Sunnyside’s Sanchez overdue in Hall of Fame selection | Greg Hansen's Notebook

The Arizona High School Coaches Hall of Fame was established in 1984, and it has been Phoenix-centric, to put it mildly. Only 17 Tucson coaches in 40 years have been inducted, and just one since 2006 – Salpointe Catholic boys soccer coach Wolfgang Weber in 2023.

But the Scottsdale-based group made a promising move last week when it elected former Sunnyside High School state championship football/wrestling coach Richard Sanchez. Talk about a good pick.

Sanchez coached Sunnyside's undersized football teams of 2001 and 2003 to state championships. That was Act II of his coaching career. In Act I, he coached the Blue Devils to five consecutive state wrestling championships in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994.

As far as I can find in the state record books, Sanchez is the only big-schools coach to produce state champions in two different sports dating to 1970.

The president of the Arizona Coaches Hall of Fame is Larry Fetkenhier, who coached Glendale Cactus to state football championships in 2005 and 2009. He didn't forget Sanchez when voting for the Class of 2025 took place.

"Richard beat my 2003 team in the state championship game," said Fetkenhier. "I remember what a great coach he was. He deserves to be in this class."

Sanchez will be inducted on April 27 in Scottsdale, the first Tucson prep football coach so honored since Sahuaro's Howard Breinig in 2006.

Contact sports columnist Greg Hansen at . On X(Twitter):

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