The UA's 1951 basketball team, which went 15-1 to win the Border Conference championship and then accepted the UA's first-ever bid to play in the NCAA Tournament, became much more than a remarkable 24-5 club that played No. 1 Kansas State in a thrilling 61-59 first-round game. The starting five from that Arizona lineup went on to prominent careers outside basketball. They were:
Robert Johnson and Dave Schuff of University of Arizona battle Kansas State players in the 1951 NCAA Tournament. KSU won, 61-59.
Dave Schuff
A center from Phoenix Union High School and Phoenix College, Schuff spent two years in the Marines after his Tucson basketball days. He then became the president of the nation's largest steel company — Schuff Steel — which helped to build Sun Devil Stadium, Bank One Ballpark, Denver's Mile High Stadium and the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas. He died in 2023 at age 92.
Art Carroll
A guard from Phoenix College, Carroll played on UA teams that went 50-11. He later became a UA assistant coach, 1955-57, after three years in the Marines. Caroll became an assistant principal at Marana High School, its basketball coach and track coach. He then started working in the produce industry in Yuma, where he became vice-president of the second largest produce company in the United States. He died in 2006 at age 78.
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Roger Johnson
A Tucson High School grad and the UA's first-ever basketball All-American (third team), Johnson was also an All-American (second team) baseball player at Arizona. Johnson was one of 11 inducted into the UA's inaugural Sports Hall of Fame class. But his most compelling work came out of sports. He became an Air Force colonel, a pilot who flew 141 missions in North Vietnam. He died in 2010 in Phoenix at age 79.
Bob Honea
The club's leading scorer, who set a then-school record by shooting 81% (career) from the foul line, scored a team-high 15 points in the NCAA loss to KSU. An all-state player at Marana High School, Honea later served two years in the Army (in the Korean War). When he returned to Southern Arizona, he became the postmaster of Marana for 30 years in addition to operating a horse ranch. He died in 2019 at 90.
Jack Howell
After moving to Tucson from Illinois in 1947, Howell played for an undefeated Tucson High basketball team and then became a key guard on the UA's 1951 NCAA team. He worked for 33 years at Hughes Aircraft and is the father of former Palo Verde High and Arizona baseball standout Jack Howell, who played nine years in the major leagues.
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