| Cruisin' the Past |
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| Cruisin’ the Past by Ed Dooley |
Our Unforgettable Principal
It’s fair to say that much of the success of Catalina High School as an educational
institution and an educational community was due to the leadership of one man, Rollin T.
Gridley, our extraordinary principal.
Gridley was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, in 1903. He entered the University of Arizona in
1924 where he played varsity football for legendary U of A coach J. F. “Pops” McKale. He
was also a member of the Wildcats varsity basketball team. After graduating in 1927, he
taught social studies and served as football and basketball coach at Tucson High School
from 1927 to 1947. His football teams won 32 consecutive games from 1943 to 1945, a
state interscholastic record that stood for more than 35 years. He also coached the THS
basketball team to the state basketball championship during the 1933-34 season.
According to an Arizona Daily Star article published soon after his death in 2000, Gridley
was named vice principal at Tucson High, and in 1953 he was named principal of Catalina
High School, which opened in 1957. He continued in that capacity until his retirement in
1969, having served a total of 42 years as a teacher, coach, and administrator for the
Tucson Unified School District. In 1974, the new Gridley Junior High School (Gridley Middle
School) was named in his honor, and in 2000 the Tucson Unified School District governing
board voted to name the football stadium at Tucson High Magnet School after him.
Gridley was named to the University of Arizona Hall of Fame in 1982, the Arizona
Basketball Hall of Fame, the Arizona Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Pima County
Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Tucson High Badger Foundation Hall of Fame. He was
named a Life Member of the U of A Alumni Association and received its Slonaker
Outstanding Alumni Award in 1979. The Rollin T. Gridley Scholarship is awarded at the
University of Arizona annually to an Arizona high school student.
The Arizona Daily Star told the following story. “Morgan Maxwell, Jr., who maintained
almost weekly visits with his former high school coach for … several years, said Gridley’s
effect on his players went beyond the field. ‘He did more for me than anyone,’ said Maxwell,
who recalls an incident more than 50 years ago that he says changed his life. In 1944, (a
restaurant not in Tucson) refused to let Maxwell, who is black, eat with his teammates.
Gridley took a stand for the 16-year old, third-string lineman, declaring, ‘We all eat
together.’ He took the team to a nearby market where together they ate bologna
sandwiches outside. Segregation then was the law; it was not questioned or anything,’
Maxwell said… ‘What Mr. Gridley did for me, it was overwhelming. I’ve kept visiting him all
these years. I didn’t know how to thank him.”
Another man who played for Gridley and has often expressed admiration for him is Frank
Borman, the astronaut of 1968 Apollo 8 fame and later president of Eastern Air Lines. “He
just stood for all the right things,” Borman told the Daily Star. “Discipline was a hallmark with
Mr. Gridley.” His daughter seconded those sentiments when she said, “He just had high
morals, integrity, values and principles. He brought that into his life and expected others to
be that way, too. He was very special.” Bonnie Henry included a very sympathetic chapter
on Gridley in her 1992 book, Another Tucson, in the section entitled “The Unforgettables.”
Dave Berg told me a couple of years ago that he dropped in on Gridley at his home shortly
before his death. Expecting the 90-plus year old man who had taught and coached and
known thousands of students not to remember him, Dave was surprised and delighted when
Gridley welcomed him by name and remembered him from the class of 1960. Other former
students had the same experience. This confirms what many of us believed of Gridley, that
he always took a genuine interest in his students and got to know them. My own experience
supports this. Back when the Ladies Home Journal published its story attacking CHS as a
“marriage mill” and Bill Moore and I published a special edition of the Trumpeteer refuting
the Journal’s allegations, several members of the local PTA telephoned Gridley and insisted
that he expel or otherwise punish Bill and me for having criticized the Journal and the PTA.
Gridley, under great pressure from the PTA, called us into his office and told us of the calls
he had received but assured us that he stood by us and would not accede to their
demands. Bill and I stayed in school and I graduated with the rest of you. Thank you Mr.
