Michael Bates, son of Linda Bates, attended Arizona and was a five-time NFL Pro Bowl player. Linda, a strong figure in Tucson sports, died last week at 68.
In the 1969 NFL draft, the Minnesota Vikings selected Marion Bates in the sixth round. The defensive back from Texas Southern married Linda Ann Parsons of Victoria, Texas.
A few years later, Bates and Parsons divorced and she moved to Tucson to be close to her brother, Thomas, who was stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
When Linda Bates arrived in Tucson, she raised her three boys as a single mother. Marion, Michael and Mario would go on to be the greatest football family in Tucson history.
Marion signed with USC. Michael played at Arizona and became a five-time NFL Pro Bowl player. Mario rushed for more than 1,000 yards at Arizona State and played in the NFL for seven years.
Anyone who watched the Bates brothers play for Vern Friedli’s powerhouse teams at Amphitheater High School probably got to know Linda Bates. She was an irresistible personality. Put it this way: She wasn’t shy.
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Her boys came first.
Sadly, Linda Bates died last week in Phoenix. She was 68.
“Vern loved to tell the story of how one Saturday morning Linda marched in with her three little boys in tow, sat them down and said, ‘These three are going to play for you someday,’” Friedli’s widow, Sharon, said last week.
Play they did. Amphi rarely lost. The Bates brothers — running backs with few peers — were the most well-known prep football players in the state.
Linda worked at Sears when her sons were growing up. She’d usually get home about 8 p.m., bushed from a long shift, and depend on the boys to get their homework done, eat dinner and clean up the kitchen.
When Mario was inducted into the Amphi Hall of Fame a few years ago, I spent a few minutes sitting by Linda in the bleachers that became her home away from home during the 1980s.
She started to talk about how proud she was of Mario and then broke down and cried until the tears rolled down her cheeks and onto her lap.
Talk about a success story.
Before moving to Tucson, Linda Bates got a job driving a dump truck in Texas to help feed her three boys.
She leaves a legacy like few others in Tucson sports.
