Greg Hansen: Spirit of the 'Ooh Aah Man,' UA superfan Joe Cavaleri, lives on

“I’m not middle-aged,’’ Cavaleri said with a grin. “I’m 60 with a busted back and torn up knee.’’

He wore an old T-shirt with the words “Woody’s Sporting Goods’’ on the front and “OOH AAH’’ on the back. The shirt must’ve been 10 years old. Maybe more.

Cavaleri was suffering from the beginning stages of Parkinson’s Disease and carried a cane. Maybe he should’ve carried a pen.

As he took his treasured floor level seat at McKale Center — Section 9, Row 3, Seat 1 — he began to sign autographs. The most recognizable man in the 50-year history of McKale Center is Lute Olson, but you might not get an argument if you said Joe Cavaleri, the Ooh Aah Man, was No. 2.

As long ago as 1982, UA basketball coach Fred Snowden told me “Joe is a momentum-changer; nobody else has anything like him.’’

Middle-aged clown? Not hardly.

Joe Cavaleri, born in Pawling, New York, in 1952, died Saturday at St. Joseph’s Hospital. He was 71.

“The last year was rough for him,’’ his older sister, Terry Cavaleri Wood, said. “I spent the night in his hospital room Friday. It was a tough couple of days. It meant a lot to him that he was recognized during the UA’s 50-year celebration last season.’’

Cavaleri left a legacy like few others in UA sports history.

“He was pretty unique to college basketball’’ said former UA basketball assistant coach Jim Rosborough, who was on Olson’s staff from 1989-2007.

“It seemed like every time we had a big-time home game against a Top 25 school — at the eight-minute TV timeout with pressure mounting — we’d be in a huddle with the players and there would be this crescendo of noise. It was the Ooh Aah Man doing his cheers.

“The players loved him. We all did. He became an institution.’’

One night late in the 1987 season against then-formidable Oregon State, Cavaleri walked onto the court and began stripping off layers of shirts and shorts at midcourt, stoking the crowd. At that moment, injured UA junior guard Steve Kerr walked to midcourt to help Cavaleri spell “A-R-I-Z-O-N-A.’’

The noise was ear-splitting. Arizona rallied to win 71-61.

How’s that for an endorsement? A year later, Kerr and the No. 1 ranked Wildcats took Cavaleri with them to the Final Four in Kansas City, as the Cats would again in 1994, 1997 and 2001, to Charlotte, Indianapolis and Minneapolis.

The NCAA allowed each school complimentary travel for 12 cheerleaders to the Final Four. Cavaleri was always one of the 12.

“Who’s that old codger?’’ national college basketball sports columnist Pat Forde once asked me.

He soon found out.

A lot of Tucsonans got to know Cavaleri for his work behind the bars at the Solarium restaurant, or at the wildly popular Bum Steer or downtown at Carlos Murphy’s. But many more began to know him on May 28, 1979, when he showed up in a red-and-white “Ooh Aah’’ shirt at the NCAA baseball regionals at old Wildcat Field.

Tucson Citizen columnist Corky Simpson wrote “the bushy-bearded one-man cheering section rallied an entire stadium of fans into a frenzied support for three days.’’

After Arizona beat Hawaii to clinch a berth at the College World Series, UA players Clark Crist, Terry Francona and Wes Clements raised Cavaleri to their shoulders and carried him around the infield.

Before the night was through, UA fans had begun a fund-raising mission to pay for the Ooh Aah Man’s trip to the College World Series with the Wildcats.

The next 30 years were a magical ride.

“Joe got his interest in sports from our dad (Tino),’’ his sister, Terry said. “Our dad played baseball in Cooperstown, N.Y., on teams that celebrated the 100th anniversary of baseball. He loved all sports. Joe picked it up; he played basketball in high school back in New York, and then followed me to Tucson in the early ‘70s.’’

Once, while attending a UA football game, Joe, Terry and their friends became frustrated by somber Arizona Stadium crowds as the pre-Jim Young Wildcats lost game upon game. “Weak,’’ they said.

“Joe had gone to Spain with his community college group from Poughkeepsie and came back with all these Spanish phrases,’’ Terry remembers. “He told me that in Spanish, the UofA was ‘Ooh Aah.’ So when he started cheering at UA baseball games, that was his rallying cry.’’

Ooh Aah.

Joe stopped his cheerleading act in 2013, yielding to his aching back and knees, and acknowledging that Parkinson’s Disease made it difficult for him to spell “A-R-I-Z-O-N-A’’ and maintain his balance.

But he continued to attend UA games through the 2022-23 season, often in a wheelchair, accompanied by Frank Wood, his brother-in-law. He’d be transported to and from McKale in a wheelchair van from his assisted living facility.

“People still recognized him,’’ says Terry. “He was alert and thrilled that people called out to him. He took a picture with Azuolas Tubelis. That was just awesome.’’

One day, as Terry and Frank accompanied Joe through the McKale Center doors, a security man turned on his walkie-talkie and said “Ooh Aah is in the building.’’’

His spirit will never leave.

A memorial service for Cavaleri is being scheduled for later this summer.