Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Final Four MVP Miles Simon deserves UA honor
- Updated
Star sports columnist Greg Hansen offers his opinion on recent sports news.
- Greg Hansen
Not much was made of Miles Simon‘s signature on national letter-of-intent day in October of 1993, especially on his home turf in Southern California.
That’s because it was the same day Tiger Woods of Anaheim Western High School announced he would attend Stanford, and because UCLA signed its top recruiting class since the John Wooden days.
Simon was ranked No. 41 nationally by Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports, then the top recruiting service in the nation. California-based Super Prep magazine ranked Simon No. 11 in the West, below the UCLA recruiting coup of No. 2 Omm’a Givens, No. 4 J.R. Henderson, No. 6 Toby Bailey and two spots ahead of his prep rival, No. 13 Kris Johnson.
Simon wasn’t even the top prospect being recruited by Arizona. On July 1, 1993, the first day coaches could phone high school recruits, the UA first called Huntington Beach two-sport star Tony Gonzalez, hopeful he would commit to Arizona as a football/basketball player. (He ultimately chose Cal).
But Simon’s college career exceeded all of those except Woods. Simon was named Most Outstanding Player of the 1997 Final Four, and earned first-team Associated Press All-America honors in 1998.
Simon’s No. 34 jersey will be put on display for posterity at Friday’s Red and Blue Game at McKale Center, the fifth such Wildcat so honored.
Simon chose Arizona over Oklahoma State and USC — Jim Harrick did not recruit him at UCLA – and committed to Lute Olson before he had ever been to Tucson. His recruiting class included Donnell Harris, Kelvin Eafon and Michael Dickerson.
Gibbons’ All-Star Sports ranked it only No. 14 in the nation; in retrospect, Simon and Dickerson alone likely comprised a top-5 class.
Simon’s weekend in Tucson will coincide with the 20th reunion of Arizona’s 1997 national championship team. Simon turns 41 next month. The “youngest” of the group who played extensively at the Final Four, Jason Terry, is 39, entering his 18th NBA season, at Milwaukee.
Arizona’s annual Red-Blue Game might not be the best tipoff event in the country, but it’s close. Kansas drew in excess of 16,000 on Oct. 1 for its “Late Night at the Phog” celebration, and tickets for Duke’s “Countdown to Craziness” are now going for as much as $238 online. At Kentucky, students camped out for two days to get tickets to Friday’s “Big Blue Madness.”
But with Simon returning this week, combined with an unusually important recruiting push by Sean Miller, the Red and Blue Game ranks with any.
Tickets? They were all sold more than a month ago.
- Greg Hansen
In 1952, Mary Hines, the daughter of a Tucson policeman and a nurse, was named the UA’s Outstanding Women’s Athlete.
Hines went on to coach Catalina High School to a pair of state volleyball championships from 1968-84. Along the way she coached Stacey Iveson, now the UA’s assistant softball coach, who piloted Pima College to 2004 and 2006 NJCAA national championships.
Hines and Iveson remain close. A few weeks ago, Hines called to ask if she could borrow a softball.
“I’m going to enter the softball throw at the national Senior Olympics,” said Hines.
Before going to Las Vegas for the national finals, Hines and Iveson played catch a few times at Hillenbrand Stadium. Remember: Hines is 87.
Once in Las Vegas, Hines not only won the gold medal in the softball throw, she won a gold medal in the shot put.
“I didn’t even have a shot put,” said Hines, who was a standout tennis player and swimmer at the UA. “I practiced throwing a 4½-pound rock.”
She threw the 3½-pound shot put 19 feet 5 inches, which also would’ve won the women’s 60-69 class.
“It was a riot; I had so much fun,” she says.
It wasn’t Hines’ first gold medal, however. She coached an Arizona/Tucson 70-over women’s softball team to a gold medal at Stanford in 2012.
Because few opportunities were available in women’s sports in high schools and colleges when Hines graduated from Tucson High in 1947, she has been resourceful, finding opportunities as she can.
“I love sports and at my age I’ve been fortunate to be able to compete in a few things,” she says. “I’m certainly not ready to quit.”
