Arizona

Clyde Volz’s impact on Arizona track and field community runs deep

Published

1 year ago

November 12, 2024

Clyde Volz’s impact on Arizona track and field community runs deep

Clyde Volz, a high school track and field coach at Sunnyslope and Greenway high schools in Phoenix for more than 30 years, had the kind of impact on athletes that still is being felt today.

Volz, who won two Arizona Interscholastic Association state titles and created the Great Southwest Classic, passed away last month at the age of 85.

He coached many athletes during his time.

Tim O’Neil is one of the athletes who felt the most impact from his head coach. Volz took in O’Neil, a talented all-around sophomore track and field athlete at Sunnyslope who was living from couch to couch while in high school after a rough home life.

“He took me under his wing and made me realize there’s some bigger and better things out there for me,” said O’Neil.

O’Neil, who never had a family member graduate high school and planned to hang drywall for a career, had his life significantly changed by meeting Volz. Eventually, O’Neil morphed into one of the top-ranked athletes in the country for the high jump and went on to Mesa Community College before competing at the University of Nevada. O’Neil then competed professionally for Adidas after college.

But, like his mentor, O’Neil made his biggest impact as a coach.

It was O’Neil who convinced a young Devon Allen to first try out the hurdles while at Phoenix Brophy Prep. Allen, under the tutelage of O’Neil, became one of the greatest high school hurdlers Arizona has ever seen before taking the NCAA by storm at Oregon and making two Olympic teams in 2016 and 2020.

After a stint with the Philadelphia Eagles, Allen recently returned to the track as one of the athletes signed by Michael Johnson’s new professional track and field league, Grand Slam Track.

Allen isn’t the only Olympian that O’Neil has coached. This past summer, Freddie Crittenden III – who moved to Arizona specifically to be coached by O’Neil – made the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 110-meter hurdles. And it all started with O’Neil, which started with Volz.

“Clyde Volz saved my life,” O’Neil said. “I wouldn’t have been in college. I definitely wouldn’t be coaching track. I would have never met my wife. My life would be so drastically different without that guy, and that’s not an exaggeration. That’s the impact he made – he left the world in a better place for me.”

‘Pushing me out there’

It was in 1993 when Ron Smith was convinced by Volz to pick up a microphone while at the Glendale Invitational. Smith had announced some sporting events before, but it was just in his neighborhood near Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix.

Volz helped the upstart announcer’s name and phone number get out into the community and hired him to call meets.

Now, 31 years later, Smith has become the preeminent voice of the sport in the state.

“He was the one that started pushing me out there,” Smith said. “He’s the one who put me in bigger venues in front of much larger crowds, which then led other people asking me to come to their place. He’s the one who put me in those significant situations. I felt like all of a sudden, I was on the ‘inside.’”

Smith, who was a coach before he started announcing, was heavily influenced by Volz and his determination to track and field. So too was Ron Mann, whose own coaching career was started by Volz back in 1972.

Mann’s first coaching job came with Volz at Sunnyslope.

After leaving Sunnyslope, Mann eventually became the director of cross-country and track and field at Northern Arizona University, following stops at Thunderbird High and Mesa and Glendale community colleges. Mann’s teams made history in 1998, as NAU became the first school in conference history to win all four cross-country titles (team and individual) in the same year. He produced at least one Olympian in every summer Games from 1984 to 2004.

“I wouldn’t be where I was without Clyde Volz giving me that opportunity,” Mann said. “The modeling I got, he was representative of somebody who had ethics and morals, did everything the right way and had a vicious love for track and field. That formed my career from that point.”

Volz will best be remembered for his loyalty to his athletes. He used to film Super 8mm footage of his team working out, develop the film, cut it up and show it back to them – in the 1970s. Volz also used to take a school bus and drive it around the cinder track to compress the surface, making it firmer for his athletes.

On the track, Volz coached legendary in-state athletes, like Brian Muir (shot put), Doug Reynolds (discus) and Jeff Cannada (distance), to name a few. Volz was the founder of the Arizona State High School Decathlon and Heptathlon Championships. The Great Southwest Classic, his creation, became a premiere showcase for track and field talent.

“There’s no question that Clyde is paramount in his legacy the sport in Arizona,” Mann said. “There are very few that could even come close to equaling him in terms of what he did. He’s right at the very top in the way that he approached the sport and his complete dedication.”

Logan Stanley is a sports reporter with The Arizona Republic who primarily focuses on high school, ASU and Olympic sports. To suggest ideas for human-interest stories and other news, reach out to Stanley at logan.stanley@gannett.com or 707-293-7650. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @LSscribe.

