Hansen's Top Teams, No. 94: Trio led Tucson High to 1944 state football title

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On Thanksgiving Day, 1944, about 12,000 Tucsonans celebrated the holiday by sitting in the rain at Arizona Stadium as Tucson High completed an undefeated season, beating Mesa for the state football championship.

A few weeks later, the Downtown Towncats booster club held a banquet to honor what was then considered the best high school football team in Tucson history. More than 300 people attended, including Gov. Sidney Osborn and UA athletic director Pop McKale.

The '44 Badgers earned an historic spot in state football history, stretching its winning streak to 21 games. They outscored opponents 345-78. But there was more to it than winning football games. Borman became globally famous after graduating from West Point and ultimately becoming the commander of Apollo 8 as a NASA astronaut. The son of a man who operated a Mobile gas station in Tucson, Borman was the starting QB on the '45 THS team that again went 11-0 to win another state championship.

After completing his Rhodes scholarship, McQuade graduated from Harvard Law School and entered a different arena — politics. In retrospect, the '44 Badgers were something of a Cinderella story. When they beat Mesa for the state title, it might’ve been an upset. The ‘44 Mesa team had the state’s player of the year, Whizzer White, one of the legends of Arizona prep football history. In the state semifinals, THS beat Glendale High School, which included all-state lineman Bill Yeoman, who went on to coach the Houston Cougars to four Cotton Bowls, finishing in the Top 10 four times.

 

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