Page 15 - 2020 Sollenberger

1970 Tucson High School: One of AZ’s biggest, fastest teams ever
By Barry Sollenberger
They were the best ever.
The biggest and fastest high school team in Arizona history.
They were better than the 1930 Phoenix Union Coyotes, 1944 Tucson
Badgers, 1953 North Phoenix Mustangs, 1960 Mesa Jackrabbits, and 1962 Arcadia Titans.
They were better than any Tucson team before them, or since. Which is saying a lot, since the school has won more than 500 football games. They were the Tucson Badgers of 1970, and they were awesome.
In the Grand Canyon State, no team before or since has produced such speed, size and talent. And put it all together.
Coached by Ollie Mayfield, the Big Red Machine went 12-0, crushed outmanned Sunnyslope 54-16 in the state finals, averaged 39.6 points a clip, rushed for 4,280 yards, passed for 1,038 yards, sent 28 players to the college ranks and produced six high school All-Americans.
Linebacker Marvin Lewis and tackle Mike Dawson were Parade Mag- azine All-Americans, the first and only time two players from the same Arizona team won such honors. At the end of the season, the National Sports News Service, the first such organization to rank high school teams, rated Mayfield’s Big Red Machine No. 3 in the land, behind Washington High of Massillon, Ohio and Austin Regan, Texas.
Prior to the semifinals, an electrifying 39-34 win over Mesa West- wood in Tucson, Westwood coach Dave Gates said, “They may be the best high school I’ve seen since I’ve been here, and that includes the California teams we faced at Mesa. They’re so quick as a team. They have six or seven real fine backs, and all of them can move.”
Bill Buck, Sunnyslope’s head coach, saw it coming before his team took the field in the finals.
“They are a team the state of Arizona can be proud of,” he said be- fore the 54-16 trashing.
“In the years to come, when people talk of Arizona’s greatest high school teams, this Tucson team will be high on the list,” added Sam Payne of The Phoenix Gazette.
Darrell Davis, Allistaire Hartfield and Mark Simon each rushed for more than 1,000 yards. That had never happened before.
Davis, one of the five finalists for the National High School Athlete of the Year, was the fastest 180-yard low hurdler in Arizona history. Quar- terback Anastacie Martinez, who attended Stanford on an academic scholarship, somehow managed to pass for 1,000 yards in the Badgers’ famed T-formation offense. Tackle Mike Dawson (6-4, 240), who later played for the St. Louis Cardinals, anchored a line that included Mike Bailey (6-1, 205), Gilbert Ramos (6-2, 220), Al Lopez (6-2, 205), Jinx Johnson (6-4, 205) and Lonnie Williams (6-2, 180). All six played major college football or baseball.
Lewis, a 6-3, 230-pound linebacker who signed with USC, was considered one of the best at that position in Tucson’s proud history. Outside linebacker Eddie Williams later became a 7-foot high jumper at University of Alabama and threw the javelin 257-feet. Defensive back Frank Castro was one of the state’s premier pitchers in the spring, while safety Mike Odum was later drafted by the Houston Astros.
And Kelly Langford, who rushed for 1,575 yards one year later, was the state high hurdle champion despite being blind in one eye.
“John McKay coached at Southern Cal then, and he told us we had one of the best teams they’d seen in the country that year,” said Mayfield after the season. “They were recruiting some of our kids.”
Ken Stites, a former coach at Maryvale and the Arizona junior college ranks, might have said it best.
“There was a period for several years when Tucson High had the football teams that could play with anybody, anywhere. They may have been the best,” Stites said.
1970 Tucson Badgers (12-0) season results
Tucson def. Catralina, 41-0
Tucson def. Sunnyside, 43-6
Tucson def. Pueblo, 32-6
Tucson def. Salpointe Catholic, 40-6 Tucson def. Rincon, 28-6
Tucson def. Douglas, 33-13
Tucson def. Amphitheater, 49-25
Tucson def.Palo Verde, 28-20
Tucson def., Sahuaro, 47-6
Tucson def. Salpointe Catholic, 41-20 (quarterfinals) Tucson def. Westwood, 39-34 (semifinals)
Tucson def. Sunnyslope, 54-16 (state championship)
Sollenberger’s story on Tucson’s 1970 team was originally published in the 2000 Phoenix Metro preseason magazine, which Sollenberger started in 1970. The Sollenberger’s AZ Football Prep Magazine is named after Sollenberger, a beloved Arizona high school sports and Arizona Interscholastic Association historian. Sollenberger’s magazine was relaunched by AZPreps365.com in 2014.
Tucson’s Mark Simon rushed for over 1,000 yards in 1970 and signed with the University of Wisconsin. (AIA photo)
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