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Fiery coach Spilsbury attacked life
CORKY SIMPSON
Citizen Sports Columnist
Dec. 1, 2001
Superlatives are deceptive but indispensable. How else could one
describe Max Spilsbury?
A life filled with passion, substance, courage and achievement ended last
week when Max suffered a massive stroke and heart attack in El Paso.
He was 77.
A four-year letterman in football and champion boxer at the University of
Arizona in the late 1940s, Max was, in the words of sportswriter emeritus Abe Chanin,
"one of a kind."
The late Vic Thornton, another fine sportswriter in his day, introduced
me to Max in Phoenix in 1971, upon Spilsbury's induction into the Arizona Football Hall of
Fame. Max was the head football coach at Northern Arizona University from 1956-64. His
teams had a 59-24-5 record.
When he left NAU, Max returned to the place he was born, Colonia Juarez
in Chihuahua, Mexico, tended the family apple orchard and eventually became superintendent
of the local school district. And he coached for another 31 years. Only last year he
turned the football team over to his son, Kortny. Another son, Klinton, is an actor who
played the Lone Ranger in the 1981 movie, "The Legend of the Lone Ranger."
Max is survived by his wife, Virginia ("Ginger"); sons Klinton
of Hollywood, Kortny of Colonia Juarez, and Kris of Sierra Vista; and daughters Kellie
Anne Hofland of Highland, Calif., Karlie of Salt Lake City and Kennie of Colonia Juarez.
A decorated Marine during World War II, Max went on to play football for
the Wildcats with a rugged abandon that belied a metal plate in one knee from a combat
wound.
"He was quite a boxer," Chanin said. "He had his nose
broken three times in fights, but he dished out the punishment, too. Max took on a big
football tackle once and beat hell out of him."
Ted Sorich, a retired high school coach here, played for Spilsbury, then
coached on his staff at NAU, when the school was Arizona State College.
"Coach 'Spills' was a Marine Raider, the elite of the elite," Sorich said.
"And he ran a boot camp on the football field. You knew if you survived it, you were
plenty tough. My first year in Flagstaff, 80 guys came out in the spring and only 16 could
take it, the rest quit."
Bill Reeves, a UA basketball player from 1955-57, described Spilsbury as
"the meanest man in the world - and the nicest ... one tough sonofagun, but very
thoughtful and kind."
Lou Pavlovich Sr., another ex-sportswriter, knew Max when they were kids
in Bisbee. "He was the toughest guy I ever saw, but an outstanding human being,"
Lou said.
Friends can send donations to the Max Spilsbury Scholarship Fund,
Northern Arizona University Foundation, P.O. Box 4094, Flagstaff, 86011-4094. |
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