Third Annual Sollenberger Classic
Teams: Bishop Gorman-Las Vegas (14-0 last year, 4A state champions) vs. Brophy College Prep-Phoenix (12-2, 5A state champions).
When: Saturday, 7:20 p.m.
Where: University of Phoenix Stadium
Ticket/game information: http://www.aiaonline.org/
Live streaming of game: http://www.aia365.com/
Other stories: Game story - Brophy wins; Game preview - Big game, big venue.
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Barry Sollenberger would have loved everything about this premier matchup except for the name of it.
Saturday’s third annual football game in his name and honor not only kicks off the high school sports season in Arizona but it pits defending state champions from the Grand Canyon State, Brophy College Prep (Phoenix), and Nevada, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas).
It’s being contested at arguably the most breath-taking venue a high school football game has ever been played, the University of Phoenix Stadium, host of the NFL Cardinals and last season’s Super Bowl XLII.
Everything about the event is genuine first rate gold, a description Arizonians say befitted Sollenberger, the state’s unofficial high school sports historian and resident George Bailey.
Behind the scenes for four decades, Sollenberger worked diligently, with little fanfare or budget, to promote prep sports. He tracked every nook and cranny of Arizona folklore and legend.
Little did he know when he passed so suddenly on his 60th birthday in 2005 from a heart attack after a daily jog, his own legacy would soar.
“Barry’s contribution has been beyond measure,” Harold Slemmer, executive director of the Arizona Interscholastic Association, said at the time of Sollenberger’s death. “His life has been a gift to those involved in high school athletics.”
Said Marcos de Niza softball coach Ron Cosner, also one of Sollenberger’s closest friends: “I always said that Barry probably was the most valuable person as far as high school athletics because he enjoyed what he was doing and he went into the past to do it.”
Never would have Sollenberger guessed that the state’s marquee non-playoff football game be named the Sollenberger Classic. The game, sponsored by the AIA, an organization Sollenberger worked as its sports information director for six years, does indeed shoot Arizona prep sports onto the national spotlight.
“I’m very sure Barry would be very happy right now,” Brophy coach Scooter Molander said. “Not because the game was named after him but that he would have been very excited and proud of the AIA got this game done.”
Arizona Republic prep sports editor Richard Obert, who has covered high school sports in the area for 26 years, said the game's title is fitting but would catch Sollenberger off guard.
“I’m sure he would have been honored but at the same time a little embarrassed that it was named after him," he said. "He was a humble man who never wanted to be in the spotlight.
“I’m sure what would have made him happy this week was that the kids were getting recognition.”
Molander recalls as a youth rushing to the newsstands every July to read a copy of the Phoenix Metro Football magazine that Sollenberger and best friend Dave Kukulski published every summer starting in 1970.
Sollenberger also published Arizona high school record books for football, track, basketball and baseball and was hired by about half of the state schools to research its athletic histories. He spent at least one day a week for 30 years in public libraries going through newspaper microfilm to research.
Molander was a football standout at Corona del Sol (Tempe) and latter played at Colorado State and 10 seasons professionally both in the Arena League and overseas. He appreciated Sollenberg’s efforts then and even more now.
“(Sollenberger) was just amazing,” Molander said. “If you were a high school football player you couldn't wait until late July to get your hands on one of those books. Every school was represented and he’d give out various awards. He was just a great support to the kids and coaches and helped Arizona establish itself and get it on the national map.”
Said Obert: “He was like the Kirk Herbstreit of Arizona.”
Obert believes Arizona prep sports is healthier and better than ever.
He noted Desert Vista (Phoenix) defensive lineman Devon Kennard, the No. 7 recruit in the country according to CBS College Sports’ Tom Lemming, as an example of how college recruiters are flocking to the area far more than in the past.
Last season’s top area recruit defensive back Gerell Robinson (Hamilton, Chandler) looks like he’ll be a starter at Arizona State.
“(Arizona prep sports) is getting huge,” Obert said. “Schools are popping up every where and the upper echelon talent is really good.”
Sollenberger would no doubt stick up and point out more historic Arizona high school football legends like Danny White (Westwood, Mesa), Fred Carr (Phoenix Union) and Bobby Wade (Desert Vista).
Other Arizona products and athletic standouts include Mike Bibby (Shadow Mountain, Phoenix), Richard Jefferson (Moon Valley, Phoenix), Jim Palmer (Scottsdale), Paul Konerko (Chaparral, Scottsdale) and Bob Horner (Apollo, Glendale).
Those names come easily to most Arizona sports fans. But it was a light-hitting second baseman for a small school back in the middle 80s, for example, that Sollenberger could pick out and pick up.
“He didn’t make much money doing what he did,” Obert said. “What drove him was simply the love of doing it, the love of the kids and the high schools.”
On Saturday, Brophy and Gorman will give some of that love right back.
In a sporting sort of way.
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
Click here to see more on Sollenberger’s life.
Another moving tribute to Sollenberger.
