Don Bacon was a key part of Tucson High’s historic 1962 basketball team that went 21-0 and won the state championship. He was also an all-city baseball player at THS and later became a football and softball coach at Sahuaro High School for almost 30 years.
Tucson Magnet High School, 400 N, Second Ave. Construction on the main building still used, seen here, began in September 1923.
Bacon, 82, died last week. His family (with 10 siblings) moved to Tucson from Crockett, Texas, in 1939, and Bacon became one of the first Black athletes to prevail over racism here. His son, Omar Bacon, became an all-city running back at Sahuaro High in 1994.
One of the best stories of Bacon’s remarkable life came a few years after he returned to Tucson from a baseball career at Phoenix College. He walked through the halls of THS and didn’t see the 1962 state championship trophy on display. He found it in a storage closet.
So Bacon took the ’62 trophy home, keeping it in a safe place for years. Finally, when THS built its impressive Hall of Champions, he returned it to his alma mater for proper attention.
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Tucson High’s 1962 state trophy is now in the Hall of Champions.
The funeral service for Bacon will be held Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Rising Star Baptist Church, 2800 E. 36th St. The burial service is at 2 p.m. at South Lawn Cemetery, 5401 S. Park Ave.
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