In the days following Lute Olson’s death, the Star reached out to those who were around the coach the most and asked for their best Olson story.
Here are memories from former UA employees, ex-Star staffers and others who worked with the coach in radio and television:
Tom Duddleston
Lute had a streak of impishness at times. He was a nationally-renowned coach at the onset of what might be called “Shoe Wars” — when shoe manufacturers began using college coaches and athletes and in the forefront of their marketing efforts. Nike, for example, could provide coaches with some legitimate outside income in exchange for, put simply, having their players wear its shoes. The players, of course, enjoyed the stylish gear. (These arrangements grew exponentially over time to where such companies are primary athletic equipment/wear partners with individual schools across all their teams. For big money.)
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An early Nike guy who worked with Arizona was Sonny Vaccaro, who basically invented the arrangements. Lute had an affable relationship with him and one day in the late 1980s Sonny was at an Arizona weekend practice and Lute introduced us.
I had a beat-down pair of old Wilson leather basketball sneakers and wore them to practice for some reason. Lute spied them, and shook his head.
“What?” Vaccaro asked.
“Look at Tom’s shoes. Those are horrible. Shouldn’t even be on this floor,” Lute said. “Hey, Sonny, you probably can help.”
I wasn’t exactly on the list, but Vaccaro knew he couldn’t back down. I ended up with the same kicks as the lads, high-top Air Flights I think they were.
— Duddleston worked closely with Arizona basketball as a member of the communications staff from 1983-2012.
Patrick Finley
My dad yanked my brother and I out of eighth grade in March 1994 and drove us two hours north, through choked traffic, to the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
We’d bought the NCAA Western Regional tickets months earlier with hopes of seeing UCLA in the Sweet 16. Instead, we were left with teams for which we had little rooting interest — Missouri, Syracuse, Louisville and Arizona. Each had a Hall of Fame coach: Norm Stewart, Jim Boeheim, Denny Crum and Lute Olson, the man we’d watch lead the Wildcats to their second Final Four two days later.
By sheer happenstance, five years later, I decided to attend Missouri. My brother? Arizona.
Years after I first covered Olson for the Star, I went back to my alma mater. My dorm room had been converted into a hallway. I didn’t recognize the student union. The rec center was too nice.
My wife and I went to our favorite burger joint with the common complaint of the aging: that nothing seemed the same. And as I took my first bite, Stewart walked through the door. I almost cried.
That’s when it hit me: for Arizona alums, Olson, whether a coach or ambassador, was the thing about college that never changed.
A college senior who watched Olson’s first UA team in 1983 is 59 today. A UA freshman who got his autograph at a game last year is 19 today. Both saw, but for some wrinkles, the same image. We may have gotten older, but Lute never did.
And, it seemed, he never would.
— Finley covered UA sports at the Arizona Daily Star — including Olson’s last two NCAA Tournaments and retirement — from 2005-13.
Anthony Gimino
My first interaction with Lute Olson left a bit of an emotional scar.
I was a student in the University of Arizona’s sports information department and — as a group of us often did — we were goofing off, this time batting a tape ball around the office. Well, the ball ended up skittering far under a table in a back room. I ducked down to retrieve it, proudly updating everyone on my success as I crawled back out on all fours. When I stood up, everybody else was scattered and gone … but there was Lute looming in the doorway — elegant as always, crisp white shirt, perfectly pressed khakis.
He needed something from somebody — and I was so not that person who could help.
He pursed his lips, shook his head, muttered something under his breath — not a swear word, I’m sure — and spun away, leaving me feeling an inch tall amid his 10-foot presence.
This was the late 1980s, Lute’s mythic stature well-established. He was not a man you wanted to disappoint. And that’s kind of the point of the story. Whether it was players, assistants or support staff, nobody ever wanted to be the person to let Lute down.
Being a sports reporter tends to bring sports heroes down to human size — and over the years, we had some professional disagreements — but he was gracious and warm in retirement helping promote a book I co-authored on UA hoops. For me, it still feels appropriate to imagine Lute Olson as that larger-than-life figure in the doorway.
