R.T. Gridley 1903 - 2000

The Torch and this website contains the story and events of Catalina's evolution. It represents the devoted work of the staff. It evidences our pride in the activities of our pupils and our school. In future years you will derive great pleasure and satisfaction as you turn the pages of your Torch and Website. May we wish each of you Godspeed and success. (1958 Torch)
Principal 1956 to 1968

“in the Beginning”

History series about Catalina’s early years (1954-58) By Margie Wagner Fangmeier ’58

Rollin T. Gridley, Catalina’s first principal, will always be remembered as a man of integrity by students, friends, and colleagues. He arrived in Tucson from Wisconsin in 1924 enroute to UC-Berkeley. He met J.F. “Pop” McKale and decided to attend the University of Arizona and play football for the Wildcats. After graduation in 1927 with a degree in education, Gridley taught social studies at Tucson High School. He coached the Badger football and basketball teams from 1927 until 1947. His football team was undefeated for three seasons from 1943-1946. One of his players was Frank Borman, the Apollo astronaut. Another player was Morgan Maxwell, Jr. Frank and Morgan were roommates on road trips and had summer jobs together at Yosemite National Park. In Borman’s autobiography, he tells of the time when the Badger football team went down to Douglas to play the DHS Bulldogs. Arriving in town, the team went to the historic Gadsden Hotel for a pre-game team meal. As the food was being prepared and served, someone from the hotel noticed that the light-skinned Maxwell was actually “of African descent” and he told Coach Gridley that Maxwell, the only black on the team, was unwelcome in the restaurant. Without making a fuss, Gridley told the entire team to get up from their tables and walk out of the restaurant. The team went to a grocery store and purchased meat and bread and they had a picnic in a park before beating Douglas on the gridiron. Borman said this episode shaped his entire life in terms of race relations and the dignity and strength of conviction with which his coach handled the matter. Journalism teacher Frances Curtis remembers Mr. Gridley, “In the 15 years I taught at Catalina, he always called me Miss Curtis, never Frances. He was such a gentleman.” Gridley was chosen principal for Catalina High School in 1953, serving there until 1968. A middle school is named in his honor and the football stadium at Tucson High is named Gridley Stadium. The University of Arizona annually awards the Rollin T. Gridley Scholarship to an Arizona high school student. He was also inducted into the Tucson High School Badger Foundation Hall of Fame in 1982. Members of the Class of 1958 gathered to surprise him with a 94th birthday party at his retirement home; and in June 1998, he attended their 40th Class Reunion. He died in 2000 at age 96. (Excerpts from the Tucson Weekly, 12/07/99)

Principal Rollin T. Gridley

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) Aug 10, 2000 - Longtime football coach Rollin T. Gridley whose players included Frank Borman of the U.S. space program, died Tuesday. He was 96.

Borman, who circled the moon as commander of the 1968 Apollo 8 mission, praised Gridley in his autobiography as having been a pivotal person in his life.

Gridley served as football and basketball coach variously at Tucson High from 1927 through 1947. He played football at the University of Arizona for J. F. "Pop" McKale. He coached the Tucson High basketball team, winning the state championship in the 1933-34 season. His football teams at Tucson High were undefeated through three seasons beginning in 1943. He later held administrative positions with a number of Tucson schools.

"He just stood for all the right things,'' Borman, the former president of Eastern Airlines who now resides in Las Cruces, N.M., said in an interview this summer. ``Discipline was a hallmark.''

Gridley is a member of the Arizona Basketball Hall of Fame and the Arizona Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

In June, the Tucson Unified School District governing board voted to name the football stadium at Tucson High Magnet School after Gridley. The vote made the former coach the first person to have two district facilities - the stadium and Gridley Middle School - bear his name.

That he stayed in Arizona was almost happenstance. He had been en route to University of California at Berkeley in 1924 but became caught up in University of Arizona coach J.F. ``Pop'' McKale football program and stayed.

Gridley is survived by daughters Anderson and Jeanette Johnson, both of Tucson, and five grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were pending Wednesday.

CATALINA HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1958 TUCSON, AZ