RUDY GALLEGO HONORED DURING ADAPTIVE ATHLETICS’ AWARDS & PARALYMPIC GALA
The man who started it all, Rudy Gallego, was inducted into the University of Arizona Adaptive Sports Hall of Fame on April 5 during the Adaptive Athletics’ Awards & Paralympic Gala held on the University of Arizona campus.
The Gala celebrated 50 years of Adaptive Athletics at Arizona and it all started with Gallego in 1974. Only 25, Rudy took what was a community basketball group called the “Western Wheels” and turned it into the largest and most successful college-based program in the country that now includes men’s basketball, women’s basketball, golf, hand cycling, para swimming, rugby, tennis and track and road racing,
Rudy passed away last November and his number 55 jersey was retired in March. His wife Sherri and children Rudy Jr. and Angela accepted his honor on his behalf – which is good in a way because there’s no way Rudy would have accepted the honor in person if he was still with us. I must have yelled a thousand times for him to shoot the ball in frustration because he always seemed to pass off to let others take that important shot.
In a very important way, Rudy is still passing up his shot to let others thrive, and everything you see in terms of Adaptive Athletics (and beyond) in Tucson is due to him passing the ball to others. Personally, I have now taught several thousand adaptive and able-bodied students in my 37 years of teaching and coaching and almost two dozen have gone on to play college sports. It’s safe to say, if I remove Rudy from that equation, none of this happens. There would also be no AllSportsTucson.
AINSLEY MALIS AWARDED NCAA ENHANCEMENT GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP
Former Tanque Verde volleyball standout Ainsley Malis was one of 13 NCAA graduate athletes awarded the NCAA Ethnic Minority and Women’s Enhancement Graduate Scholarship this year. The West Texas A&M standout setter is earning her Masters of Sports and Exercise Science, Sport Management in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
Ainsley’s mother, Michelle Bartch-Malis, earned the same scholarship when she was an outside hitter for the University of Arizona from 1990-1993.
WALDEN GROVE GETS ARTIFICIAL TURF
Often overlooked as far as artificial turfs in Southern Arizona, Sahuarita is getting their field redone in time for the upcoming football season. In addition, Walden Grove is getting an artificial turf to help secure a more playable surface that was been plagued by issues of leaks and erosion in recent years.
ARTIFICIAL TURFS IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA
2003: Pima Football (gone)
2006: Tucson High (redone)
2006: Cienega
2010: Sahuarita (redone)
2010: Salpointe (redone)
2013: University of Arizona (redone)
2013: Marana (redone)
2013: Mountain View (redone)
2021: Rio Rico
2021: Douglas
2022: Mica Mountain
2022: Sunnyside
2022: Desert View
2024: Walden Grove
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