Four days before undefeated and No, 1-ranked Tucson High was to play in the 1970 state championship football game, coach Ollie Mayfield’s father died in Nebraska.
Mayfield flew to the state where he grew up, spent three days with his family and then returned to Arizona hours before the Badgers were to play Phoenix Sunnyslope for the state title.
“When we saw Coach Mayfield walk into the locker room, it was like nothing could stop us,” remembers Will Kreamer, an all-state lineman. “It was very emotional.”
The Badgers, who outscored opponents 475-138 that season, won 54-16. The 38-point differential was the most lopsided in the history of state championship games for the Arizona’’s highest classification teams until 2018.
“We couldn’t let our coach down,” said Mark Simon, an all-state fullback who would go on to play for the Wisconsin Badgers. “Everything we did was for Coach Mayfield.”
Even the modest Mayfield, a soft-spoken leader, was impressed.
“This is one of the finest teams to ever play high school football in Arizona,” he said.
In the semifinals, Mayfield’s club beat 11-0 Mesa Westwood, 39-34, a deceiving margin in as much as the Badgers outgained Westwood 479 to 262 in total offense.
“They are the best team we’ve played,” said Westwood coach Dave Gates. “They are superior to everything that I’ve seen.”
Ollie Mayfield’s 1970 Badgers roster included seven players who signed Division I scholarship offers.
The ’70 Badgers had no difficulty winning 10 games against Tucson and Southern Arizona teams, routing the No. 2 finisher Salpointe Catholic 41-20 in the division title game before 11,000 fans at Arizona Stadium.
“They don’t have a weakness,” said Salpointe coach Jerry Davitch, who went on to be the head coach at the University of Idaho. “They have more size and speed than I’ve ever seen for a high school team.”
The ’70 Badgers had seven players who signed Division I scholarships, including three 1,000-yard rushing halfbacks: Allistaire Heartfield (1,396 yards), fullback Simon (1,148 yards) and two-way back Derral Davis.
The other Division I recruits were tackle Mike Dawson, who went on to be a second-team All-American at Arizona and a first-round draft pick of the NFL St. Louis Cardinals, Jinx Johnson, Kelly Langford and Marvin Lewis. Kreamer and back Frank Castro, who also played quarterback, were first-team All-State players.
Tucson High offensive lineman Mike Dawson went on to play at the UA and in the NFL.
In the decisive victory over Westwood, Heartfield rushed for 170 yards, Davis 119 and Simon 107.
Other standouts on the team included linebacker John Trujillo, end Lonnie Williams, quarterback Anastacio Martinez and linebacker Dick Corral.
“Playing Tucson High in those years was like playing the Big Red Machine,” said Salpointe’s Davitch. “They’d come running onto the field in those red jerseys and you’d just stop and watch. It was a group you get once in a lifetime.”
At year’s end, one national publication dedicated to high school football, Letterman’s Magazine, ranked Tucson High’s 1970 football team No. 7 in the nation.
Tucson High's 1970 state championship win was front-page news.
“That’s nice,” said former THS head coach Rollin Gridley, who had coached the Badgers to a 32-game winning streak in the 1940s, winning four state championships, “but the people at that magazine have never seen Tucson High play. To them, that’s just a team way out West they threw into the rankings because of the record. If they had actually seen (the Badgers) play, they might’ve been No. 1 or close to it.”
A year later, Mayfield coached the Badgers to another state championship, finishing 11-1.
