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Ed Updegraff walked into the Ranch House Grill and Brewery at noon Friday and it was as if there was an echo at the SaddleBrooke Ranch golf resort.

“Hello, Doctor Ed.�

“Good to see you, Ed.�

“You’re looking good, Doc.�

If there’s a more likable and respected man in Southern Arizona than Ed Updegraff, gentleman golfer, storyteller extraordinaire, retired urologist, I’d like to meet him.

On Friday, three of the most significant names in Tucson golf history sat at Updegraff’s table: Fred Boice, one of the original Tucson Conquistadores and chairman of the first-ever Tucson Open under the Conquistadores’ guidance; Rick LaRose, Arizona’s Hall of Fame golf coach, winner of the 1992 NCAA championship; and Ricki Rarick Jr., son of the man considered the Father of Tucson Golf.

They made the 45-minute drive to SaddleBrooke Ranch to join Updegraff for lunch and, sure, to hear some of the abundant stories that seem to flow from the man considered the greatest amateur golfer in Arizona history.

Updegraff didn’t disappoint.

Now 96, he stopped playing golf about a year ago, but he recently walked onto one of the SaddleBrooke Ranch greens and practiced putting.

“I was using a putter I bought for $5 in 1963,� he said. Then came the punchline: He bought the putter directly from Karsten Solheim, founder and designer of the famed Ping golf business, among the first ever produced by the Phoenix company.

“I use the putter now as a crutch,� said Updegraff with a laugh. If he chose, Updegraff could probably sell that putter for $10,000 or more. “It’s the most alive-feeling putter I have.�

In his remarkable amateur golf career, Updegraff played in the Masters six times, he won the U.S. Senior Amateur, 12 Tucson City championships, was captain of the U.S. Walker Cup team, and 27 times won the Tucson Country Club championship.

One of his competitors in those days was Boice, a scratch golfer who made his living raising and selling livestock from the family ranch near Arivaca.

“I heard that Ed won his first City championship (in 1951) and a bit later I was paired with him at the Tucson Country Club,� Boice remembered. “I shot 75 and was pretty happy about it. But Ed shot 63. I played with him a short time later and he shot 64. I knew he was something special.�

Updegraff moved to SaddleBrooke Ranch five years ago. It is a sprawling, fast-growing complex with 63 homes currently under construction, and about 1,000 homes total. It didn’t take long for his legacy to circulate at the Ranch.

“I was in Flagstaff recently with (long-time PGA Tour standout) Lanny Wadkins and he made sure to ask me to say hello to Dr. Ed,� said LaRose. “Lanny was on a Walker Cup team at St. Andrews the year that Dr. Ed was captain of the team.�

Stories? At the 1956 Sunnehanna Amateur in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, then one of the world’s most prestigious golf events — Updegraff won it in 1962 — Updegraff was told that a 16-year-old from Ohio would be one of his chief competitors.

“That 16-year-old was Jack Nicklaus,� Updegraff said with a smile. “He finished sixth that year. I was third.�

Last weekend, Updegraff got up early to watch the Ryder Cup and USA captain Jim Furyk. He remembered a long-ago meeting with the young Furyk, who played on LaRose’s 1992 NCAA championship team.

“Jim was playing at Tucson Country Club one day and I followed him for a while. I remember saying ‘he hits it well but I don’t think he has much of a future.’ �

Updegraff, who remains remarkably sharp and witty, then laughed hard.

“What did I know? he said. “Jim Furyk is the No. 4 money-winner in the history of the PGA Tour.�

1. The Wildcat of the Week is Matt Brase, who has impressively forged his own identity in pro basketball. On Friday, Brase, graduate of Catalina Foothills High School and the UA, signed a contract to be a full-time assistant coach for Mike D’Antoni’s Houston Rockets. Brase got an entry-level job with the Rockets in 2013, spent two years as had coach of the G League franchise in Rio Grande Valley, Texas, and has now replaced former Denver Nuggets head coach Jeff Bzdelik on the Rockets’ staff. Not bad for a guy who scored 19 points in his Arizona career, 2003-05. Brase’s replacement as Houston’s G League head coach is Arizona’s 1994 Final Four center Joseph Blair.

2. The climb to the NBA is going to be a tough one for Rawle Alkins. In the Chicago Bulls’ first two preseason games, Alkins played just two minutes and did not score. He will need to prove himself with the Windy City Bulls of the G League. In comparison to Alkins, Palo Verde High School grad Bryce Cotton, who played four years at Providence and was an All-Big East Conference player, is probably the leading player in Australia’s National Basketball League. On Friday, Cotton scored 33 points for the Perth Wildcats in a preseason game against the Denver Nuggets. Cotton, MVP of the NBL playoffs last year, spent time with the Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns. Cotton is 26 and, in my opinion, a better NBA prospect than Alkins. The unpredictable journey of pro basketball continues.

3. My impressions from Arizona’s media day: 1. Sophomore Brandon Randolph will be the team’s leading scorer. Alpha dog? Maybe not, but a talented shooter; 2. The outgoing personalities of freshman guard Brandon Williams, senior forward Ryan Luther and junior center Chase Jeter will make this a popular team in the community. Tucson will embrace the underdog role and make it work; 3. Sophomore wing Emmanuel Akot said “there are no big egos that will create friction.� If so, that’ll be a wonderful change from the last few it’s-all-about-me seasons.