- Greg Hansen
Cienega High School grad Daniel Gonzales, the captain of Navy’s football team in 2015 and 2016, will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury. Gonzales had 174 career tackles when he was injured last week against Air Force. “Daniel symbolizes everything we’re trying to preach here with our football program: Work hard on the football field, be a humble person, be a good student, do what you’re supposed to do in the hall – he did all of that,” Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo told reporters last week. Gonzales, a senior, will become a student coach for the rest of the season.
- Greg Hansen
I have religiously read MLB’s box scores every morning since I was 10. Initially it was to look at Mickey Mantle’s daily line but it has evolved and now the first thing I check, no matter what, is the Orioles box. Did shortstop J.J. Hardy make an error? The Sabino High School grad, a three-time Gold Glove winner, completed Baltimore’s season with just six errors. He did not commit an error between July 8 and September 16. Amazing. The ex-Sabercat, 34, has a chance to reach some career milestones before retiring; he has 1,433 hits and 184 home runs.
- Greg Hansen
Kaleb Tarczewski played just one minute in Oklahoma City’s first two NBA exhibition games last week, which strongly suggests he’ll open the season in the D League. Odd, but Grant Jerrett, who played just one season at Arizona, entering the UA program at the same time Tarczewski did, played 13 minutes in Portland’s first exhibition game, burying two 3-pointers. He was the first man off the bench in Friday’s game against Phoenix. Jerrett signed a $970,000, make-good contract with Portland and is probably vying for the Blazers’ final roster spot.
- Greg Hansen
In 1983, UA freshman Todd Walsh knocked on new basketball coach Lute Olson’s office door and asked if there were any opportunities as a team manager. Olson hired him. After four years under Olson, Walsh began his radio/TV career at KNST (940-AM) as one of Tucson’s first-ever sports-talk radio personalities. In my book, Walsh — along with Mike Gabrielson of the 1990s — is the best at that craft in Tucson history. Walsh has since thrived as an analyst and interviewer for Fox Sports, covering the Diamondbacks and Coyotes. On Saturday, Walsh was inducted into the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Silver Circle. It’s an honor given by the Rocky Mountain Emmys to recognize television professionals who have served in the industry for a minimum of 25 years. “I’m just very, very proud of him,” Olson said in the video played at the awards ceremony. “I love him like a son.” The tribute to Walsh included praise from, among others, Randy Johnson, Dan Majerle and Shane Doan.
- Greg Hansen
- Updated
The Tucson Roadrunners will not play at Tucson Arena from January 22 to February 24, which can’t be good for business. That’s the high season of Tucson, with winter visitors looking for ways to spend money. But the Tucson Convention Center was heavily booked, busy, before the Roadrunners moved to Tucson last spring. The Roadrunners even had to move two games, against the Charlotte Checkers, to the Gila River Arena in Glendale the first weekend of February.
- Greg Hansen
When the Diamondbacks fired manager Chip Hale last week, it meant they owe him about $700,000 for the 2017 season. Hale, a Tucsonan, probably won’t take long to get a new baseball job. It’s not unlike former UA All-American Terry Francona after he was fired as the Phillies manager in 2000. He was then a coach for the A’s and Rangers before becoming the Red Sox manager in 2004. I just completed Francona’s book – “Francona: The Red Sox Years” – and highly recommend it. It’s baseball-centric but goes in depth about Francona’s many serious health issues and doesn’t always paint a pretty picture of his long career and those he coached.
- Greg Hansen
When Sabino held off defending state football champion Pusch Ridge on Friday night, it gave Sabercats coach Jay Campos his 127th career victory at the school. That ties Jeff Scurran’s remarkable record during a 1990s period that Scurran won three state championships. The 6-1 Sabercats have remaining games against Sahuarita, Douglas and Empire, which projects to a 9-1 regular season and a possible No. 1 or No. 2 seed entering the 3A state playoffs. Campos has three times reached the state title game, losing all three. This is likely his last season as a coach before he becomes a full-time administrator at Sabino. Wouldn’t it be something if he could finish his coaching career holding the championship trophy?
