When Marana High School senior football standout Sean Roebuck was seriously injured in a car accident last week, I couldn't help but think about the tragedies involving two high-profile Tucson-area football players that brought so much heartbreak.
Marana's Sean Roebuck (5) breaks through the arm tackle of Canyon del Oro's Diego Torres (20) on a run up the middle in the first quarter, Sept. 19, 2025, in Tucson.
In 2012, Empire High School starting QB and wrestling star Grayson Weeks was killed in a crash on Interstate 10. Weeks was the nephew of Empire head coach Jorge Mendivil.
In 1977, Sahuaro High quarterback standout Rick Botkin, one of the state's leading QBs, was killed in a rollover crash southeast of Tucson a few hours after a Sahuaro game. His brother, Steve Botkin, is the Hall of Fame girls basketball coach and athletic director at Sahuaro
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Roebuck, who has caught 127 passes for 1,689 yards in his first two seasons at Marana, fractured his spine, broke his collarbone and two ribs and injured his jaw, an eye and lacerated his liver last week. He might've been the top returning offensive player in Tucson prep football this year.
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