Dick Tomey, the winningest football coach in University of Arizona history, has died at 80.
CONNECTTWEETLINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMORETUCSON, Ariz. — Dick Tomey, the winningest football coach in University of Arizona history, has died at 80. He died surrounded by family Friday night in Tucson, his family and the university said.
He was diagnosed with lung cancer in December. "We are all heartbroken to lose him, but are forever grateful to have shared his life," the family said in a statement Saturday. Tomey spent 14 years at Arizona, going 95-64 while taking the Wildcats to seven bowl games, including the Fiesta Bowl in 1993. Arizona went 12-1 in 1998 under Tomey and beat Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl to finish a program-best No. 4 in The Associated Press poll. He began his career as a head coach at Hawaii in 1977 and closed it at San Jose State before retiring in 2009 at 71. Tomey was 183-145-7 overall in 20 years as a coach. "On the football field he was a tough as nails coach, who loved fierce competition and the thrill of team building," the family said. "He loved his players, every single one of them — always. "He was hard on them. He constantly raised the bar. He could do that because he knew how to find the goodness and the talent in people. If he didn't find it immediately, he kept looking until he did, and once he found goodness/talent he never lost sight of it." Born in Indiana, Tomey graduated from DePauw University and got his first varsity job coaching defensive backs at Davidson in 1985 after stints coaching freshmen teams at Miami of Ohio and Northern Illinois. Tomey spent four seasons at Kansas before following Pepper Rodgers to UCLA. He was the Bruins defensive coordinator in 1976 before being named Hawaii's coach in 1977. Tomey turned around the Rainbow Warriors, leading the program to its first AP ranking in 1981. He went 63-46-3 at Hawaii before being hired to replace Larry Smith at Arizona in 1987. Tomey went 25-35 in five seasons at San Jose State.The family said a celebration of life will be announced later. FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedInSports figures we lost in 2019 FullscreenPosted!A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Dick Tomey, football, 1938-2019 John Miller, APFullscreenRed Kelly, hockey, 1927-2019 Detroit Free Press file photoFullscreenGino Marchetti, football, 1927-2019 Associated PressFullscreenJimmy Banks, soccer, 1964-2019 USSoccer.comFullscreenJohn Havlicek, basketball, 1940-2019. APFullscreenReggie Cobb, football, 1968-2019. ANNE RYAN, USA TODAYFullscreenJohn MacLeod, basketball, 1937-2019. Stephen Dunn, Getty ImagesFullscreenForrest Gregg, football, 1933-2019 Paul Shane, APFullscreenScott Sanderson, baseball, 1956-2019 APFullscreenClem Daniels, football, 1937-2019. William P. Straeter, APFullscreenCal Ramsey, basketball, 1937-2019 Richard Drew, APFullscreenMichael Cofer, football, 1960-2019. Jim Mone, APFullscreenChuck Harmon, baseball, 1924-2019 Al Behrman, APFullscreenJohnny"Lam" Jones, Olympic sprinter, NFL receiver, 1928-2019 San Angelo Standard-TimesFullscreenKelly Catlin, cycling, 1995-2019. The Associated PressFullscreenCharlie Whiting, motor sports, 1952-2019 Pavel Golovkin, APFullscreenHarry Howell, hockey, 1932-2019 Seth Wenig, APFullscreenChristoper Pallies , professional wrestling, 1957-2019 Walter Iooss Jr., Sports Illustrated/Getty ImagesFullscreenTed Lindsay, hockey, 1925-2019 APFullscreenDon Newcombe, baseball, 1926-2019 The Associated PressFullscreenRed Cashion, NFL referee, 1931-2019. PHIL COALE, Associated PressFullscreenFernando Clavijo, soccer, 1956-2019 Luis M. Alvarez, APFullscreenDavid Williams II, former Vanderbilt athletics director, 1948-2019 Mark Humphrey, APFullscreenFrank Robinson, baseball, 1935-2019 Louis Requena, MLB Photos via Getty ImagesFullscreenAndre Boudrias, hockey, 1943-2019 Steve Babineau, NHLI via Getty ImagesFullscreenBob Friend, baseball, 1930-2019 Associated PressFullscreenWade Wilson, football. 1959-2019 Tim Heitman, Tim Heitman-USA TODAY SportsFullscreenJim McKean, right, MLB umpire, 1945-2019. Duane Burleson, APFullscreenGeri Ann Glasco, softball, 1994-2019. Brent Drinkut, Statesman Journal via USA TODAY NetworkFullscreenTurk Schonert, football, 1957-2019. David Duprey, APFullscreenGlen Wood, NASCAR team founder, 1925-2019. Sean Gardner, Getty ImagesFullscreenMason Lowe, bull riding, 1993-2019. Jamie Squire, Getty ImagesFullscreenMel Stottlemyre, baseball, 1941-2019. Kathy Willens, APFullscreenBob Kuechenberg, football, 1947-2019. Miami DolphinsFullscreenJ.D. Gibbs, motor sports, 1949-2019. Mike McCarn, APFullscreenGus Ganakas, college basketball, 1926-2019. MSU Athletic CommunicationsFullscreenKwamie Lassiter, football, 1969-2019. Otto Greule Jr., Getty ImagesFullscreenBryce Turner, football, 1998-2019. Neville E. Guard, USA TODAY SportsFullscreenJim Margraff, Johns Hopkins football coach, 1960-2019. Kim Hairston, APFullscreenGene "Mene Gene" Okerlund, WWE announcer and interviewer, 1942-2019. APFullscreenTyler Trent, Purdue superfan, 1998-2019. Christopher Hanewinckel, USA TODAY SportsFullscreenInterested in this topic? You may also want to view these photo galleries:ReplayAutoplayShow ThumbnailsShow CaptionsLast SlideNext Slide
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