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As Arizona baseball celebrates on Friday night the 50th anniversary of the team that started the national championship tradition at the university, the following is a look at the team’s road to Omaha, Neb., and the players and coaches. In the second part of the series, stories and experiences will be shared.
Road to Omaha
Arizona’s baseball program began in 1904 but did not become an NCAA-sanctioned sport until 1950, right when Frank Sancet made the Wildcats a power.
Between 1950 and 1972, Sancet took the Wildcats to nine College World Series appearances, making the final in 1956, 1959 and 1963. He never won the championship. That all changed in 1972, when Jerry Kindall was hired and began building the 1976 roster that would win their way to Omaha. The Wildcats earned their first College World Series championship. It was also the first team championship in any sport in school history.
Arizona went 56-17 overall and 12-6 in the Western Athletic Conference. All six of the WAC losses were to in-state rival Arizona State.
1976 Road To Omaha
Regular Season Record: 48-16
NCAA Regional, Edinburg, Texas
May 28 Pan American W 5-0
May 29 Missouri W 10-1
May 30 Texas A&M W 8-2
NCAA Championships, Omaha, Nebraska
June 12 Arizona State L 6-7
June 13 Oklahoma W 10-2
June 14 Clemson W 10-6
June 16 Eastern Michigan W 11-6
June 17 Arizona State W 5-1
June 18 Eastern Michigan W 7-1
The Wildcats swept Cal Poly Pomona, San Diego State, Oklahoma, USC, New Mexico, Northern Arizona and UTEP during the regular season before dispatching Wyoming and BYU in the WAC playoffs.
Arizona was placed in the Midwest Regional held in Jody Ramsey Memorial Stadium at Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas.
The Wildcats easily took care of Texas-Pan American 5-0, Missouri 10-1 and Texas A&M 8-2 to advance to its first visit to Omaha since 1970.
After seeing Arizona State, who was Arizona’s kryptonite all season, as their first opponent in the CWS, the Wildcats knew they had to change their fortunes against the Sun Devils.
“After seeing the field, I think we’re clearly better than anyone else here, except for Arizona,” Arizona State coach Jim Brock told reporters. “I fully expect we’ll have to beat the Wildcats again to win this thing.
“If Arizona wasn’t here, believe me, I could relax a lot more than I am.”
Ace pitcher Steve Powers got the start against the Sun Devils and pitched eight solid innings. In the ninth, with the Wildcats holding a 5-2 lead, Powers started to fade, so Kindall went to the bullpen and brought in Craig Gioia.
Gioia retired the first batter he faced, then gave up three straight singles to allow Arizona State to tie the game, forcing extra innings. A two-run homer by Brandt Humphry in the 10th inning secured a 7-6 win for the Sun Devils.
The loss didn’t come without controversy.
Kindall protested the pine tar on Ken Landreaux’s bat was more than the allowable 18 inches up the bat after Landreaux singled. The umpires removed the bat from play but allowed the hit to stand.
The other iffy call was when Arizona’s Ken Bolek hit a bunt with Powers on third. Powers was caught in a rundown between third and home. He headed back to third and was called out on the throw from catcher to third base. Ron Hassey, a Tucson High great, was also caught between second and third and called out.
Losing to Arizona State for the seventh time and having to pursue a championship through the losers’ bracket did not sit well with Kindall.
The reserved Kindall was as mad as the team remembered seeing him. Kindall, who no one on the team could remember ever uttering a curse word was so mad and frustrated that the team was just waiting for him to let his first one fly, but it didn’t happen.
Instead, he threw his hat across the room, taking out a few paper cups along the way.
The majority of fans in attendance, a CWS record crowd of 15,107, were just as frustrated. At the conclusion of the game, loud boos aimed at the umpires reigned down in Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium.
Many of those fans stayed around after the game and gave Arizona a standing ovation as the Wildcats made their way out of the locker room, crossed the field and exited to the waiting team bus.
“We will come back … we know we will,” Kindall was quoted as saying by the Tucson Citizen, which mentioned the Arizona coach looked “stunned.”
The day after the loss to Arizona State, Don Zimmerman was riding the hotel elevator with Dwayne Pecheck of Oklahoma. Pecheck was a former teammate of Zimmermane with the Anchorage Glacier Pilots, one of the best college summer league teams. Some of Pecheck’s Oklahoma teammaters were in the elevator.
Zimmerman looked at Pecheck and said, “One of us is going home today and it’s not going to be us.”
That was the mindset the Wildcats had after Kindall told the team, in fiery fashion after its loss to Arizona State, that they weren’t going to lose another game.
