Two UA Coaches Receive Hall of Fame Inductions

Mary O’Mahoney
Oct. 25, 2012

UA coaches Dave Sitton and Rick LaRose were inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame this week. 

About Dave Sitton

Sitton, who was inducted as both a coach and broadcaster, arrived from Los Angeles in 1973 having been recruited by legendary Arizona coach Jerry Kindall to play baseball. However, his baseball career ended quickly after multiple shoulder injuries. 

In 1974, Sitton walked into the Arizona Wildcat Rugby program in 1974. After playing for four years, head became head coach at the age of 22.

Since then, the Wildcat Rugby program has been acclaimed worldwide as one of the model college rugby programs in the nation. The team routinely makes post-season play in fifteens rugby and is one of the dominant forces in the college Seven-a-Side rugby a variation of the game that will be part of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Also, Sitton has mentored more than 1,200 student-athletes at the UA. Under his direction the team has traveled the world from Edinburgh Scotland to Christchurch New Zealand, maintains a team GPA of close to 3.00, and has twice been recognized as the best organization on the Arizona campus.

Overall, Sitton has compiled a record of 381-200-12 through the 2012 season.

And Sitton’s broadcasting career began in 1980 when he was named the voice of the UA's baseball program. For 10 years, he called the games on the radio network, including the 1986 national championship run by Arizona. In 1990, he was switched to television and has served at the TV commentator of the Wildcats for more than twenty years including play-by-play for the 1997 national championship basketball team, as well as the 1998 football team which defeated Nebraska in the 1998 Holiday Bowl and finished fourth in the nation.

Sitton has won Emmy awards for his football and basketball telecasts at Arizona. He is also known worldwide as the voice of American rugby, having his calls heard on Sky Television, ABC, ESPN, Fox Sports and NBC Sports. He has a long history of supporting many community activities and a multitude of sporting events in southern Arizona. He is a life member of the Tucson Conquistadores. In 2006, he was named “Man of the Year” by the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. He was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2005, and fought the disease at the UA Cancer Center. 

About Rick LaRose

LaRose has had a highly successful coaching career at the UA. He retired in May 2012 having spent 29 years as a the UA's head coach, second only to legendary Fred Enke’s 41 seasons.

Having come to the UA in 1973 as head water polo and assistant swimming coach, he guided the water polo team to four regional championships and three fifth place finishes in the NCAA Championships. His teams were never ranked out of the top six nationally.

After the school dropped the sport LaRose took over the men’s golf team in 1978-1979. Twice he took over the women’s program for six years and is the only coach in NCAA history to win both men’s (1992) and women’s (1996) national championships. His teams were ranked in the top 20 in 26 of his 34 seasons, including a string of eight years that the Cats were ranked in the top three nationally. Thirteen times UA Men were ranked first.

Also, LaRose's teams won 61 men’s and 27 women’s tournaments. He coach eight national players of the year and won ten NCAA regionals and eight Pac 10 titles. Coach LaRose has been inducted into the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame, the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame, and the Arizona Athlete Hall of Fame.

He continues to coach at the UA serving as the volunteer coach for the Arizona men's water polo club team run through Campus Recreation.

Photo credit: Norma Jean Gargasz/UANews; Portrait courtesy of Arizona Athletics

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