Greg Hansen's Notebook: This entry is part of longtime Star columnist Greg Hansen's weekly notebook.
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Three pillars of Tucson’s sports community announced they were leaving their positions last week, a blow not only to the UA athletic department, but to those who follow Wildcat and Tucson sports.
Dana Cooper, Judi Kessler and Jay Gonzales each leave a legacy to Tucson sports that won’t soon be forgotten.
Cooper spent about 25 years in the UA athletic department, the last 14 working for Learfield, which funded the school’s radio and TV enterprises, among other things. He had also been the sideline reporter for Arizona football games. His sideline reports have been missed this season.
Greg Hansen is the longtime sports columnist for the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson.com.
For 13 years, during the Lute Olson and Dick Tomey years, Cooper hosted the weekly coach’s TV programs, and also worked for Fox Sports Arizona. In 1988, Cooper produced a masterpiece — "Memories ’88" — a documentary about Arizona’s 1988 Final Four team that stands the test of time. If you haven’t watched it, Google it and you can thank me later.
After new UA athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois eliminated the Learfield variable in the athletic department, choosing to hire her own staff to raise radio and TV revenue, Cooper was recently hired as the major gift development officer for Tucson’s Gospel Rescue Mission. Good hire.
Kessler is the longest-tenured employee in the UA athletic department, dating to 1984. Her impact goes far beyond dollars and cents, but it should be noted that she raised $53 million for athletics facilities, scholarships and sports operations the last 20 years, and more recently, $2 million for NIL. She secured nine seven-figure donations and raised over $1 million a year for 15 of her 20 years as a UA fundraiser.
Dana Cooper and daughters Quincy, center, and Kennedy, in 2004, spent 25 years in the UA athletic department. Cooper was recently hired as the major gift development officer for Tucson’s Gospel Rescue Mission.
Kessler, an associate AD for major gifts, started out as a gift processor in the Wildcat Club in 1984, processing donations manually on a key-punch system. She worked for five athletic directors — Cedric Dempsey, Jim Livengood, Greg Byrne, Dave Heeke and Reed-Francois.
“I have made some remarkable friendships spanning 40 years, and I wouldn’t trade my career for anything," says Kessler. “Those friendships will continue long after I retire. It’s the right time for me, and I have a 5-month-old granddaughter in Dallas and want to spend time with them and not stress about missing work."
Friday was Gonzales’ final day as a sports-talk show host on Fox Sports 1450-AM. No one in the 40-year history of Tucson sports-talk radio had the historic perspective of Gonzales, a Sahuaro High and UA grad who began his journalism career as a beat writer for the UA football and basketball teams for the Daily Star. He was a fierce competitor, and was on the scene for all 38 games of Arizona’s epic 35-3 Final Four season in 1988.
University of Arizona deputy director of athletics Kathleen "Rocky" LaRose says goodbye to associate athletic directors Judi Kessler, far left, Phoebe Wadsworth and Mike Ketcham as she works her last full day in McKale Center on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013.
I consider Gonzales one of the three best sports-talk hosts in Tucson history, with Todd Walsh of the 1980s and Mike Gabrielson of the 1990s. He knows his stuff. He didn't make the mistake of making the Suns, Diamondbacks or Cardinals a topic of discussion, making it an all-local show. After leaving the newspaper industry, Gonzales has been a front-row statistician for UA basketball for the last 30 years. His instant perspective on Tucson sports will be missed.
With Cooper, Kessler and Gonzales leaving the sports scene, the longest-tenured UA sports employees are track head coach Fred Harvey, hired in 1988, and Scott Shake, senior associate AD for major gifts/capital campaigns, hired in 1989.
The next generation of employees at the UA athletic department has begun. Justin Little, who was the mascot Wilbur the Wildcat at UA football and basketball games from 2019-22, now works for Arizona Sports Enterprises (ASE), which has replaced Learfield. Little worked his way up the ladder for FC Tucson and the Tucson Roadrunners in sales and branding.
Perhaps he’ll be the next Dana Cooper or Judi Kessler.
