Ed Nuñez, a coaching icon, the namesake of Pueblo High School's tennis courts and member of the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame, died Sunday.
Nuñez underwent surgery recently and did not recover, Pueblo principal Frank Rosthenhausler said. His death was not COVID-19 related.
Rosthenhausler called Nuñez "one of the leading figures in the history of the school."
Self-taught, Nuñez played tennis at Pueblo from 1956-60 before heading to the UA, where he earned degrees in Spanish and French. He returned to Pueblo as a Spanish teacher and tennis coach in 1965, and later became an adviser, dean and administrator at the school. He retired in 2007 after 42 years in TUSD.
Nuñez coached the Warriors' boys team for 15 seasons. During that time, he also ran Southern Arizona's Junior Davis Cup team and coordinated tennis tournaments throughout Tucson.
Rosthenhausler called Nuñez "one of those minds, one of those people who have done so much that I didn't do a lot without checking in with him."
Unmarried and without children, Nuñez treated the thousands of students he encountered like they were his own own, Rosthenhausler said..
"If I was going to do anything to the tennis facilities, which are named after him, i'd check in with him first," Rosthenhausler said. "He was always at our games. Any of our teams that made state, he was there."
Rosthenhausler said he is planning to plant trees around the tennis courts, in part to remember the Warriors icon.
"(It's) something that'll help continue his legacy," he said.
Nuñez was inducted to the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2015, Nuñez was named a charter member of the Pueblo Warrior Hall of Fame; his sister Janie was part of the 2019 class. You can see his speech from the Hall of Fame enshrinement here:
