Wolfgang Weber

GILBERT — Winning state soccer championships at Salpointe Catholic almost seems like a given. But that doesn’t make it any easier. “Honestly, we came into this game focused, concentrated and we knew we had to do whatever was possible,” said Sergio Ruiz de Chavez. What was possible...

Leading Tucson Salpointe Catholic's boys soccer team since 1982, Wolfgang Weber on Tuesday reached a milestone no other Arizona high school soccer coach has been to. He won his 700th game in the Lancers' season-opening 2-1 win over Tucson Sahuaro in the Brandon Bean Tournament. ...

Wolfgang Weber believes his first victory as a head coach came some 40 years ago at Amphitheater. The wins kept coming and the Hall of Fame coach picked up his first state championship in 1985 and that was followed by another in 1986. He was the first coach in Arizona to win back-to-back state championships. Actually, he was the first to win two titles. In all, Weber earned eight state titles with Salpointe with his latest coming last season.

Wolfgang Weber was going to be a chef. Correction: He was a chef. A good one. In 1973, Weber spent about $29,000 — $200,000 in today’s money — to buy a 70-seat coffee shop in downtown Tucson. He and his wife named it Benjee’s. Weber cooked full time and quickly developed such a reputation that the Tucson Citizen wrote a feature story on one of his favorite dishes, rinder-rouladen, which is basically a beef roll with an German twist.

Tucson’s prominent high school coaches of the 20th century didn’t just fade away. Schools were named in their honor, celebrated for posterity. Gridley Middle School? It’s named after five-time Tucson High state championship football coach Rollin T. Gridley. Van Horne Elementary? It honors James “Doc” Van Horne, who coached Tucson...