TUCSON — The Tucson community turned out in force to honor Jim Rosborough, the longtime assistant coach whose decades of work on local courts, from the University of Arizona to Pima Community College, left a lasting mark on the city and the game.
The gym was packed shoulder to shoulder with friends, family, students and Wildcat faithful, all there to celebrate the man known around Tucson simply as "Roz."
Cheers, tears and laughs filled the arena as the crowd showed up in numbers Rosborough himself said were the largest he had seen in his 12 years at Pima.
Rosborough first came to Tucson as the right-hand man to legendary Arizona head coach Lute Olson.
Over his 18 seasons on the Wildcats bench, he helped build one of the most successful programs in college basketball history, earning 3 trips to the Final Four and playing a key role in Arizona's unforgettable 1997 National Championship.
His time at Arizona earned him a spot in the A STEP UP Assistant Coaches Hall of Fame, which recognizes outstanding assistant coaches across the country.
His name stands alongside current Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd thanks to his time coaching at Gonzaga.
Lloyd also made the trip to honor Rosborough, joined by a crowd full of Wildcats past and present, a turnout that Rosborough said meant a lot to him.
True to form, Rosborough did not simply stand in the spotlight and soak it in. At halftime, he grabbed the microphone and turned the ceremony into a quick fundamentals clinic, getting the entire crowd on their feet and into a proper shooting stance, drawing laughs and cheers from the packed house in a moment that captured exactly who he is.
After a career defined by banners, trophies and championship rings, Rosborough has said his proudest accomplishment is not the hardware — it is the relationships. Players, coaches and friends he has made along the way, many of whom were in the stands to celebrate him.
When asked to sum up a career that has taken him from Final Fours to Pima's community courts, Rosborough simply said, "very satisfied."