— Gimino covered Arizona athletics professionally from 1990-2020, including for the Arizona Daily Star.
Jay Gonzales
Always the dapper dresser, Lute would often comment on my attire, particularly when we first met. As a young sportswriter, I took my cue on dress from the great Bob Moran, a legend at the Arizona Daily Star. Bob usually wore a coat and tie to sporting events he covered, and I did the same when I started covering Arizona basketball. I think Lute appreciated the professional image it projected on the team. Anytime he saw me with a sportcoat he didn’t recognize, he would always ask the brand. Since I was on a sportswriter’s salary, the answer usually was “off the rack at Dillard’s.” He’d just nod in approval.
My other takeaway from working with Lute was that he gave me an appreciation for steamed clams that I still have to this day. I had clams for the first time when Lute hosted a dinner for the team and the traveling media on the last road trip of the 1987 season, the first year I covered the team. I was told it was a tradition with him. The dinner was at The Warehouse, a famous restaurant in Marina del Rey. He ordered steamed clams for the table and I couldn’t get enough. I’ve been back a few times since then and picked The Warehouse for my 60th birthday dinner last summer with my family. Of course, I had the clams.
— Gonzales covered Arizona basketball for the Arizona Daily Star in the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons, and games and tournaments over the following two years.
Brett Hansen
It was the 1998-99 season and I was setting up press row during a gameday shootaround in McKale Center. Coach Olson stops practice, looks my direction from across the court and with his booming voice says “BRETT??”
My first thought was, “Oh no; what did I do wrong?” He then said, “I think I met your future in-laws at the Arizona Inn last night.” He had a smile, shrugged his shoulders and then went back to the shootaround. I was mortified. What could they have possibly said? Why would they bug Coach Olson?
But, just like his Hall of Fame ability with players, recruiting and coaching, this was another perfect example of him seeing things others couldn’t. It was uncanny. Two years later, that couple did indeed become my in-laws when I married their daughter.
Coach Olson not only made lives better for his players and coaches, but his support staff as well. He welcomed me to his Arizona basketball family, provided an opportunity to do things I would have never imagined and created lifelong friendships and memories. The amazing impact he had on so many — on and off the court — is legendary.
— Hansen was the men’s basketball team’s sports information director from 1995-2000.
Ryan Hansen
A single memory came to my mind on the night “Coach O” passed away. It was not one from a road trip, locker-room pep talk, or victory celebration. It was a precious conversation from January 2001, in the days after his wife Bobbi had passed away. My wife and I were seated on the couch at his home listening to “Coach O” talk about how he and Bobbi met close to 50 years earlier. His emotions were tender and raw as he shared sentimental stories of their courtship. His eyes lit up as he told of a series of interactions he had with Bobbi when they were both students at Augsburg College. While singing in a student male quartet called the “A-Men,” “Coach O” flirted with Bobbi as she sat in the crowd. This was the beginning of a fairytale romance that included 47 years of marriage.
“Coach O” is widely known as a true gentleman, teacher of young men, the man who put Tucson on the map, national champion, and a Hall of Famer. All of these monikers are true. But to me, he was — first and always — a family man. He loved his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren more than anything in life. His love of family extended to his players, coaches, managers, trainers, and all of the members of the Arizona basketball family.
“Coach O’s” accolades and accomplishments will remain in the record books. His legacy will live on in his family — the Olson and Arizona basketball family.
— Hansen was on Olson’s staff from 1993-2005 and has been a member of Arizona’s radio broadcast team since 1997.
Javier Morales
Covering Arizona’s basketball team for The Arizona Daily Star when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 national championship was obviously one of the highlights of my life, especially growing up in Tucson. The personal memory of Lute Olson that sticks out to me the most, however, was being in Australia with the Wildcats a couple of months after they won it all to report on their tour.