- Greg Hansen
Sunnyside High School junior Roman Bravo-Young, a two-time state champion with an 83-0 prep record, just completed an exhausting traveling schedule on a happy note. After losing two matches in Eastern Europe in the Cadet World Championships, including a tense 8-7 elimination loss to Apech Harutyunyan of Armenia, Bravo-Young returned to Tucson, worked out for a few days, and then flew to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to compete as the No. 2 seed in the annual “Who’s No. 1?” meet. This time Bravo-Young won it all, defeating Nick Raimo of New Jersey 3-2 in the 126-pound championship.
- Greg Hansen
One thing I don’t understand about college football recruiting: After making a commitment to play at Arizona, Phoenix Desert Ridge’s Jalen Harris, a linebacker, took a recruiting visit to Colorado. Cienega quarterback Jamarye Joiner committed to Arizona a few weeks ago and then told the Star’s Zack Rosenblatt he expected to make more recruiting visits.
- Greg Hansen
It was sad to see the Titans make special teams coach Bobby April the scapegoat for a bad NFL start. April, who coached at Arizona from 1980-86, was the NFL’s Special Teams Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2008. Did he suddenly become inept? Not likely. April is such a good man that when his UA boss, Larry Smith, died in 2008, April flew to Tucson for the memorial. He was on the Jets staff.
- Greg Hansen
In an era when the golf industry struggles to make a dime, OB Sports, the management group that operates Tucson’s five public golf courses, made a rare choice of efficiency over finances.
It has banned the long-standing El Rio Mens’ Club from play at Randolph North and Dell Urich golf courses.
Why? Because of a history of slow play.
According to the El Rio club, it played 797 rounds at the Randolph complex through September. That’s about $35,000 when you count post-round food and beverages. Nor does it include the club’s rounds at El Rio and Silverbell, also operated by OB Sports.
It’s not that the El Rio Men’s Club doesn’t have clout or know the rules. The club includes men who have played PGA Tour events, a former UA basketball player, a former police chief, a former Arizona State baseball player and many who are significant community figures.
If you play enough muni golf, you periodically struggle with slowpokes. It is maddening. But it only takes a few dawdlers to clog up an entire golf course. That’s what happened to the El Rio group.
OB Sports is partly at fault. As golf revenues declined the last 15 years, almost all Southern Arizona courses eliminated on-course policing. The course ranger, who would observe play and attempt to enforce four-hour rounds, has vanished.
A showdown like this was almost inevitable.
- Greg Hansen
Not much was made of Miles Simon‘s signature on national letter-of-intent day in October of 1993, especially on his home turf in Southern California.
That’s because it was the same day Tiger Woods of Anaheim Western High School announced he would attend Stanford, and because UCLA signed its top recruiting class since the John Wooden days.
Simon was ranked No. 41 nationally by Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports, then the top recruiting service in the nation. California-based Super Prep magazine ranked Simon No. 11 in the West, below the UCLA recruiting coup of No. 2 Omm’a Givens, No. 4 J.R. Henderson, No. 6 Toby Bailey and two spots ahead of his prep rival, No. 13 Kris Johnson.
Simon wasn’t even the top prospect being recruited by Arizona. On July 1, 1993, the first day coaches could phone high school recruits, the UA first called Huntington Beach two-sport star Tony Gonzalez, hopeful he would commit to Arizona as a football/basketball player. (He ultimately chose Cal).
But Simon’s college career exceeded all of those except Woods. Simon was named Most Outstanding Player of the 1997 Final Four, and earned first-team Associated Press All-America honors in 1998.
Simon’s No. 34 jersey will be put on display for posterity at Friday’s Red and Blue Game at McKale Center, the fifth such Wildcat so honored.
Simon chose Arizona over Oklahoma State and USC — Jim Harrick did not recruit him at UCLA – and committed to Lute Olson before he had ever been to Tucson. His recruiting class included Donnell Harris, Kelvin Eafon and Michael Dickerson.
Gibbons’ All-Star Sports ranked it only No. 14 in the nation; in retrospect, Simon and Dickerson alone likely comprised a top-5 class.
Simon’s weekend in Tucson will coincide with the 20th reunion of Arizona’s 1997 national championship team. Simon turns 41 next month. The “youngest” of the group who played extensively at the Final Four, Jason Terry, is 39, entering his 18th NBA season, at Milwaukee.
