Memories Of Chuck

In 1979, at the age of 7 I moved to Tucson. My dad used to bring us to Wildcat games every season and I looked forward to the time because I got to see a live football game and spend time with my father. Over the years I saw plenty of talent come through the desert from Alfred Jenkins (I know, he made some bad choices in life after football) and David Adams to Chris and Kevin Singleton and the Desert Swarm years up through todays’ young players like Nick Foles, who may still prove to be an NFL caliber QB.

This season started out so well but went bad ending with 4 straight regular season losses. The Alamo Bowl game turned out to be a tough loss but as a true fan I take it in stride. There is one things that the Wildcats have proven is that there are good years and there are bad years but no matter what we always Bear Down… not to mention that the basketball team opens up Pac-10 play Thursday night at Oregon.

Watching the end of the Wildcat’s football season tonight brought me down memory lane and it got me thinking about the most memorable highlights from all of the games that I have seen over the past 30 years and one sticks out above the rest. It was 1986, the Sun Devils were already Rose Bowl bound, the Wildcats were heading to the Aloha Bowl, and the game was all about The Streak (U of A went 8-0-1 vs. ASU between 1982 through 1990). The game had some exciting moments like the goal line stand by the Cats but the most memorable moment from the 34-17 Wildcats win was Chuck Cecil’s 106-yard interception return for a TD. I was 14 and living in Tucson at the time and 24 years later I still remember the game as if it happened yesterday.

When Topps released the 2005 Topps All-American set and I saw Chuck Cecil was on the autograph checklist I knew I had to have the card. Cecil and Steve Kerr are my two favorite athletes to come out of the University of Arizona and both have a prominent place in my personal collection.