In 1980, Craig Lefferts was the winning pitcher in Arizona's national championship baseball game, an against-all-odds story whose chapters continue to multiply.
Lefferts
Today, after pitching nine years in the major leagues and coaching for more than 25 years in MLB and the minor leagues, Lefferts, at 68, is the minor league pitching coordinator for the Oakland Athletics. No one could've predicted that.
In 1977, Lefferts' father, Ed, a UA grad, wrote a letter to Wildcat baseball coach Jerry Kindall and asked him if Craig could get a walk-on tryout with the UA. Kindall said yes. But Lefferts, who has had lifelong vision problems in his left eye, a "lazy eye," as well as a serious asthma condition, didn't pass the tryout. He returned a year later, 20 pounds heavier but with less-than-desired velocity on his pitches. Somehow, Lefferts made the team that included Terry Francona and several other major-leaguers. Only 5-feet, 8-inches tall, Lefferts then went on to win 58 MLB games and save 101 more.
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He's not the only Tucson-connected baseball player who has become a lifelong professional coach.
Keoni DeRenne, an All-Pac-10 shortstop under Jerry Stitt 25 years ago, is the hitting coach for the Triple-A Durham Bulls or "Bull Durham" fame.
Craig Bjornson, who helped lead Tucson High to the 1987 state baseball championship and was the bullpen coach of the 2017 world champion Houston Astros, is the pitching coach for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.
Alan Zinter, a consensus All-American catcher at Arizona in 1989, is now the hitting coordinator of the Kansas City Royals' rookie league teams. Zinter has been a big-league coach for the Astros, Padres, Diamondbacks, Giants and Reds.
Gil Heredia, who pitched Arizona to the 1986 national championship and played eight MLB seasons, is the pitching coach for the Los Angeles Angels' rookie league teams.
Pima College's championship ability on full display | Greg Hansen