Arizona’s annual Red-Blue Game might not be the best tipoff event in the country, but it’s close. Kansas drew in excess of 16,000 on Oct. 1 for its “Late Night at the Phog” celebration, and tickets for Duke’s “Countdown to Craziness” are now going for as much as $238 online. At Kentucky, students camped out for two days to get tickets to Friday’s “Big Blue Madness.”
But with Simon returning this week, combined with an unusually important recruiting push by Sean Miller, the Red and Blue Game ranks with any.
Tickets? They were all sold more than a month ago.
- Greg Hansen
In 1952, Mary Hines, the daughter of a Tucson policeman and a nurse, was named the UA’s Outstanding Women’s Athlete.
Hines went on to coach Catalina High School to a pair of state volleyball championships from 1968-84. Along the way she coached Stacey Iveson, now the UA’s assistant softball coach, who piloted Pima College to 2004 and 2006 NJCAA national championships.
Hines and Iveson remain close. A few weeks ago, Hines called to ask if she could borrow a softball.
“I’m going to enter the softball throw at the national Senior Olympics,” said Hines.
Before going to Las Vegas for the national finals, Hines and Iveson played catch a few times at Hillenbrand Stadium. Remember: Hines is 87.
Once in Las Vegas, Hines not only won the gold medal in the softball throw, she won a gold medal in the shot put.
“I didn’t even have a shot put,” said Hines, who was a standout tennis player and swimmer at the UA. “I practiced throwing a 4½-pound rock.”
She threw the 3½-pound shot put 19 feet 5 inches, which also would’ve won the women’s 60-69 class.
“It was a riot; I had so much fun,” she says.
It wasn’t Hines’ first gold medal, however. She coached an Arizona/Tucson 70-over women’s softball team to a gold medal at Stanford in 2012.
Because few opportunities were available in women’s sports in high schools and colleges when Hines graduated from Tucson High in 1947, she has been resourceful, finding opportunities as she can.
“I love sports and at my age I’ve been fortunate to be able to compete in a few things,” she says. “I’m certainly not ready to quit.”
- Greg Hansen
Cienega High School grad Daniel Gonzales, the captain of Navy’s football team in 2015 and 2016, will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury. Gonzales had 174 career tackles when he was injured last week against Air Force. “Daniel symbolizes everything we’re trying to preach here with our football program: Work hard on the football field, be a humble person, be a good student, do what you’re supposed to do in the hall – he did all of that,” Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo told reporters last week. Gonzales, a senior, will become a student coach for the rest of the season.
- Greg Hansen
I have religiously read MLB’s box scores every morning since I was 10. Initially it was to look at Mickey Mantle’s daily line but it has evolved and now the first thing I check, no matter what, is the Orioles box. Did shortstop J.J. Hardy make an error? The Sabino High School grad, a three-time Gold Glove winner, completed Baltimore’s season with just six errors. He did not commit an error between July 8 and September 16. Amazing. The ex-Sabercat, 34, has a chance to reach some career milestones before retiring; he has 1,433 hits and 184 home runs.
- Greg Hansen
Kaleb Tarczewski played just one minute in Oklahoma City’s first two NBA exhibition games last week, which strongly suggests he’ll open the season in the D League. Odd, but Grant Jerrett, who played just one season at Arizona, entering the UA program at the same time Tarczewski did, played 13 minutes in Portland’s first exhibition game, burying two 3-pointers. He was the first man off the bench in Friday’s game against Phoenix. Jerrett signed a $970,000, make-good contract with Portland and is probably vying for the Blazers’ final roster spot.
- Greg Hansen
In 1983, UA freshman Todd Walsh knocked on new basketball coach Lute Olson’s office door and asked if there were any opportunities as a team manager. Olson hired him. After four years under Olson, Walsh began his radio/TV career at KNST (940-AM) as one of Tucson’s first-ever sports-talk radio personalities. In my book, Walsh — along with Mike Gabrielson of the 1990s — is the best at that craft in Tucson history. Walsh has since thrived as an analyst and interviewer for Fox Sports, covering the Diamondbacks and Coyotes. On Saturday, Walsh was inducted into the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Silver Circle. It’s an honor given by the Rocky Mountain Emmys to recognize television professionals who have served in the industry for a minimum of 25 years. “I’m just very, very proud of him,” Olson said in the video played at the awards ceremony. “I love him like a son.” The tribute to Walsh included praise from, among others, Randy Johnson, Dan Majerle and Shane Doan.
