In celebration of Arizona's centennial, the Star will feature our picks for the 100 best athletes, moments and teams.
Throughout the summer, we will showcase our list - with the first 90 in no particular order. In August, Greg Hansen will choose his top 10, with a column on each.
Pima High School boys basketball team
Achievement
Led by coach Stan Smith, the Pima High School boys basketball team won 75 straight games from 1969 to 1973.
But that wasn't all Smith's squad did.
Pima captured six 1A state championships in seven years, winning the first in 1969 with an 18-6 record. After losing a game early in the 1969-70 season, the Roughriders didn't lose again until 1973.
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In '73, Pima went 23-4. Patagonia handed the team its first loss since the 1970 season, but Pima got the last laugh, beating Patagonia 66-62 in the 1A state championship game that year.
After losing in the title game in 1974 to McNary, Pima got back to its winning ways in 1975 with another state title and a 25-1 record under Smith.
The Roughriders set an Arizona Class 1A record in 1970, averaging 86.6 points per game.
The team's closest call during the winning streak may have been its 64-60 overtime win over McNary in the 1972 state title game.
Smith, the architect of the Pima dynasty, was born in Safford and grew up in Maricopa County.
He began his teaching career in Tuba City, before moving south to work at Pima.
He left the district after the '75 state championship to work as an administrator in Duncan, Clifton and Round Valley.
He returned to the Pima School District in 1988 and served as the superintendent. He was named superintendent of the year in 2003 for small schools by the Arizona Rural Schools Association.
He retired a couple of years ago; the Pima School District has a gymnasium named after him.
By the numbers
112-11
Pima's total record from the 1968-69 season to the 1972-73 season
Daniel Berk
