ASU returns to $1 million field, priceless past
The most important thing to know about Arizona State football’s return to Camp Tontozona is that the year off to properly install an artificial-turf field was a good decision.
The Sun Devils canceled their annual trainingcamp trip to Tontozona last year because wet conditions delayed installation of a 7,400-square-foot AstroTurf field. The $1 million-plus project, including new fencing on the south side close to Tonto Creek, was completed in April, assuring that fans again can tap into one of ASU’s deepest football traditions.
“The reality of mother nature is there are water and other issues,” said Tom Fraker, CEO of Tonto Creek Camp, which Camp Tontozona was rebranded
as in 2010. “To wait for it to dry out and have the right conditions to lay the field was the right choice.”
Herm Edwards was unable to fully experience Camp Tontozona in his first season as ASU football coach, instead taking the team there for a day trip. The Sun Devils will get five days of bonding this year starting Tuesday, likely to only increase Edwards’ love of the 36-acre facility located 20 miles east of Payson.
“When we come off Kush Mountain, everything will come into focus,” said Edwards, referring to the starting-quarterback decision but also a grander vision. “That’s why you go up there. The light air and you can breathe and the trees and all that good stuff. You gain knowledge up there.”
What ASU has always sought from Camp Tontozona, since Frank Kush first convinced a construction crew to level a field there in the late 1950s, is a retreat from the Valley heat and from non-football distractions.
The weak aren’t weeded out now like they were in the Kush coaching era and forced to hitchhike home. Camp no longer opens with a mile run on the road from Kohl’s Ranch to Tontozona with players by the 1970s required to finish in 5:30 or 6:15.
Art Malone, after rushing for 1,439 yards and 16 touchdowns in 1968, said his biggest challenge for ‘69 was to complete the Kush Mile. Henry Carr, 1964 Olympic 200-meter gold medalist, ran 5:07 in the Kush Mile, a time eclipsed a few years later by Wes Plummer.
In those days, the mile preceded three practices before the first day was done. Now, the Sun Devils practice once for two hours, and it’s not likely that even defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales would sign off on a dirt-road mile.
Gonzales, though, wants some of old school Tontozona for his players and plans to make use of a small grass upper field instead of sticking solely to the new turf.
“You can beat the tar out of them and you’re not going to kill anybody,” due to heat at Tontozona, Gonzales said. “It was genius, innovative (by Kush).
“We have this beautiful field up there they built for us, and we’re so thankful for the donors that put that money together. Well guess what, there’s a little field up there that’s a dump. That’s where we’re going to spend most of our time on defense because that was the tradition of that place. Beat them into the ground, get them ready to go then make Saturdays easy.”
2017 rain final straw
The final push needed for an artificial field came in 2017 when heavy overnight rain delayed the start of the camp-ending scrimmage, which was cancelled altogether in 2016 due to rain.
“It had to be addressed as a priority,” said Mike Chismar, ASU senior associate athletic director. The Sun Devil Club, working with the Sol Devils boosters, raised funds for the new field, a new fence on the south side near Tonto Creek and a retaining wall on the north side of the field. Bleachers will be brought in to help with spectator seating for the final camp practice Saturday.
“We wanted to make sure it was done right,” Chismar said. “There is no question this lengthens the life of Camp Tontozona.” That life, as old-timers might recall, was in doubt after a downpour ruined the Sun Devils’ afternoon practice on Sept. 1, 1960. “It that happens again tomorrow, we’ll go back to Tempe,” Kush said, perhaps ending ASU’s greatest tradition before it could ever form. “We can’t get any teamwork done. We can’t pass the ball or get any ball handling when it’s wet like this.”
Thankfully the weather cooperated Sept. 2, and Kush learned to work through any rain delays. Ensuing coaches mostly bought into the value of Tontozona although camp was completely rained out in 1989 and forced to end early in 2006.
“The field is unsafe,” then-coach Dirk Koetter said. “We can’t save it. It makes no sense to stay up here. We need more football and less field maintenance.
“It’s like Lake Tontozona. We should have FieldTurf up there,” like at Rumsey Park in Payson, where the Sun Devils practiced in recent years when rain dictated.
Dennis Erickson was not a fan of Tontozona and, after construction of the Dickey Dome indoor practice facility in 2008, had a viable alternative to going north. Fans and former players grumbled about the decision for four years (2008-11) especially when ASU attempted to sell Tontozona, purchased in 1952.
Reinstituting Tontozona was one of Todd Graham’s earliest and most popular moves when he was hired to replace Erickson after the 2011 season.
“The mission at that time was to make it a place for students and youth to learn and grow in the outdoors,” Fraker said. “Fast forward 50 years, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
In 2019 alone, the non-profit Tonto Creek Camp will serve close to 9,000 students through stem-centered education, entrepreneur and leadership camps and youth in the foster system.
“We have a great future with the (new) field being the anchor to expand all that,” Fraker said. “We’re starting to have people lined up to book in June and July next year.”
The turf field is actually the first step in a larger renovation of the property, being coordinator with ASU’s Design School.
What’s in a name
Edwards prefers that Camp Tontozona be called Camp Kush, given the late coach’s importance in school not just football history.
He’s not the first coach to lobby for Camp Kush. John Cooper did the same thing in 1987 before Kush, fired in 1979, was brought back into the ASU fold. Kush died in 2017, making his last camp appearance in 2015 when the football team carried him off the field.
Fraker said the Tonto Creek Camp branding was important to broaden the facility’s use. “A lot of people thought it was exclusively a place for ASU,” he said.
ASU football plays its games on Frank Kush Field, and there is a life-size statue of the man outside Sun Devil Stadium. Late in life, he seemed content with those honors and not interested in Tontozona being called anything else (other than Mt. Kush across the creek, which he made many players climb back in the day).
By whatever name – even with a sparkling new field atop a shock pad that reduces the risk of concussions – Tontozona remains timeless with the creek and surrounding forest whispering to visitors to put down their phones.
“Bringing youth and even (football) players to an outdoor environment is more important than ever,” Fraker said. “We use such a wide variety of communication through digital and don’t build personal relationships. I’ve seen a lot of people come up here for 3-4 days and leave with a new appreciation of themselves.
“I’ve had wide experience from working for Goldman Sachs to doing this. I’ve literally had kids come up to me and say yesterday was the best day of my life. That’s the most fulfilling.”