William Gibson 'Bill' Mann

b. July 21, 1924 Prescott, Arizona
d. March 16, 2017 Arizona

 Bill Mann was born in Prescott in 1924, and moved to Tucson shortly after where his father had become head golf pro at Tucson Country Club. He graduated from Tucson High School in 1943 where he earned letters in football, basketball and baseball. After high school he was drafted into the Army and saw action with Seventh Infantry (tank corp) in Kwajalein, Okinawa and the Phillipines. He entered the service as a private, emerged as a staff sergeant and was awarded a bronze star.

 In 1946 he married and was the first husband of Mary Katherine Hutchinson who was the daughter of Kit & Buel Hutchinson, the owners of the Little Outfit Boys Ranch & School in San Rafael Valley near Canelo in southern Arizona.

 He was an athlete and involved in sports for much of his adult life. At the University of Arizona from 1946-49 he played basketball as the team won 80 games, four straight Border Conference titles and played Kentucky in the first postseason game in school history. He was a second-team All-Border Conference pick in 1948 as he shot nearly 90 percent from the free throw line and 67 percent from the field. After college he coached basketball at North Phoenix and Camelback high schools, at Weber College in Utah, and then at Fullerton Junior College in California.

 He joined Arizona State University in Tempe in 1961 as men's golf coach, and in the 15 years from 1961-75 and in 1987, his Sun Devils squads brought home 26 team titles, including conference titles in 1969 and 1971. He led ASU to seven top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships, including a third-place finish in 1969. He was also assistant coach for the men's basketball team until 1972, and is credited by one star player as having a major role in paving the way for all ASU athletic teams to join the Pac-10. In 1988 he was inducted into the National Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and in 2000 he was inducted into the ASU Sun Devil Hall of Fame.

 Sun Devil Hall of Fame women's golf coach Linda Vollstedt, who won six NCAA titles in the 1990s, said "Coach Mann was an icon in our world of golf; not only was he a great coach, but he was very involved in the community and you would see him at tournaments everywhere writing the numbers on the scoreboards. He loved everything about the world of golf, a world that he helped make great with all his efforts."

Written and edited by Corbin Smith from information provided by Linda Roslund and in the tribute to him in "Sun Devil Athletics", March 21, 2017

death date on stone is probably inaccurate - 2017 based on tribute to him in "Sun Devil Athletics," March 21, 2017

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