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 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 Regional 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.

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 22-man 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, due to COVID-19, we celebrate the 33rd annual Yuma Sun/Yuma Rotary Club Sports Awards with a Facebook live event as well as this special publication. To all of our athletes and coaches, congratulations! And to all involved – from parents to athletic directors, thanks for all your support!