Source link

Click to comment

Arizona

Idaho 78-58 Northern Arizona (Feb 26, 2026) Game Recap – ESPN

Published

9 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Idaho 78-58 Northern Arizona (Feb 26, 2026) Game Recap – ESPN

MOSCOW, Idaho — — Jackson Rasmussen had 19 points in Idaho’s 78-58 win over Northern Arizona on Thursday.

Rasmussen also had seven rebounds for the Vandals (16-13, 8-8 Big Sky Conference). Isaiah Brickner scored 15 points while shooting 6 of 11 from the field and 2 for 4 from the line. Jack Payne shot 4 for 5 from beyond the arc to finish with 12 points.

Diego Campisano finished with 11 points for the Lumberjacks (10-19, 4-12). Chris Komin added 11 points for Northern Arizona. Karl Markus Poom also had 10 points.

—-

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Source link

Arizona

Former Arizona town employee sentenced in COVID-19 relief, embezzlement case

Published

21 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Former Arizona town employee sentenced in COVID-19 relief, embezzlement case

PARKER, AZ (AZFamily) — A former employee of a western Arizona town has learned her fate after being convicted in connection with COVID-19 relief fraud and embezzlement.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said Thursday that Jennifer Elizabeth Alcaida, 50, a former office specialist for the Town of Parker, was sentenced by a Mohave County Superior Court judge to three and a half years in prison.

According to court records, between July and Sept. 2021, Alcaida took a total of $173,295.54 by writing unauthorized checks from town accounts, keeping cash she was required to deposit, and making personal purchases on a town-issued credit card.

Records also show she received more than $20,000 from the federal Paycheck Protection Program through the U.S. Small Business Administration after claiming the funds were needed to cover payroll for a personal business that did not exist.

Alcaida pleaded guilty Jan. 6 to felony charges of fraudulent schemes and theft. After her prison term, she will serve seven years of probation and has been ordered to pay $194,128.54 in restitution.

“This case is a clear example of someone who abused the public’s trust for personal gain,” Mayes said in a written statement. “Arizonans deserve to know that those who steal from their communities will be held accountable, and this sentence reflects exactly that.”

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Source link

Arizona

Arizona high school banned from playoffs after harassment allegations

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Arizona high school banned from playoffs after harassment allegations

COOLIDGE, AZ (AZFamily) — Student-athletes at an Arizona high school won’t participate in the playoffs following harassment and intimidation allegations during a basketball game last week.

The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) Executive Board, which oversees high school athletics in the state, said it placed the Coolidge High School athletic department on probation Wednesday, effective immediately. That means all the school’s teams cannot participate in the postseason.

“The AIA and its member schools are committed to highest levels of respectful behavior from all of the participants at all AIA events,” the AIA said in an emailed statement.

The postseason ban is in response to a 3A boys basketball game Friday between Chinle High School and Coolidge High School in Coolidge. People who were at the game took to social media to say Chinle players were harassed and had racial slurs yelled at them.

A livestream video of the game shows that, as teams lined up to shake hands, a uniformed officer can be seen holding some people back. One viewer claims someone on the court spat on a Chinle player.

During a meeting between the Coolidge Unified School District and the AIA, the harassment allegations included fans making “inapproproiate use of belts” and officials complained of Coolidge fans used derogatory and racist language.

There were also claims Chinle players feared for their safety so they remained in the locker room after the game and left the building in pairs “due to safety concerns.”

The Chinle Chapter Government of the Navajo Nation passed a resolution Sunday asking the AIA to investigate the game. They said Coolidge players used verbal abuse, threatening gestures and “belligerent disregard” toward the Chinle players.

“This resolution sends a clear message to the Arizona Interscholastic Association that we stand in solidarity with the safety of our students. Our student athletes adhere to the rules of conduct and we will not allow for them to be disrespected and intimidated at an AIA Sanctioned Event,” Shawna Ann Claw, a Chinle Council delegate for the Navajo Nation Council, said on social media.

The chapter urged the AIA to punish those responsible and set strict rules to prevent something like this from happening again.

The AIA said Monday morning that it was aware of the incidents “before, during and after” Friday’s game.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Coolidge officials said they disagreed with characterizations that the end of the game was “out of control” and that anyone’s safety was in jeopardy, saying they “provided clarification during the meeting.”

The school district said it’s asking for another meeting with the AIA executive board and consulting with attorneys about what to do next, including filing an injunction and appealing.

“We believe the ruling is disproportionate to the circumstances and carries substantial consequences for student-athletes who were not involved in the incidents in question,” Coolidge Unified School District Superintendent Dawn Dee Hodge said in a written release.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Source link