I sat behind the bench in a couple of games during the tour and I can vouch that Olson never used vulgar words. Not once. I joined the team for a dinner at a restaurant in Melbourne in which I sat near Lute and his wife Bobbi. That was as relaxed as I’ve seen Lute.
At first, I was concerned that being a reporter I would be treated as an outsider, or they would be apprehensive, but the Olsons were welcoming. I told them that in that type of setting casual conversation was off the record because I was invited by a basketball staffer. I wanted to keep things light. Lute smiled and nodded his head and Bobbi said, “Oh, you’re fine.” Growing up in a southside barrio of Tucson, sitting at a Melbourne restaurant with the Olsons seems like a far-fetched dream to think of even now. It feels like it was a different life.
— Morales covered Olson’s Wildcats from 1995-98 for the Arizona Daily Star.
Richard Paige
Early in our 2002 tour of Australia, word comes that Lute wants to take some of the coaches and support staff wine tasting. Lute was in his element in the Barossa Valley, telling stories, giving advice, coaching some of us though the experience. It was fun to hang out with a guy who knew more than I did and was willing to share it.
We hit two wineries in the late morning and stopped for lunch. Lute’s holding court at the head of the table, conversation bouncing all over. I’m thinking of ordering the kangaroo, but am hesitant. As soon as Lute notices, he’s prodding me to do it. Pushing me to expand my horizons, to try something new. It was fabulous. Of course, he suggested the right wine pairing, too.
On the last stop of the day in front of a beautiful display of whites and reds just waiting to be sampled, Lute uncorks a soliloquy about grapes and wine, and on and on and on.
I’m thirsty and tired of listening, so I move to the opposite end of the table when Lute sees me point at one of the reds and whisper something to a server.
“Rich, what are you doing?” he bellows in that deep baritone. “There’s a progression to this. You start at the whites and move on to the reds.”
“I know, Coach,” I say, “I just want a drink and you are taking forever!”
The room erupts in laughter. Lute stops. I get my glass and head to a sunlit courtyard. Others trickle out and we’re talking when it gets quiet. Lute’s in the doorway and headed my way.
I’m the new guy on this trip and not sure how Lute is going to react. He steps right over, looks at my glass, and asks, “Do you like it?”
“Yeah,” I say, mustering as much confidence as possible. “It’s the best on the table.”
“I agree,” he says through a smile. “You’ve got good taste.” He pivots and heads back inside.
I breathe easy. That’s how Lute welcomed me to the Arizona family. In moments like this, Lute got as much as he gave. Who am I kidding? He’s Lute Olson. He gave far more than he ever got. It was nice to see a guy who could laugh at himself. I’m also certain he knew I appreciated the validation.
— Paige was Arizona’s men’s basketball media relations contact from 2000-2013.
Ryan Recker
As a kid growing up in Big East country, the first image that came to mind when I thought about college basketball out West was Lute Olson. He had a movie star presence that made him instantly recognizable as soon as he appeared on my television. To me, he was Arizona basketball.
I first met Lute on Selection Sunday in March of 2007, about a month after moving to Tucson to start a job at KVOA.
Little did I — or we — know that days later he would coach his final game for Arizona at the NCAA Tournament in New Orleans. In his retirement years, he was always incredibly kind and accommodating in lending his voice and his perspective to various stories that I was working on.
I’ve spent the past few days reflecting on how respected and revered he was. By his players, by fans and by opponents.
Lute’s far-reaching and lasting influence inspired the young men he coached years beyond their playing days and galvanized the people of Tucson, giving them a sports identity and a perennial winner. And just like it was for me as a young kid growing up in Pennsylvania in the 1980’s, the same still holds true today:
When you think of Arizona basketball, you think of Lute Olson. Then, now and forever.
— Recker covered Arizona basketball as sports director for KVOA from 2007-2013.
Jack Rickard
After Lute’s second season, that summer he took the Wildcats on a three-week, three-country trip to Europe on which they played a lot of club teams. One of his assistant coaches said the main reason for the trip was to find out if Joe Turner was capable of being a capable starting center.
