– At the annual Red and Blue men's basketball showcase Sept. 26 at McKale Center, Lute Olson's 1997 national championship team will be honored. Every player except Michael Dickerson from the '97 team is expected to attend. Former assistant coach Phil Johnson is also expected to miss the celebration, which begins Friday night at the Arizona Inn and Saturday at Westin La Paloma. A lot of credit goes to '97 Final Four MVP Miles Simon for helping put the band together again.
Miles Simon, right, holds up the NCAA men's basketball trophy as he and teammate Mike Bibby arrive at Arizona Stadium for a rally on April 1, 1997. More than 45,000 people came out to greet the new national champions.
– Pima College men's soccer standout Leo Gutierrez, the state of Arizona's career-leading goal scorer and a first-team NJCAA All-American a year ago, has only played one game for the No. 7 Aztecs this season. Gutierrez was injured Sept. 5 and is expected to miss at least two more weeks. “We are hopeful he will play again this year,” said PCC coach Dave Cosgrove, a two-time NJCAA national champion.
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– Marc Olivier, one of the most accomplished sprinters in the history of UA track and field, sadly died last week in Chandler. He was 57. Olivier, a Pac-10 champion, was part of the UA's famous 4x100 relay team of 1990 that finished second in the NCAA finals, matched with Michael Bates, Percy Knox and James Bullock. Olivier, from Seton Catholic High School in Chandler, was the 1989 Pac-10 champion at 220 meters. He worked the last 22 years for the Chandler Police Department, mostly as a school resource officer.
– Sahuaro High School athletic director and girls basketball coach Steve Botkin was inducted into the Arizona Interscholastics Association Administrative Hall of Fame last week in Phoenix. Botkin has been Sahuaro's girls basketball coach since 2000, winning 635, the most of any girls basketball coach in Tucson history. He has been Sahuaro's AD for 11 years. “I was mentored by some amazing AIA Hall of Famers such as Sheila Baize, Herman House, Sandy Novak, Joni Pabst and Will Kreamer,” says Botkin, who is a 1986 Sahuaro graduate. “To be in the Hall of Fame with them is such an honor.”
– Tucson's Terry Francona said last week he will return for the third year in his contract as manager of the Cincinnati Reds in 2027. The UA's 1980 NCAA Baseball Player of the Year is 67. Through Thursday, Francona had managed 2,104 MLB victories as a manager of the Red Sox, Phillies, Guardians and Reds. That's 11th in baseball history. Since he joined the Reds last year, Francona has passed Hall of Fame managers Leo Durocher and Walter Alston on the wins list.
Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona returns to the dugout after checking on center fielder Dane Myers (not pictured) during an injury delay against the Miami Marlins in the ninth inning at loanDepot Park, April 9, 2026.
– Sam Portillo is a big part of Sunnyside High School's vast wrestling success. He wrestled for the Blue Devils in 1983-85, became a standout at Arizona State and went on to be the head coach at Amphi and Desert View. His biggest achievement may have been coaching Silver City High School to No. 2 in the New Mexico state finals in 1993 and 1995. Now, on Nov. 22 at the Marriott Hotel in Chandler, Portillo will be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Arizona Chapter, for his lifetime service to wrestling. He will be inducted with five-time Sunnyside state champion wrestling coach Richard Sanchez, whom he met in 1977 while a student at St. John's Elementary School and has since considered Sanchez a mentor for a wonderful career.
A century later, John ‘Button’ Salmon’s Bear Down story still lives on | Greg Hansen
