Mike Ward was a man with stories. Once, scuba diving in Mexico, he caught a turtle at a depth of 150 feet and spent the rest of his oxygen tank keeping it away from a shark.
He surfaced so fast he got the bends.
His friends didn't know how to treat him, so they called the Navy, which gave the wrong advice.
As an apology, with Ward in serious condition, the Navy sent a Learjet to Guaymas, Sonora, to pick him up.
Locals lined the runway with their trucks for light.
He spent two weeks in a Catalina Island decompression chamber. His friends met him. They had a blast.
"He was a true adventurer," said his wife Pat.
The Rincon/University High School swim coach and diving lover died Jan. 5 at 62.
People are also reading…
When our folks on the sports desk searched Ward's file while preparing an obituary, they found a yellowed article about another amazing story.
Ward and two others had been lost at sea in 1974.
"This," Pat said, "is a good story."
Ken Harcus, then a 20-year-old UA student, and Ed Baron, 35, boarded Ward's 25-foot boat on Dec. 23, 1974, vacationing in San Carlos, Sonora.
Ward, 25, and Baron were Palo Verde High School teachers and coaches alongside Harcus' dad, Glen.
The trio left San Carlos Bay, north of Guaymas, around noon, to scuba dive on San Pedro Island.
They were 4 miles into the Gulf of California when the engine revved but wouldn't move forward - like a car stuck in neutral.
The radio was broken.
Swells raged to 10 feet.
The three were adrift.
"I knew somebody would look for us," said Baron, who was on his first, and last, dive trip. "Eventually."
Glen Harcus rallied a search party on shore.
Land taunted them, so close they could see cars.
"Mike," Harcus said at one point, "I'm going to swim to shore."
As quickly as the UA student spoke, Ward, a dive veteran, shot him down.
"No, you're not," he said matter-of-factly. "You're not leaving the boat."
The first night, they were almost run over by a shrimp boat on automatic pilot.
Airplanes flew by so close they could see pilots' faces, but no one saw them.
"How come they can't see us?" Harcus asked. "Don't they know we're missing?"
Their backup plan, a 15-horsepower outboard motor, needed oil and gasoline. They shook oil from the filter on their boat engine. They siphoned gas, which made them vomit.
It wasn't enough. The outboard motor seized.
Ward suggested they tie a a makeshift sail, to stay close to the land and out of the way of automatic pilot boats that could kill them.
"His ingenuity, I think, made it a little easier." Baron said.
They had a 12-pack of Hamm's beer, plenty of water and cold fried chicken, but were seasick. They slept little, but didn't argue.
The U.S. Coast Guard and private planes searched 4,000 square miles, but never saw them. The sail kept them off the projected course.
Dec. 23 turned into Dec. 24, which turned into Christmas.
They began to worry.
Baron had a 1-year-old son at home.
"If I get through this," Baron said. "I'm going to feel very lucky."
Christmas night, another shrimp boat passed on automatic pilot.
The three shined the strobe light. Harcus, the UA's bullpen catcher, whipped Hamm's cans at the boat to wake the crew.
It worked. They were towed to shore and driven to their loved ones.
"Merry Christmas!" they screamed as they left the car. "We're back!"
Three days adrift scarred them, but not much.
Harcus, now 57 and Catalina High School's athletic director, gave up diving and is cautious on trips now.
Baron, now 73, and a retired teacher in Tucson, never dove again, either.
But until Ward's death - the day of his memorial, his fifth grandchild, Mae, was born - the swim coach kept returning to San Carlos.
He wanted more stories.
More adventures.
"He always said, 'I was never ever lost at sea,'" Pat said. "Everyone else was looking for them, but they knew exactly where they were."
The Finley five: Five things we'll be talking about this week
Circus!
1 There's a lot going on Saturday: ESPN's College Gameday is coming to McKale Center, complete with Bob Knight, Jay Bilas and the bunch. The UA will host a "White Out" against Washington that night, hoping for a repeat of last year's home win against the Huskies.
Rivalry
2 The Arizona Wildcats gymnastics team travels to Arizona State on Friday, their second in-state meet in eight days. Bill Ryden's team began the season by finishing in second place at the Cancun Classic, behind Arkansas.
The scramble
3 Nine days remain until Feb. 1, the first day that football recruits can sign letters of intent. Plan on seeing schools scramble for promises of signatures - especially in the Pac-12, where four new coaches are assembling classes.
Showdown
4 The Arizona Wildcats men's swim and dive team is ranked No. 1 in the CollegeSwimming.com/CSCAA Coaches poll. Who's No. 2? the Texas Longhorns, who travel to Hillenbrand Aquatic Center on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Suns
5 In a seven-day stretch, the Phoenix Suns host three games - Tuesday against the Toronto Raptors, Saturday against the Memphis Grizzlies, and next Monday against the defending champion Dallas Mavericks.
Patrick Finley
Contact Patrick Finley at 573-4145 or pfinley@azstarnet.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/pfinley
Former ASU coach Bobby Hurley's name is in the Big Dance record book