I talked the Citizen into paying most of the way for the trip. First stop was The Netherlands, with a game almost every night. I was wandering around the hotel late morning, the wives, including mine, having gone into Amsterdam to go shopping.
Lute came by and asked if I would be interested in taking a boat trip across the bay to a place where they make wooden shoes. That sounded interesting.
The boat we rented a ride from was really moving. My hair was all over the place. But not Lute’s. It was in place like it always is.
I could not resist. I asked him what he put on his hair. He quickly answered “nothing … it is really heavy.”
Then he said, “here, feel it” and took my hand up towards his hair.
I then started to feel Lute’s hair. Yes, he was right. It was heavy. It felt like I was touching some small ropes. I am no expert on men’s hair but this was so different. And when I finished he simply patted it down in the proper place.
Now Joe Turner proved to be a good backup center in his career. He did not distinguish himself on the trip and within a year Arizona landed Tom Tolbert from the junior college ranks. In Tolbert’s second and final season he helped lead the Wildcats to a 35-3 and the Final Four. It is still the best team in Arizona basketball history.
— Rickard covered Arizona basketball for the Tucson Citizen from 1979-88.
Steve Rivera
I covered Lute Olson for 17 consecutive seasons and saw him go 399-98 in that time, including winning a national title in 1997. Unbelievable times. But the biggest memory I have was when he suffered his biggest loss of all time — his wife, Bobbi. In journalism, much of it is about timing — and I happened to play a hunch that Lute would return two weeks after her passing. He did, on Jan. 15, 2001
Arizona had just finished practice — UA had gone 3-3 without him under Jim Rosborough — so I went to check. I looked through the locker room’s small window and there he was, just starting to get dressed to head home. I knocked on the door and, to my great surprise, he opened it and agreed to talk about his return.
No media knew but me. It was fantastic, given I worked for the Tucson Citizen at the time and would have an exclusive. I spent about 30 minutes with him, talking about the love of his life and his return. He cried, and for a man who rarely showed emotion that was huge. Of course he cried.
“I didn’t decide to come back until this morning,” Lute said that Monday morning. “I talked to my kids on Sunday and a couple more on Monday. They’re going back to work. We just felt the biggest problem for me was having too much time on my own to be by myself.”
And, well, he added, Vicki (his oldest daughter) told him, “Mom would have wanted you to get back, so you need to get back.”
So, he did. Arizona went 21-4 the rest of the way, losing to Duke in the national championship game. Still, it was a defeat that didn’t compare to his loss of a lifetime in Bobbi, his wife of 47 years.
— Rivera covered Olson’s Wildcats for the Tucson Citizen for 17 seasons.
Bill Roemer
We were on one of our basketball trips with Channel 11 sports, and we were on the longest bus ride ever. It’s the Washington trip, where you’re going from Seattle to Pullman. People say, “How far can it be? They’re both in Washington.” But they’re on opposite ends of the spectrum there geographically, from northwest Washington to southeast Washington. We were getting on the bus from Seattle to Pullman, and Lute was sitting by himself up front. He said, “have a seat.” I was invited to sit along with Lute. I thought, “This is going to be special, a nice long trip across the state to Washington.”
We talked about all sorts of things, not all of them about basketball. “How’s your family?,” things like that. At some point, we were talking about golf. I had just got the fifth eagle of my life. Lute said really calmly without braggadocio: “One time back in Iowa, I was able to get an albatross” — a 2 on a par-5. I got whiplash. I said, “How did you do it?” Real calmly, Lute said: “It was a 510-yard par 5. I hit driver 300 yards and a 3-wood from 210 into the hole.” Period. End of story. He had that Lute look on his face — a smile, but he wasn’t being arrogant.
A lot of people didn’t know … he was athlete of the year in Grand Forks. He was a great football player and basketball player. I didn’t know until that day in Washington that he was a golfer. And when he had a chance to play golf, he was darn good at it.
— Roemer called games on Channel 11 from 1978-86.