The team took Kindall’s fire into its next three games, crushing Oklahoma 10-2, Clemson 10-6 and Eastern Michigan 11-6.
In the semifinal game, the Wildcats matched up again against their nemesis, Arizona State. Both worked their way through the losers’ bracket.
Arizona’s first win over the Sun Devils in eight tries came at the perfect time. The Wildcats sent the Sun Devils packing after a dominant 5-1 victory. Kindall’s club advanced to the College World Series championship game against Eastern Michigan and future big-league pitcher Bob Welch.
Four hits by Powers and a two-run home run by Bolek led the Wildcats’ offense in the monumental win over Arizona State.
The Sun Devils’ only run was in the ninth on two errors by Arizona and a wild pitch.
Powers only allowed a double and two singles, keeping Arizona State scoreless until the ninth inning.
Behind a two-run homer by Powers, the designated hitter against Eastern Michigan, and a two-run double from Dave Stegman, Arizona defeated the Hurons 7-1.
Arizona’s first CWS title was earned and the trophy was on its way to Tucson.
Pitcher Dave Chaulk allowed just six hits and was one solo home run away from pitching a shutout. That home run came in the ninth inning from Eastern Michigan’s Glenn Gulliver.
“It seemed nothing was easy for us all year,” Kindall told reporters, referring to his team’s 17 losses, seven of them to Arizona State. “This club has overcome a lot. They were criticized and sometimes ridiculed, but they never stopped. They just dug in harder.”
Powers was named the Most Valuable Player in the series.
Pete Van Horne set a CWS record for hits with 13, including three in the title game.
Stegman tied the series record for doubles with four.
How excited was the city of Tucson about Arizona finally breaking through to win the CWS title? Upon returning to Tucson, approximately 6,000 fans met the team at the airport.
The 1976 team also broke some records on their road to Omaha.
Stegman, an All-American outfielder, hit .425 with 111 hits and 91 runs, a school record that still stands today.
Hassey set a school record with 84 RBIs.
Arizona scored 588 runs, which was No. 4 in school history.
The fans got in on the action as Arizona led the nation in home attendance with 85,790 in 36 regular season games.
Meet the 1976 team
- Outfielder, Don Zimmerman – Long Beach, Calif.
- Infielder/outfielder, Lynn Garrett – Berkeley, Calif.
- Pitcher, Charles McMichael – Glendale, Calif.
- Pitcher, Robert Chaulk – Diamond Bar, Calif.
- Catcher, Jaime Tadeo – Douglas (Douglas High School)
- Catcher, Ken Harcus – Tucson (Palo Verde High School)
- Infielder, Glenn Wendt – Lone Grove, Okla.
- Pitcher, Bruce Ferguson – Tucson (Sahuaro High School)
- Infielder, James Schwanke – Tucson (Sahuaro High School)
- Infielder, Bill Simpson – Long Beach, Calif.
- Catcher/Infielder, Ron Hassey – Tucson (Tucson High School)
- Pitcher/Designated Hitter, Steve Powers – Carmel, Calif.
- Outfielder, Dave Stegmam – Lompoc, Calif.
- Catcher, Bob Woodside – Hueneme, Calif.
- Pitcher, Perry Armstrong – Tucson (Canyon del Oro High School)
- Pitcher, David Germann – Palos Verdes, Calif.
- Pitcher, Richard Stagg – Tucson (Sahuaro High School)
- Catcher, Don Houston – Los Angeles, Calif.
- Pitcher, Craig Gioia – Long Beach, Calif.
- Infielder/Outfielder, Pete Van Horne – Fullerton, Calif.
- Catcher/First Base, Al Lopez – Tucson (Tucson High School)
- Infielder/Outfielder, Les Pearsey – Los Angeles, Calif.
- Pitcher, Charles Zopfi – El Segundo, Calif.
- Outfielder, Ken Bolek – Chardon, Ohio
- Team manager David Flatt
- Head coach Jerry Kindall
- Assistant coaches Jim Wing, Mark Johnson and Orrin Freeman
Evolution of Arizona’s baseball facilities
In 1967, the university, acknowledging that the baseball program needed a baseball-specific venue, built Wildcat Field, an on-campus facility. The stadium hosted NCAA regionals and was the home field for the 1976, 1980 and 1986 national championship teams. It was renamed Frank Sancet Stadium in 1986 and rededicated as Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium in 2004.
Hi Corbett Field became the home of Arizona baseball in 2012. In 2017, the university signed a 25-year lease to make it the permanent home for Wildcats baseball.
Hi Corbett was the former spring training home of the Cleveland Indians and Colorado Rockies and was home to the Triple-A Tucson Toros. It holds a maximum of 9,500.
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