Pima hall opens doors for Roemer, 11 others

It is the voice that called Arizona's first-ever Pac-10 basketball championship. It is the voice of the drama-filled 1986 national championship Wildcat baseball team. And it is the voice that has smoothly boomed from the public address system for more than two decades of Tucson minor-league baseball.

Roemer, best known for his time behind the microphone as a play-by-play broadcaster and stadium announcer, was among 12 of Southern Arizona's most influential sports figures announced Wednesday for induction into this year's class of the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame (PCSHF).

"I was cooking some linguine and turkey meatballs, and then I got the call. And the spatula almost went flying," said Roemer, referring to the May phone call that relayed the message that he would soon be in the PCSHF. "My son was sitting there trying to figure out why I was going nuts. Just hearing the words Hall of Famer, it gave me goose bumps."

Wednesday's news conference at the Holiday Inn-Tucson Airport was emceed by former major-league pitcher and 1995 PCSHF inductee Pat Darcy, a Rincon/University High School graduate.

Asked after the news conference to recall the time in his career that stands out above everything else, Roemer pointed straight to Jerry Kindall's baseball squad, which survived a multitude of scares to take home the 1986 NCAA crown.

"There were so many human interest stories with that team, with Coach Kindall's wife dying of a terminal illness, that it made it really unique," said Roemer. "That team went two-and-out the year before, and then, in the first game of the 1986 World Series, they were down 5-0 to Maine in the seventh inning, and came back to win. And it seemed like every game in that entire Series was a nail-biter until the championship. By that game, they were playing with so much confidence, they just blew out Florida State to win it all."

Longtime Sunnyside baseball coach Ernie Palomarez, another of the newest Hall of Fame members, could not pinpoint the pinnacle of a 29-year term coaching Southern Arizona's youth.

Instead, he said it was watching the kids he groomed make something of themselves, upon leaving Palomarez's guidance, that resonates.

"The thrill for me isn't from any one game, any one moment," said Palomarez, whose Blue Devils have reached the state semifinals 15 times, but have yet to pull off a title. "When I think back, I remember how the kids came to me, and then how they were when they moved on from Sunnyside. That's what's special."

This year's class will join 244 PCSHF members after the induction banquet on Oct. 12.

The inductees

• Clarence "Stub" Ashcraft: An Arizona football player in the late 1930s, Ashcraft later became the UA's first athletic events and facilities coordinator, opening McKale Center in 1973. He attended nearly 400 consecutive Arizona football games before passing away earlier this year.

• Robert Beal: A football official for 35 years, ranging from Pop Warner and high school and eventually into the Pac-10, Beal helped develop a rating system to improve officials' accountability. He also coached baseball and basketball at Palo Verde and Pueblo high schools in the 1950s and '60s and was a member of the AIA executive board.

• Jan Boyd: Organized the first girls cross country team at Sahuaro High School in 1972, and, a year later, organized the school's first girls track and field squad. Boyd also was instrumental in creating the state's first girls track state championships, and continues to coach at Sahuaro.

• Juanita Kingston: Rincon/University High School volleyball coach since 1988, Kingston's 1993 girls squad was 26-0 en route to the state championship and a No. 23 national ranking. In 1972, while a player at Catalina High School, Kingston's team also went unbeaten and won a state title.

• Edward Nuñez: Nuñez jump-started the Pueblo High School boys tennis team as a freshman in 1956, convincing one of his business teachers to coach the squad, thus giving birth to the program. Nuñez returned to his alma mater in 1965, coaching tennis for 14 successful years at Pueblo — a school not previously known for its tennis talent.

• Jason "Red" Greer: A football coach at Tucson High School for 18 years, starting in 1937, Greer eventually created a national powerhouse that included two state championships (1951-52). He also was the Badgers' first athletic director.

• Mike Hayes: President and director of the Ricki Rarick Junior Golf Program, Hayes is extensively involved in the Southern Arizona golf scene. A former Salpointe Catholic High School and Pima College golfer, Hayes went on to caddie on the PGA Tour, and also was a golf pro at Fred Enke, Forty Niner and El Conquistador golf courses.

• Bob Jones: A highly successful baseball and basketball coach at Palo Verde and Pueblo in the 1950s and '60s, Jones handed off his emerging Palo Verde program to another Hall of Famer, Jim Wing. Jones also was Palo Verde's first athletic director and later became the interscholastics director for Tucson Unified School District.

• Bill Roemer: Play-by-play broadcaster of the Arizona Wildcats basketball and baseball teams in the 1980s, a sports and news reporter/director for various local media outlets, and the public address announcer for the Tucson Toros, Sidewinders and multiple spring training squads, Roemer is one of the most respected broadcasters in Southern Arizona history.

• Ernie Palomarez: Baseball coach for 29 years in Southern Arizona, including an extensive, ongoing reign at Sunnyside High School, where he has taken the Blue Devils to 15 state semifinals. Palomarez also played at Sunnyside (1973 grad), was a member of Pima College's first baseball team, and later played for the now-defunct Northern Arizona University program.

• Armando S. Quiroz: He won three state championships in six years (1999-2004) as softball coach at Flowing Wells High School, including a No. 1-national ranking in 2001. Every year, his Flowing Wells teams were ranked in the country's Top 5. Quiroz is now head softball coach at Pima College.

• Kristie Geiger Stevens: In 16 years as Catalina Foothills High School's tennis coach, Stevens owns an incredible 210-15 record. Her teams won an eight consecutive state titles from 1999 to 2007. Stevens was named the National High School Tennis Coach of the Year in 2005.