Of his 881 rounds on the PGA Tour, Ricky Barnes shot his greatest round on Friday, a 61 at the Safeway Open. The two-time Arizona consensus All-American, winner of the 2002 U.S. Amateur, Barnes is now 37 and struggling to keep his tour privileges. He finished 177th on the money list last year and is playing on a limited “veterans member status,� which means he might not be able to match last year’s total, when he was able to play in 22 events. 

Perhaps the most successful golfer in UA history, Robert Gamez, the 1989 college player of the year, made his Champions Tour debut last month. He combined to earn $27,922 in the Ally Challenge and the Pure Insurance Championship last week at Pebble Beach. At 50, Gamez hasn’t been a factor in pro golf since the mid-1990s; he won the Northern Telecom Tucson Open as a 1990 rookie. Gamez won three PGA Tour events, earned $8.7 million in 547 events and now seems likely to play in Tucson’s Cologuard Classic in February at Tucson National. What a journey, huh?

One of the reasons the golf industry in Southern Arizona has diminished is because course conditions aren’t consistently good. The city-owned Silverbell Golf Course, redesigned by Tucson golf course architect Ken Kavanaugh 15 years ago, recently buried a sewer connection across the No. 4 fairway, creating a huge berm/mound near the green that now requires a blind chip shop if you aren’t fortunate enough to reach the 420-yard par-4 on your second shot. It is, in my opinion, now the most difficult hole in Southern Arizona, and needlessly so. It’s the type of deterrent that could keep potential golfers from playing Silverbell, which already has the most difficult No. 1 hole in Tucson.

Running back Ka’Deem Carey and wide receiver Juron Criner were Arizona teammates in 2011, two explosive offensive players who looked to have productive NFL careers ahead. Now they’re both in the Canadian Football League after their NFL careers went bust. Carey signed with the 11-2 powerhouse Calgary Stampeders last week and is on the practice squad with five regular-season games remaining. Criner is in his third season in the league and has caught 30 career passes, 11 more than in his brief NFL career. He’s on the Edmonton Eskimos roster. Carey is Arizona’s No. 1 career rushing with 4,289 yards and Criner is the No. 4 receiver, with 2,859 yards.

One of the best stories going in high school football is coach Mark Brunenkant’s 6-1 start at Flowing Wells. The Caballeros finish with Cholla, Desert View and Mountain View, none with a winning record. If Brunenkant’s Cabs win out, they’ll be 9-1 entering the Class 5A playoffs. That would be heady territory at Flowing Wells; since the 1970s it has won 10 or more games in a season just twice, in 1982 and 1994. One potential Southern Arizona player of the year is Flowing Wells senior back Rashaad Henderson, who gained 228 yards Friday night, giving him 1,014 for the season. Henderson has gained more than 100 yards in all seven games this year. He also has 36 tackles as a defensive stopper.

Last week, Arizona got a recruiting commitment from a high school freshman, believed to be the youngest baseball prospect ever to commit to the UA.

There’s a good backstory involved.

When Arizona signed quarterback Kevin Ward from the Philadelphia area in 1978, it was considered among the recruiting coups of coach Tony Mason’s Arizona career.

Ward chose ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV over Notre Dame and Penn State, mostly because he was a terrific baseball player and Mason was smart enough to work out a deal with UA baseball coach Jerry Kindall to let Ward play both sports.

Ward became Arizona’s top two-sport athlete of the Pac-10/12 years, and probably dating to the early 1960s. In 1982, he was a All-Pac-10 South first-team selection. He was a starting wide receiver in 1981 and 1982 after the UA chose Tom Tunnicliffe to be its starting QB. Ward was 16 of 41 and got two starts in 1980 at quarterback. He went on to play for the San Diego Padres and thereafter opened a successful restaurant, the Greystone Steakhouse, in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. He also has owned race horses and worked with Kentucky Derby trainer Bob Baffert, also a UA grad, in the horse racing industry.

Last week, Ward’s son, Ryan, a left-handed hitting third baseman at Coronado High School on Coronado Island in San Diego, committed to play baseball for UA coach Jay Johnson. Ward’s arrival at Hi Corbett Field is a long way off — he’s in the Class of 2022 — but it reflects well on Johnson that, first, he used the UA family tree to find a prospect of Ward’s level, and, second, he didn’t wait until other powerhouses turned Ryan Ward’s head.

Arizona fired football coach Rich Rodriguez on Jan. 2, a termination that came following a notice of claim — a precursor to a lawsuit — from RichRod’s former administrative assistant.

The assistant, Melissa Wilhelmsen, levied sexual harassment allegations against Rodriguez.

Since then there has been no public comment or mention of progress toward the lawsuit. Many speculated that Rodriguez and Wilhelmsen quietly settled the case out of court.

But last week, Phoenix attorney Augie Jimenez said that he is awaiting a “right to sue� letter from the state’s attorney general’s office. In sexual discrimination/harassment cases, such a letter is necessary to file a lawsuit.

The notice of claim, seeking $7.5 million in damages, alleged that Rodriguez ran a hostile workplace and sexually harassed Wilhelmsen.

Jimenez estimated it will be 60 to 90 days before the lawsuit moves ahead. Stay tuned.