Coach Manny Ruiz coached his entire high school career in the mining towns of Superior and San Manuel.  Coach Ruiz' San Manuel Miners were the State Runners-Up to Agua Fria in 1965 by a single basket.  His Superior Panthers were the 1974 State Champions and the 1975 State Runners-Up.  Rex Mirich, was one of his former players and he starred in the National Football League.  Both Ruiz and Mirich were inducted into the San Manuel Athletic Hall of Fame on the same night.  Coach Ruiz finished his career with 333 wins and 240 losses.  He was the Arizona nominee for National Coach of the Year hon

Royce Youree was a charter member of the Arizona Coaches Association Hall of Fame.  Coach Youree was a three year starter in basketball at Arizona State University from 1955-1958.  He was the first Sun Devil to score over 1,000 career points.  Youree sank two free throws with no time left to defeat Arizona by 2 points to earn ASU the Border Conference title in 1958.  Following college, Youree played 3 years of professional baseball.  He started his coaching career in 1964 at Maryvale and soon moved to East High School.  Coach Youree's East teams won State Championships in 1971,73,75, 80, an

Dick McConnell is a charter member of the Arizona Coaches Association Hall of Fame.  Coach McConnell's career lasted 42 years with 40 of those years in Arizona.  His record is an amazing 776-320 with 4 State Championships,  and 16 (yes, sixteen) appearances in the semifinals of the state tournament.  Coach McConnell is also a member of the National High School Coaches Hall of Fame (2008) and the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame (1990).  Tucson Sahuaro High School has honored the career of Coach McConnell naming the school gymnasium after him.

Gerald "Wimpy" Jones was a charter member of the Arizona Coaches Association Hall of Fame.  Wimpy first coached at Duncan High School from 1945-50 where his teams went 79-42.  He moved on to Coolidge where his Bears went 143-71.  His last stop, Phoenix Union, the Coyotes were 244-87.  Coach Jones led the Phoenix Union Coyotes to State Championships in 1960, 1961,1967, and 1968 in boys'basketball.  PUHS was also the State Runners-Up in 1971.  Coach was also an outstanding softball pitcher, throwing 45 no-hitters in his career.  Wimpy passed away in 2013 at 93 years of age in Phoenix.

Jiggs Hardt was an outstanding basketball coach at North High School for over 28 years.  Coach Hardt was a charter member of the Arizona Coaches Association Hall of Fame.  Coach Hardt was also a great football player, playing for both ASU and NAU before his graduation.  Jiggs was a product of a ranching family and he spent over 50 years as a State Produce Inspector in addition to his teaching and coaching duties.  His 1948 Scottsdale team won the state 6-man football title.  Coach's teams won 2 State Titles in basketball:  1953 at Scottsdale and 1959 at Phoenix North.   Coach Hardt's 1964 a

Parley "Verl" Heap was an immensely successful basketball coach in the White Mountains of Arizona for over 30 years.  His St.

Coach Doolen was a charter member of the Arizona Coaches Association Hall of Fame.  During his 32 years of high school career  coaching his basketball teams won 701 games while only losing 134 games.  Coach Doolen's Badgers won 5 state championships during his reign.  The Badgers won 51 games in a row from 1948 through 1950.  Coach Doolen was well known in Nebraska in the 1930's as an outstanding football coach.  Bud also won a state track title while coaching in Tucson.  Coach Doolen died suddenly after the 17th game of the 1954-55 season and was the winningest basketball coach in the coun

Gary Ernst coached Arizona High School Basketball for more than 35 years and won state titles in 3 different decades--and had a runner-up finish in a 4th decade.  You have to go all the way back to 1976 where Chandler's Wolves won Gary his first Title.  The eighties were the sparcest decade for Coach Ernst, but his '81 Wolves were the state runners-up.  The last 15 years of his career, Gary's teams were a dominating force in 5A basketball.  Gary had moved further north to Mesa Mountain View.  The Toros won titles in 1995, 98, 99, 2005, 06, 07, and 11.  They were the state runner-up in 1992.

Ed Nymeyer coached basketball and taught PE at Flowing Wells High School winning state titles in 1963 and 1968.  His 1969 team was the state runner-up.  Coach Nymeyer came back later in his career and led the Flowing Wells girls to a state runner-up in 1985.  Coach Nymeyer caused quite a stir with the officials when he was creative with uniform design.  He once used Roman numerals on the jerseys and the rulebook was changed to say "Arabic" numerals.  The officials had trouble making X's and V's with their fingers to the score table.  Nymeyer also came out with poncho warmups (FW is the Caba

OK is a charter member of the Arizona Coaches Hall of Fame.  The gymnasium at Agua Fria bears his name.  OK has been extremely active in all Hall of Fame activities since its inception in 1984.  Fulton served as the HOF Secretary for the first 30 years of its 37 year existence.  Coach Fulton is currently serving on the Executive Board of the HOF.  Ok and Honk Norton were the master's of ceremony at the HOF inductions for 11 years.  Fulton and Norton were college basketball team mates at Eastern Arizona College in the 1950's.  OK's basketball teams were always good.  His Owls won State Title