Can you imagine what it was like for Tucson High senior quarterback Pat Flood when he flew to South Bend, Ind., in the spring of 1952 and had dinner at the home of legendary Notre Dame football coach Frank Leahy?
Quarterback Pat Flood and the Tucson High football team won the state title and finished 10-0 in 1952.
Leahy, winner of four national championships, offered Flood a scholarship. Flood, who graduated No. 1 in the THS Class of ’52, and was today’s equivalent of a five-star recruit, accepted. And why not? Flood had quarterbacked Tucson High to back-to-back state championships, winning the final 17 games in succession.
I bring this to your attention because Flood, 89, died late last week in Phoenix, where he had been an attorney for almost 50 years, and perhaps the top Pac-12 football referee of the era. Flood officiated the 1996 national championship game and even worked Arizona’s famous “Leap by the Lake” game at Washington in 1998.
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Referee Pat Flood makes a call during the Arizona-Oregon football game on Oct. 31, 1998.
You can make a strong case that Flood is the best high school QB in Tucson history, a nudge ahead of ex-Badgers Ted Bland, Fred W. Enke, Amphi’s Jim Krohn and Sahuaro’s Rodney Peete. Flood left Notre Dame after one season, accepting an appointment to the Naval Academy. He was part of Navy’s 9-1-1 Cotton Bowl season of 1957, sharing the top QB job.
I attended the 50th anniversary of Tucson High’s 1952 state championship at the DoubleTree Hotel in the fall of 2002. I was surrounded by football celebrities. Running back Joel Favara had gone to Oklahoma; lineman Guy Barrickman had played at Missouri. Six Badgers played D-I football.
Flood, a graduate of the UA Law School, arranged and paid for the 50th anniversary meeting; he talked about playing for 1947 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lujack, his position coach at Notre Dame, and competing with 1956 Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung on the Fighting Irish roster. But mostly he talked about his Badger teammates.
“We beat Amphi 25-7 for the state championship in front of a sellout (then 15,000) at Arizona Stadium,” Flood said. “When I was at Navy we beat Top 10 teams like Notre Dame and Army, but nothing matched that night against Amphi at Arizona Stadium.”
Members of the 1952 Tucson High School football team reunited in 2002. In front from left to right are Bob Pettijohn (defensive end), Bob Barnhill (right tackle), Raymond Lee (left guard), John Waddle (right tackle) and Ford Hicks (left tackle). In the backfield are running back Joel Favara (back left) and Pat Flood (quarterback).
A celebration of life will be held May 21 at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Phoenix at 1:30 p.m.
Contact sports columnist Greg Hansen at GHansenAZStar@gmail.com. On X(Twitter):
@ghansen711
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