The Best of the Best

The Yuma Sun/Yuma Rotary Club Annual Sports Banquet has deep roots in the community.

The idea first began to germinate after the 1976 football season, during which Kofa quarterback Frank Martinez led all Class AAA (the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s largest class of Arizona High Schools at the time) quarterbacks in passing yardage for the season. Yet he was overlooked by the people at the state level when it came to awards and accolades.

That led the Kofa football coach to propose the idea of an independent awards program for athletes in the Yuma area.

It took another 11 years for the Kofa coach’s idea to sprout into action, but sprout it did.

A group of local enthusiasts and supporters got together, forming the first Yuma Region Sports Foundation, and the first Sports Foundation banquet was conducted on Dec. 4, 1987.

There were 60 athletes representing the four high

schools at the time – Kofa, Yuma, Antelope and San Pasqual.

There were no awards by position, only award recipients.

Later, Yuma Sun and the Yuma Rotary Club partnered and the name changed to the Yuma Sun/ Yuma Rotary Club Regional Sports Foundation.

At this time, the format changed, in which a 22man football team was selected, with two special teams players; boys and girls basketball teams were made up of five players, and so on and so on.

Since then this program has evolved to include the coach of the year, and the male and female athletes of the year.

This year, we celebrate the 32nd annual Yuma Sun/Yuma Rotary Club Sports Banquet.

To all of our athletes and coaches, congratulations! And to all involved – from parents and teachers to principals and athletic directors, thanks for all your support!