Dave Silver
One of my most memorable experiences covering the Arizona basketball team and Lute Olson for KGUN TV came four months after the team won the NCAA championship. In late October, 1997, we accompanied the basketball team to Washington, D.C. for a visit to the White House.
We began by meeting in the briefing room with reporters from around the world who were there every day. I remember calling my parents and telling them where I was actually standing! It was amazing. About a half-hour later, they brought us into the East Room, where we set up in the back, while the special guests had the good seats up front. The UA men’s basketball team and the Tennessee women’s team were to be honored by President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.
Earlier, the teams had a behind-the-scenes tour of the White House. The media did not. President Clinton had laryngitis that day, so Vice President Gore was the emcee and he was happy to have the Lady Vols on hand. They introduced the coaches and players and Miles Simon presented a UA basketball and jersey to Clinton and Gore. We later gathered for a luncheon at the Capitol Building and we finished our very long and exciting day doing live reports from Washington D.C. on our nightly newscasts.
— Silver, the former KGUN sports director, covered Lute Olson from his first season in 1983 to the end of his time at Arizona in 2008.
David Sanders
When the Star decided to try to get a behind-the-scenes look at UA basketball by starting a weekly special section, Lute was nice enough to allow me decent access to his teams. I went in the locker rooms and to his home.
Lute allowed me to show the public that he enjoyed popcorn and red vines before every home game. He let me photograph his coaches preparing, which included a super-open Jim Rosborough, who allowed me into his hotel room as he studied film before games. Lute allowed me to photograph players traveling, even letting me sit next to Isaiah Fox onetime, or photograph a bent-over Luke Walton as he tried to make his way onto a commuter jet built for people under 6 feet tall.
But my best moment came after the team had won the 1997 national championship in Indianapolis. My hotel room was directly below Miles Simon and Mike Bibby. Lute was scheduled to appear on “Good Morning America” at some awful hour like 6 a.m. Lute had probably only an hour of sleep that night, if any, and he was bleary-eyed but excited as he came down to the room in the hotel where they were filming. I was there with him. We were waiting and he looked at me and I looked at him, for I had gotten very little sleep, too. Lute just grinned at me and laughed; it was the one time I saw him truly relaxed. We just laughed and communicated without speaking. Following that moment, I rarely had trouble getting access — with the help of Rich Paige from UA — but it became a really special time to be assigned to the Wildcats.
— A former Arizona Daily Star photographer, Sanders shot Olson’s Wildcats from 1984 until Olson’s retirement in 2008.
Todd Walsh
I never made a shot, grabbed a rebound or pounced on a loose ball while wearing a Wildcat uniform. Did I break a sweat while on the floor of McKale? When you have to hold a rebounding dummy for Pete Williams, trust me, you sweat.
I won’t bore you with my pre-Olson drama of having to sell my own plasma and working the late shift washing dishes at Noodles and Crust Pizza.
I will say that the day I knocked on the door of the new coach’s office inside McKale changed my life forever.
There’s the story about getting a speeding ticket along Interstate 17 while driving the “advance vehicle” to Flagstaff for the NAU game and begging the trooper to let me go so the team bus that wasn’t far behind wouldn’t see me. The red light blinking on my room phone at the Little America hotel confirmed that HE saw me.
I could write about the time I forgot the basketballs for pre-game warmups before the home opener in the ’85-’86 season. I thought nobody noticed, outside of Craig McMillan. However, a certain columnist for this very paper decided it would be a great lede for his story.
Imagine the feeling for a kid who grew up idolizing Bill Walton’s UCLA Bruins sitting courtside as coach emptied the bench, with John Wooden in the house, UA fans taking over Pauley Pavilion, securing their first Pac 10 title!
What I will say is that for the next 34 years as a broadcaster I’ve approached every pre/post/game the same way that Lute Olson approached every drill/practice/game. Preparation is the key to execution and hard work is a given.
Bear Down and Godspeed, Coach.
— Walsh was a manager for Olson’s Wildcats from 1983-86.