Middle School? Itβs named after B.C. βBudβ Doolen, who coached Tucson High to four state basketball championships.
Tolson Elementary? It honors Andy Tolson, who coached Tucson High to seven state baseball championships.
Later, Tucsonβs iconic coaches were recognized by having athletic facilities carry their names: Amphiβs Vern Friedli and George Genung, Sahuaroβs Dick McConnell and Puebloβs Roland LaVetter and Curly Santa Cruz, among others.
Now comes Wolfgang Weber, Salpointe Catholicβs boys soccer coach, who is seeking his eighth state championship Saturday. Talk about being qualified for having your name on a wall, field or scoreboard: Weber is pursuing career victory No. 699 Saturday. No other high school soccer coach in Arizona has even won 500 games.
But Weber and the Lancers play on Ed Doherty Field, named after the Lancers football coach of 1977-82. Hmmm. What would you do?
Perhaps you utilize a hyphen, like Arizona did in 2004 when it added baseball coach Jerry Kindallβs name to the schoolβs baseball stadium, packaging it with Kindallβs predecessor, Frank Sancet, whose name was put on the stadium in 1986.
Whatever happens, even if nothing happens, Weber isnβt the type of me-first personality who would feel slighted. His place in Tucson sports history is rock-solid secure.
Salpointe Catholic coach Wolfgang Weber stands on the sidelines in the second half during the semifinals of the 2012 Division II state tournament against Glendale Apollo. The Lancers won 3-2.
In 1982, the year Doherty coached his last football game at Salpointe, Weber was paid $1,000 to start the Lancersβ boys soccer program. As Doherty departed, Weber stepped in. Heβs still stepping in β or perhaps stepping up would be a more fitting term.
I asked Weber Thursday if he remembers victory No. 1. He did. A few days before Thanksgiving, 1982, the Lancers beat Amphi. Score: 1-0.
A week later, his club beat Canyon del Oro 2-1 as this stateβs master high school soccer coach began a march that finds his record at 698-123-25.
No one couldβve seen this coming. TUSD schools didnβt even play soccer until 1984.
Weber moved to Tucson from Aachen, Germany, in 1973 with the idea of being a chef. He and his wife opened a downtown coffee shop, Benjeeβs, on East Pennington Street. For nine years he cooked a full shift almost every day, and played rec soccer when he could find the time.
Although he had encyclopedic knowledge of German soccer and the World Cup, he had never coached.
But it wasnβt long before he founded the Tucson Soccer Club, the first of his many soccer enterprises, created the first of two soccer sportswear companies, and sold his coffee shop. About 10 years later, his soccer outfitting business was supplying uniforms to 3,500 soccer teams nationally.
Along the way, Weber survived a heart attack, the death of his wife, Nina, a triple-bypass heart surgery, helped to form and grow the Tucson Soccer Academy, now the FC Tucson Youth Soccer Club, which has more than 2,000 young soccer players. He coached Salpointe to state championships in 1985, 1986, 1996, 2004, 2012, 2013 and 2019.
If you want to trace the origin of Tucson as a legitimate hotbed of youth soccer, it goes back to Wolfgang Weber more than anyone else.
Salpointe soccer coach Wolfgang Weber jokes with one of his players, Isaac Zaied, in between 400-meter sprints, on Nov. 7, 2002.
Ever modest, Weber describes his legacy as βlongevity,β but thatβs not it at all. It is development and excellence.
The longevity component isnβt meaningless. After suitable research, I discovered that Weber is the second-longest-tenured high school head coach in Tucson history, any sport. In an age when high school coaches come and go before they can learn the school song, Weber is in his 39th year at Salpointe.
In the small-world department, only Salpointeβs golf coach, Jim Flannery, winner of state championships in 1981 (his first year) and 2004, has been a head coach at a Tucson school longer than Weber.
McConnell coached basketball 39 years at Sahuaro. Friedli coached football 36 years at Amphi.
The Pima County Sports Hall of Fame, of which Weber was a 2005 inductee, has honored all those who coached 30-plus years at the same high school:
Clay Hitchcock coached Puebloβs track team for 33 years. Ed Nymeyer coached Flowing Wellsβ volleyball and basketball for 36 years. Joe Acker coached basketball at Marana for 32 years. Rich Utter is in his 33rd season coaching Rinconβs boys basketball team and one of Weberβs enduring rivals, Roxanne Taylor, is coaching Rinconβs boys soccer team for the 36th straight season.
Weber isnβt planning to retire after Saturdayβs Class 4A state title game against Walden Grove at Mountain View High School. He hopes to be back for year No. 40, destined to win game No. 700 and add to his legacy. And itβs not like heβs protecting any records, either. The two men who coached six state championship boys soccer teams β Jack Altersitz of Glendale Cactus and Dick Breckenridge of Lakeside Blue Ridge β retired long ago
Wolfgang Weber? Nobody named a school after him, but heβs in a class of his own.
Salpointe High School head coach Wolfgang Weber gets congratulated by Douglas head coach Ken Cormier after Weber notched his 600th win with a 1-0 victory over the Bulldogs at Salpointe Catholic High School on January 14, 2015, Tucson, Ariz.