- Greg Hansen
The Tucson Roadrunners will not play at Tucson Arena from January 22 to February 24, which can’t be good for business. That’s the high season of Tucson, with winter visitors looking for ways to spend money. But the Tucson Convention Center was heavily booked, busy, before the Roadrunners moved to Tucson last spring. The Roadrunners even had to move two games, against the Charlotte Checkers, to the Gila River Arena in Glendale the first weekend of February.
- Greg Hansen
When the Diamondbacks fired manager Chip Hale last week, it meant they owe him about $700,000 for the 2017 season. Hale, a Tucsonan, probably won’t take long to get a new baseball job. It’s not unlike former UA All-American Terry Francona after he was fired as the Phillies manager in 2000. He was then a coach for the A’s and Rangers before becoming the Red Sox manager in 2004. I just completed Francona’s book – “Francona: The Red Sox Years” – and highly recommend it. It’s baseball-centric but goes in depth about Francona’s many serious health issues and doesn’t always paint a pretty picture of his long career and those he coached.
- Greg Hansen
When Sabino held off defending state football champion Pusch Ridge on Friday night, it gave Sabercats coach Jay Campos his 127th career victory at the school. That ties Jeff Scurran’s remarkable record during a 1990s period that Scurran won three state championships. The 6-1 Sabercats have remaining games against Sahuarita, Douglas and Empire, which projects to a 9-1 regular season and a possible No. 1 or No. 2 seed entering the 3A state playoffs. Campos has three times reached the state title game, losing all three. This is likely his last season as a coach before he becomes a full-time administrator at Sabino. Wouldn’t it be something if he could finish his coaching career holding the championship trophy?
- Greg Hansen
Sunnyside High School junior Roman Bravo-Young, a two-time state champion with an 83-0 prep record, just completed an exhausting traveling schedule on a happy note. After losing two matches in Eastern Europe in the Cadet World Championships, including a tense 8-7 elimination loss to Apech Harutyunyan of Armenia, Bravo-Young returned to Tucson, worked out for a few days, and then flew to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to compete as the No. 2 seed in the annual “Who’s No. 1?” meet. This time Bravo-Young won it all, defeating Nick Raimo of New Jersey 3-2 in the 126-pound championship.
- Greg Hansen
One thing I don’t understand about college football recruiting: After making a commitment to play at Arizona, Phoenix Desert Ridge’s Jalen Harris, a linebacker, took a recruiting visit to Colorado. Cienega quarterback Jamarye Joiner committed to Arizona a few weeks ago and then told the Star’s Zack Rosenblatt he expected to make more recruiting visits.
- Greg Hansen
It was sad to see the Titans make special teams coach Bobby April the scapegoat for a bad NFL start. April, who coached at Arizona from 1980-86, was the NFL’s Special Teams Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2008. Did he suddenly become inept? Not likely. April is such a good man that when his UA boss, Larry Smith, died in 2008, April flew to Tucson for the memorial. He was on the Jets staff.
- Greg Hansen
In an era when the golf industry struggles to make a dime, OB Sports, the management group that operates Tucson’s five public golf courses, made a rare choice of efficiency over finances.
It has banned the long-standing El Rio Mens’ Club from play at Randolph North and Dell Urich golf courses.
Why? Because of a history of slow play.
According to the El Rio club, it played 797 rounds at the Randolph complex through September. That’s about $35,000 when you count post-round food and beverages. Nor does it include the club’s rounds at El Rio and Silverbell, also operated by OB Sports.
It’s not that the El Rio Men’s Club doesn’t have clout or know the rules. The club includes men who have played PGA Tour events, a former UA basketball player, a former police chief, a former Arizona State baseball player and many who are significant community figures.
If you play enough muni golf, you periodically struggle with slowpokes. It is maddening. But it only takes a few dawdlers to clog up an entire golf course. That’s what happened to the El Rio group.
OB Sports is partly at fault. As golf revenues declined the last 15 years, almost all Southern Arizona courses eliminated on-course policing. The course ranger, who would observe play and attempt to enforce four-hour rounds, has vanished.
A showdown like this was almost inevitable.
