Pima County Sports Hall of Fame inductee Bob Vielledent, a football and basketball coach and athletics administrator spanning more than 50 years, has passed away at the age of 78 from health reasons.
“I first crossed paths with Bob Vielledent in 1976; I was a freshman in high school,” former Sahuaro High School standout football player Jay Dobyns wrote in a social media post. “V wasn’t much older than the players he was coaching. We had a 50-year relationship as my coach and teacher at Sahuaro, later coaching with me at Tanque Verde, but, most importantly, as my friend.
“I can only hope to have had the impact on my players that V had on me. That is a very high standard. When you hit your knees tonight, take a moment to remember a good man.”
Vielledent started coaching at Sahuaro in 1971, when he was 23 years old. He served at the school for 32 years before retiring from the Tucson Unified School District and becoming the dean of students, and boys and girls basketball coach at St. Augustine’s Catholic High School in 2003.
He later was the director of afterschool sports and physical education at Our Mother of Sorrows School.
When Dobyns because Tanque Verde’s head coach before the 2020 seeason, Vielledent joined him as a volunteer assistant coach, a role he had at the start of his career at Sahuaro under the late Virg Stan.
Stan, known as the foundering father of football at Sahuaro, passed away on Feb. 7 from health reasons at 94. He was the first head football coach at Sahuaro beginning in 1968 and continuing through 1983.
Vielledent also coached under legendary Sahuaro boys basketball coach Dick McConnell. He was on McConnell’s staff when the Cougars won three state championships.
He was also an assistant on the varsity football team with the celebrated Howard Breinig, who he coached with under Stan out the outset of his career.
Vielledent coached the Sahuaro freshman and junior varsity football teams for 21 years, with the JV team having an undefeated streak of 29 games from 1983 to 1987. He also coached the junior varsity basketball team for 21 years with a 223-41 record. He served on the varsity staff under McConnell for 19 years.
He was hired as Santa Rita’s head football coach in 1987 and made the Eagles a winning program.
He coached at Santa Rita from 1987 to 1995 and led the program to a 57-33 record and four playoff appearances. He has the most coaching wins in Santa Rita’s history. In 2002, he was a finalist for the NFL National Teacher of the Year award and was Southern Arizona Basketball Coach of the Year.
This has been a difficult last year for Sahuaro in terms of legends passing away.
In addition to Stan and now Vielledent, Don Bacon, a longtime softball assistant, mentor and volunteer at Sahuaro, and former Cougar wrestling coach Thomas Pierson, passed away in the last few months.
Vielledent and his wife Gail have been married for 54 years. They have four grown children — Michelle, Shannon, Marc and Aimee — and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
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