To get ready for the upcoming Arizona football season, All Sports Tucson offers a countdown, which will include history notes and a look ahead to the season — a good way to keep Arizona football on the mind in the summer months leading up to fall camp in early August and then kickoff against New Mexico on Aug. 31 in the start of the Brent Brennan era.
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS PREVIOUS DAYS IN THE COUNTDOWN
A LOOK BACK — NO. 61 ED BROWN
With it being the 61st day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 61 for Arizona is two-way star Ed Brown, who played on the offensive and defensive line with the program from 1954-57. The “Cactus Comet” Art Luppino gained fame accumulating rushing yards that led the NCAA in 1954 and 1955 behind the blocking of Brown and the other linemen. Brown became a fixture in local high school athletics after his Arizona career. The ex-Marine was the first black head coach at a Tucson school when he was hired to be football coach when Cholla opened in 1969. An Arizona Hall of Famer, also for his track and field exploits in distance-throwing events, Brown coached at Cholla until his retirement in 1987. He was named All-Border Conference in football and track and field. In 1956, he was the track captain. In football, he averaged 58 minutes per game despite playing in both trenches all game. He was a member of Blue Key National Senior Honorary Society. He passed away from leukemia in 2012 at the age of 80.
NO. 61 IN 2024
No players are listed as having uniform No. 61.
NOTE
Running Twitter (X) polls to see who Arizona fans want to see the Wildcats play the most among its new Big 12 opponents. I will pit the top vote-getters against each other in a new poll Tuesday:
What Big 12 Texas team in football are you looking forward to Arizona playing the most?
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) July 1, 2024
Out of these four new Big 12 opponents, which do you look forward to Arizona playing the most in football?
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) July 1, 2024
Out of these four new Big 12 opponents, which do you look forward to Arizona playing the most in football?
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) July 1, 2024
THEY SAID IT
Countless memories and special moments that will last a lifetime.
The Next Chapter Awaits. pic.twitter.com/BG4j1vhwJ4
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) July 1, 2024
“The most important thing in our program is not anything other than family, players that are willing to be part of something and not be the whole show themselves. If you have a good quality of family in your program, the winning, the academics, everything, will be better taken care of because you have a better feeling about the fact that you belong to something that’s bigger and greater than yourself.” — Dick Tomey in the new emotional-stirring video released by Arizona Football on Twitter (X).
FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!
ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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