Gridley!
It’s fair to say that much of the success of Catalina High School as an educational
institution and an educational community was due to the leadership of one man, Rollin T.
Gridley, our extraordinary principal.
Gridley was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, in 1903. He entered the University of Arizona in
1924 where he played varsity football for legendary U of A coach J. F. “Pops” McKale. He
was also a member of the Wildcats varsity basketball team. After graduating in 1927, he
taught social studies and served as football and basketball coach at Tucson High School
from 1927 to 1947. His football teams won 32 consecutive games from 1943 to 1945, a
state interscholastic record that stood for more than 35 years. He also coached the THS
basketball team to the state basketball championship during the 1933-34 season.
According to an Arizona Daily Star article published soon after his death in 2000, Gridley
was named vice principal at Tucson High, and in 1953 he was named principal of Catalina
High School, which opened in 1957. He continued in that capacity until his retirement in
1969, having served a total of 42 years as a teacher, coach, and administrator for the
Tucson Unified School District. In 1974, the new Gridley Junior High School (Gridley Middle
School) was named in his honor, and in 2000 the Tucson Unified School District governing
board voted to name the football stadium at Tucson High Magnet School after him.
Gridley was named to the University of Arizona Hall of Fame in 1982, the Arizona
Basketball Hall of Fame, the Arizona Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Pima County
Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Tucson High Badger Foundation Hall of Fame. He was
named a Life Member of the U of A Alumni Association and received its Slonaker
Outstanding Alumni Award in 1979. The Rollin T. Gridley Scholarship is awarded at the
University of Arizona annually to an Arizona high school student.
The Arizona Daily Star told the following story. “Morgan Maxwell, Jr., who maintained
almost weekly visits with his former high school coach for … several years, said Gridley’s
effect on his players went beyond the field. ‘He did more for me than anyone,’ said Maxwell,
who recalls an incident more than 50 years ago that he says changed his life. In 1944, (a
restaurant not in Tucson) refused to let Maxwell, who is black, eat with his teammates.
Gridley took a stand for the 16-year old, third-string lineman, declaring, ‘We all eat
together.’ He took the team to a nearby market where together they ate bologna
sandwiches outside. Segregation then was the law; it was not questioned or anything,’
Maxwell said… ‘What Mr. Gridley did for me, it was overwhelming. I’ve kept visiting him all
these years. I didn’t know how to thank him.”
Another man who played for Gridley and has often expressed admiration for him is Frank
Borman, the astronaut of 1968 Apollo 8 fame and later president of Eastern Air Lines. “He
just stood for all the right things,” Borman told the Daily Star. “Discipline was a hallmark with
Mr. Gridley.” His daughter seconded those sentiments when she said, “He just had high
morals, integrity, values and principles. He brought that into his life and expected others to
be that way, too. He was very special.” Bonnie Henry included a very sympathetic chapter
on Gridley in her 1992 book, Another Tucson, in the section entitled “The Unforgettables.”
Dave Berg told me a couple of years ago that he dropped in on Gridley at his home shortly
before his death. Expecting the 90-plus year old man who had taught and coached and
known thousands of students not to remember him, Dave was surprised and delighted when
Gridley welcomed him by name and remembered him from the class of 1960. Other former
students had the same experience. This confirms what many of us believed of Gridley, that
he always took a genuine interest in his students and got to know them. My own experience
supports this. Back when the Ladies Home Journal published its story attacking CHS as a
“marriage mill” and Bill Moore and I published a special edition of the Trumpeteer refuting
the Journal’s allegations, several members of the local PTA telephoned Gridley and insisted
that he expel or otherwise punish Bill and me for having criticized the Journal and the PTA.
Gridley, under great pressure from the PTA, called us into his office and told us of the calls
he had received but assured us that he stood by us and would not accede to their
demands. Bill and I stayed in school and I graduated with the rest of you. Thank you Mr.
Gridley!
