We always have high hopes for the Wildcats basketball team, but once upon a time, the team's own coach wasn't very optimistic about his team's chances.
In 1951, when it came time to choose the coach of the year, the Star turned to the most pessimistic coach. He had predicted the University of Arizona basketball team would finish seventh out of eight in the team's conference.
The team won the conference title and had a season record of 26-2.
From the Arizona Daily Star, Dec, 26, 1951:
ENKE GIVEN TUCSON
COACH-OF-YEAR HONOR
__________
SANCET, GREER RANKED CLOSE
BEHIND IN POLL
__________
UA Cage Coach Brought Team
11th Rating; Two Tournament Berths
__________
By Abe Chanin
Star Sports Editor
The man who picked his team to finish seventh in an eight-team race and then won the championship hands down was named Tucson's Coach-of-the-Year in the Arizona Daily Star's annual year-end poll.
The honor went to Fred Enke, the slow-talking pessimistic coach of Arizona basketball. Before the 1950-51 season began, Enke shook his head sadly and murmured: "We'll be lucky if we finish as high as seventh place."
Amazing Record
As it turned out his Wildcats won the Border conference basketball championship losing only one game of 15. Arizona's great season's record of 26-2 was one of the best in the nation and the Associated Press poll of writers ranked the Wildcats as the No. 11 team. The Wildcat cagers also drew berths in the exclusive NCAA championships and the National Invitation tournament in Madison Square Garden.
Close behing Enke in the poll was another University of Arizona coach, Frank Sancet, who was named Coach-of-the-Year in 1950. Sancet's Wildcat baseballers had a little stretch of jitters in the district six NCAA playoffs and just missed getting into the national tournament, but they still sported a magnificent record. At one time through the season the Cats won 20 in a row. Among the teams Arizona defeated on the diamond were the University of Southern California, UCLA and the University of California.
Greer Ranked High
Tucson high school's Jason (Red) Greer also ranked high in the poll. The Badger footballers dropped their first game of the season to Bisbee and things looked a bit gloomy. But after losing again to North Phoenix, the Badgers stretched out to capture their last seven games and took home the Class A prep football championship.
Other coaches who received more than a mention in the poll were Hank Slagle, who guided Tucson high's baseball team to the state Class A championship; Chuck Hollinger, coach of the Tucson Junior American Legion team which won the state crown; and Bud Dawson, who gave the Tucson Cowboys baseball club a shot in the arm when he took over from Kenny Myers late in the season.
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Coach Enke is no longer with us, but perhaps he cheers the team on in spirit.
