A Tucson sportswriter originally from Bisbee jokingly referred to him as “Tiny” and “A Midget.”
At 5-foot, 9 inches, and 160 lbs., Ted Sorich certainly didn’t fit the popular perception of a star quarterback.
But what Sorich lacked in height and bulk, he more than made up for in explosive quickness, agility, tactical savvy and ability to motivate his teammates. Perhaps most importantly, Ted Sorich had the good sense to listen and learn from his high school and college coaches throughout his athletic career.
His abilities didn’t just shine on the gridiron. He was just as much a quality athlete on a baseball diamond, cinder track and hardwood basketball floor. Ted Sorich was, to put it simply, the greatest all-round athlete to come out of Bisbee since John Byrd “Button” Salmon of “Bear Down” fame.
Sorich was born on November 22, 1937, at the Copper Queen Hospital in Bisbee, Arizona. His parents, Samuel Theodore Sorich. Sr. and Jennie Vucurevich Sorich, were Serbian immigrants. He was the second of three siblings.
He grew up in Warren, at that time an unincorporated suburban neighborhood southeast of Bisbee. His father worked for Phelps Dodge, his mother was a housewife. Sorich, like his older brother Sam, Jr., worked as a newspaper carrier for the Bisbee Daily Review.
Sorich’s athletic abilities became evident earlier on. He was the star pitcher for Bisbee’s Junior American legion team during the summer of 1952 and lettered in baseball during the 1952 to 1953 school year as a freshman, demonstrating his abilities as a left-handed pitcher for the Bisbee High School Pumas varsity team. Sorich also earned junior varsity letters for football and basketball as a freshman. During his sophomore year (1953 to 1954), he earned varsity letters in football and track, as well as a junior varsity letter in basketball.
His skills on the football field became clear in 1953, during his sophomore year, when head coach Max Spilsbury designated him as one of the two quarterbacks for the Pumas, behind first stringer Layton Ducote. As the season wore on, Sorich earned more time as a signal caller but also continued to serve as the Pumas’ point after touchdown kicker. The Pumas ended the year with a 5-3-2 record but salvaged the season with a resounding win over archival Douglas.
Sorich started the 1954 football season as Bisbee’s first-string quarterback. The Pumas, rich in talent on both sides of the line, started the season on September 18 by defeating Tucson High, a school with a student enrollment almost ten times that of Bisbee’s, by a score of 12-6. As the season progressed, Bisbee defeated nine of its ten opponents, the lone exception being Amphitheater High, which held the Pumas to a scoreless tie on a mud-covered field. The 1954 season ended with the Pumas declared the state Class A champs, and Sorich the First Team Quarterback on the Arizona Daily Star’s All-State team.
Under the direction of new head coach Al Ridgeway (Spilsbury had accepted a job as an assistant football coach at the University of Arizona), Bisbee, with Sorich back as starting quarterback in his senior year, cruised to another undefeated season in 1955, with only a 6-6 tie against Safford to mar its record. Once again, Sorich also performed well on the baseball diamond, basketball court and cinder track for the Pumas during the 1955 to 1956 school year.
Sorich graduated in May 1956 with a full football scholarship from the University of Arizona. His desire to play at the University of Arizona wavered when Max Spilsbury, his coach on the 1954 Bisbee football team, was hired to serve as head coach for the Arizona State College Lumberjacks at Flagstaff. After enduring a winless season with the Arizona Wildcats freshman team and suffering sharp criticism from frosh head coach Warren Woodson, Sorich announced that he was offered a spot at Flagstaff playing for Spilsbury’s Lumberjacks during the 1957 season. Other star Bisbee players joined Sorich in a migration to Arizona State College, which had gone from 0-9 in 1955 to 8-2 and the Frontier Conference championship in 1956 after Spilsbury took over the team.
Sorich’s move to Flagstaff was a wise decision. Although he spent most of the 1957 season as backup quarterback to Dick Vargas, Sorich earned enough playing time and coach Spilsbury’s confidence to ensure a solid shot at becoming the starter in 1958. The Lumberjacks finished the 1957 season with an 8-1 record and another Frontier Conference championship.
All the pieces for a truly memorable season fell into place for the Lumberjacks in 1958. Sorich led the offense to regular season victories against the San Diego Marine Corps team, Cal Poly, McMurry, Redlands, LaVerne, New Mexico Highlands, Panhandle A & M, Western New Mexico, Willamette University and Chico State. The Lumberjacks compiled a 10-0 perfect season record, won the Frontier Conference title for a third straight year and set the stage for their participation in postseason National Association of Intercollegiate playoff games.
On December 6, Sorich quarterbacked the Arizona State College ‘Jacks to a 41-12 drubbing of Gustavus Adolphus in the NAIA semifinals held at the University of Arizona. Two weeks later, on December 20, the Lumberjacks met Northeastern Oklahoma in the Holiday Bowl for the small college national championship at St. Petersburg, Florida. The game, nationally televised by CBS, was the first played by a four-year college or university from Arizona for a national championship. In a hard-fought game, the Lumberjacks fell to the Okies 191-13.
Sorich took time out from the 1958 season to marry Jacqueline Rae Thompson at Flagstaff on September 27, 1958. Coach Spilsbury and his wife, Virginia, served as witnesses. Four children would come from the marriage.
Sorich quarterbacked the ASC team once again, as a senior during the 1959 season. The Lumberjacks ended the season with (to them) a disappointing 6-2-1 season.
Sorich graduated from Arizona State College in May 1960, and was hired by head coach Spilsbury to serve as an assistant football coach a month later. He remained with the Lumberjacks through the 1962 season and was hired by Round Valley High School as an administrator and coach in the fall of 1963. Sorich remained at Round Valley in Springerville until June 1966, when he signed on as head football coach and assistant principal at Flowing Wells High School in Tucson. He remained at Flowing Wells as an administrator and coach until his retirement in July 1996. He now lives in SaddleBrooke.
Wherever he went and whatever he did in life, Ted Sorich gave his very best, helping students to develop their talents and character, and teaching athletes to play hard and to demonstrate good sportsmanship. As an athlete, he was superb on the playing field. As a coach, mentor and administrator, he was a guiding light to young people. He epitomizes very the best in Bisbee athletics.
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