Letterboxing~U. of Arizona~Rock Solid!

We stopped off at the University of Arizona, hoping to meet up with one of our friends, the head coach of lacrosse, Mickey Miles. But unfortunately for us he was out-of-town, so we decided to search for, (what else?) another letterbox!

This box was alot of fun and educationally sports-related. It was placedin honor of Super Bowl Champion, Tedy Bruschi, who was a stand-out Defensive End for the Arizona Wildcats from 1992-95, where he was a two-time All-American and tied Derrick Thomas for the all-time NCAA record with 52 sacks! When Tedy and his "Desert Swarm" Defense was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated (8/94) the headline read "Rock Solid".

We enjoyed our exciting little tour of the sports side of U of A today.

The official "Bear Down" McKale Memorial center.

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Bear Down Lyrics:

Yell:
Go, go, Wildcats Go!

Sing:
Arizona, Bear Down!
Let's cheer for Arizona
Let's lift our voices high
Let's cheer for Arizona
The Bear Down battle cry
Let's cheer our team to victory
Let's cheer our team to fame
Let's cheer for Arizona
For spirit wins the game!

Bear Down Arizona
Bear Down Red and Blue
Bear Down Arizona
Hit 'em hard.
Let 'em know who's who
Bear Down Arizona
Bear Down Red and Blue
Go! Go! Wildcats go!
Arizona Bear Down
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The History of Bear Down:
The slogan "BEAR DOWN" was given to the Wildcat teams by John "Button" Salmon, student body president and varsity athlete, shortly before he died in 1926 following an automobile accident. His last message to his teammates was "Tell them to BEAR DOWN".

One day in 1952 Jack K. Lee, an applicant for the UA's band directorship, was leaving Tucson by air following an interview with university administration. From his airplane window, Lee observed the huge letters on the roof of the UA gymnasium. Inspired, he began to scribble down the music and lyrics to an up-tempo song. By the time his plane landed, he had virtually finished it. A few weeks later Lee was named the university's band director, and in September of that year, the UA band performed "Bear Down, Arizona!" in public for the first time. Soon thereafter, "Bear Down, Arizona!" became accepted as UA's fight song.

The impressive Wildcats Football stadium built in 1928 and capable of seating 56,000 excited fans! Towards the top of the stadium there are famous names of U.of A football called "The Ring of Fame". Very cool! The kids liked the bigger-than-life footballs to climb on.