The notable Arizonans we lost in 2017
Not even Sparky embodies Arizona State football quite like Frank Kush did back in the day.
As the team’s head coach for 22 seasons, amassing a 176-54-1 record and Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl titles during the 1970s, it’s said that he single-handedly put the team, if not the university, on the map. Kush’s name is even on the field at Sun Devil Stadium.
The state mourned this past June when the ASU icon passed away at age 88, one of many notable Arizonans who died during 2017 — including a civilrights activist, a former Phoenix Sun, exceptional clergy and business leaders. Even the notoriously gruff Kush would tip his hat.
Norman McClelland, businessman
Even happy-go-lucky Roxie, the whimsical Shamrock Foods dairy cow, was sad to hear about the passing of company patriarch Norman McClelland, who led the Phoenix-based fresh dairy and distribution firm for more than 50 years.
Born in Tucson and a University of Arizona graduate, McClelland built upon the dairy business that his Irish immigrant father started in 1922, with one truck and 20 cows, to create one of the largest and most respected companies of its kind in the country. He oversaw the relocation of company headquarters from Tucson to Phoenix during his tenure, and he created a culture of giving within the company that includes donations of more than 450,000 pounds of food to more than 80 nonprofit organizations each year. McClelland died in July and is survived by second wife Barbara, son Kent, daughter Kathe and one stepdaughter.
Connie Hawkins, NBA player
Professional basketball fans include former Phoenix Suns star Connie Hawkins among the most exciting and explosive players of all time — and include his name among other high-fliers like Julius Erving, Elgin Baylor and Michael Jordan. He was “Michael before Michael,” famed coach Larry Brown once said of Hawkins during an interview for ESPN.
Hawkins only played seven seasons in the National Basketball Association due to knee problems, but he was a four-time all-star with the Phoenix Suns from 197073 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. That same year, he was hired by the Suns as a community ambassador. Hawkins died in October at age 75 after a long bout with colon cancer.
Terri Cruz, civil-rights activist
After a rough beginning, it seems fitting that Terri Cruz, founder of Chicanos Por La Causa, would spend her life helping to lift up others. Her parents both died before she reached age 6, so Cruz and her brother were raised by her aunt and uncle in Tucson.
She worked as a housekeeper during the 1940s for soldiers at Williams Field in Mesa before being encouraged to pursue public service. She held job and leadership training positions within Hispanic advocacy organizations before being invited in 1968 to form a new group addressing education discrimination, police brutality and farm-worker injustices that ultimately led to the formation of Chicanos Por La Causa.
A mother of eight, Cruz worked with CPLC for more than 40 years, up until last year, and died in August at age 89.
McDonald Becket, architect
McDonald Becket’s mark on Arizona is plain to see. His Valley Bank Building, now the Chase Building, is still the tallest in downtown Phoenix more than 45 years since it opened in 1972.
Becket died Dec. 7 in Phoenix after being a mover and shaker in the world of architecture for decades. As the former chairman and CEO of Welton Becket and Associates of Phoenix, his firm designed such iconic properties as the Washington, D.C., Convention Center; Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport; Barclays Bank International in New York; the Federal Courts Building in Los Angeles; the redevelopment of the Boston Commons; Xerox Square in Rochester, New York; and the Hyatt Regency Dallas, among others.
Becket is survived by his wife of 35 years, Diane, and four sons.
Katie Lee, folk singer and activist
Katie Lee spent much of her free-spirited adult life trying to prevent the construction of Glen Canyon Dam — and then protesting it after it was built. “Rivers are the lifeblood of our planet, and they need to flow,” she said a short 2016 film about her life, “Kickass Katie Lee.”
According to a New York Times obituary that described her as “eloquent and blissfully profane,” Lee once said that the only thing that stopped her from blowing up the dam was that she didn’t know how.
“Her enchantment with Glen Canyon began in 1953 during a visit with friends and continued when she became a river runner,” the Times said. “She adored its rapids, and the breezes that she said sounded like voices speaking to her. She swam nude in its potholes and waterfalls. She explored its 125 contoured side canyons, each of them named (some by her), and each one a different aesthetic experience.”
Lee died in November at age 98.
Truly David Nolen, businessman
You’ve seen those cute, bright-yellow Truly Nolen pest-control cars out there with mouse ears and tails. Well, it was longtime Tucson resident Truly David Nolen who founded the company in 1955 at age 27, dressing up Volkswagen Beetles as part of his marketing plan. He merged Truly Nolen with his father’s Florida-based Economy Exterminators upon his death in 1966 and continued to expand his reach.
Today the company operates 320 offices in more than 60 countries and is still based in Tucson.
Nolen passed away in April and is survived by wife of 32 years, Vickie, and eight children.
Frank Kush, football coach
Imagine a gritty, old-school football coach, with short-cropped hair and overly tan from too much sun, barking out direction, and you have Frank Kush. Perhaps it was his time in the United States Army that ingrained an almost fanatical work ethic, which he impressed upon his players as well, making them sprint up steep “Mount Kush” at preseason workouts at Camp Tontozona near Payson. That toughness led to both greatness and controversy.
While Kush ushered in a new era for Sun Devil football from 1958-79, making him the longest-tenured coach at the university, he drew criticism at times for his discipline and fitness strategies.
Kush was inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Collegiate Football Hall of Fame in 1995. He is survived by sons Dan, David and Damian. His wife, Frances, died in 2010 at age 80.
Jerry Kindall, UA baseball coach
Arizona Wildcats baseball coaching legend Jerry Kindall was the first man to win College World Series titles as both a player and a head coach. He died of complications from a stroke earlier this month at age 82.
Kindall coached Arizona to national titles in 1976, 1980 and 1986 after starring at shortstop on the University of Minnesota’s 1956 championship team. He spent nine seasons in the major leagues with the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins.
“Some people talk the talk; he walked the walk,” said Cleveland Indians manager Terrry Francona, a member of the 1980 championship team. “He lived his life just like you’re supposed to. It’s easy to say things, but he lived it.”
Bruce Dusenberry, businessman
Like many pioneering Arizonans, Dusenberry came from modest means, humbly scratching out a living with his parents in the 1920s hauling firewood from the Santa Rita Mountains 25 miles south of Tucson. Within a few years, however, his father would launch a company that would become Horizon Moving Systems, which young Dusenberry would help grow into one of the largest companies of its kind in the Southwest. Horizon’s yellow and blue tractor trailers were everywhere until the company sold to Florida-based Suddath Relocation in 2013.
Dusenberry lived his entire life in the Tucson area, married to wife Katie for 69 years. The couple had four children: Bruce, Joan, Ann and Janel. Dusenberry died in June at age 94.
Other notables
Pete Garcia, founder, Chicanos Por La Causa
Celso Mireles, prominent “dreamer” coalition member
Pat Connors, restaurateur Mark Coronado, city of Surprise Ron MacBain, artist
David Patterson Sr., World War II veteran and Navajo Code Talker
George B. Willie Sr., World War II veteran and Navajo Code Talker
Teddy Draper Sr., World War II veteran and Navajo Code Talker
Sandi Nielson, Avondale vice mayor Jim Hayden, Surprise City Council member
Joe Ramirez, El Mirage vice mayor