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Coach Dick Tomey '60 Authors Rise of the Rainbow Warriors

Coach Dick Tomey '60 Authors Rise of the Rainbow Warriors

November 20, 2017

Dick Tomey, a longtime college football coach and 1960 graduate of DePauw University, is the author of Rise of the Rainbow Warriors.

"He writes that it is about 'quarterback sacks, blocked kicks, apples, oranges and muddle huddles.' Of course it is," notes the Arizona Daily Star. "No book by Dick Tomey would be about wins and losses or fame and fortune. Muddle huddles. It’s poetry."

Greg Hansen points out that Tomey's book "is about his 10 seasons at Hawaii, a prelude to his Arizona days, in which he learned to walk on hot coals (true story) and created so much love and kinship that he says 'I bawled my eyes out' when telling the Rainbow Warriors he was moving to Tucson ... Somehow, starting from scratch, Tomey’s Rainbow Warriors filled a 50,000-seat stadium, challenged mega-powers Oklahoma, Nebraska and USC and proved that a football coach didn’t have to be a F-bomb- dropping drill sergeant to get the job done."

Hansen writes, "I was eager to read Tomey’s book because I thought, at last, he would go into detail about his early days: his childhood in Michigan City, Indiana; his playing days -- he was a guard at DePauw University -- and his fascinating climb up the coaching ladder." Later, he adds, "He was a walk-on at DePauw, earning a degree in economics. That econ degree led to a job at School 86 in Indianapolis. He supervised the lunch room and safety patrol and coached the football, basketball and track teams. His life forever changed when the father of one of his pupils suggested Tomey drive to Miami of Ohio and apply for a job on the football staff. It was a shot in the dark, but, after becoming a dormitory advisor at the school, Tomey was accepted as a volunteer coach on John Pont’s staff."

Dick Tomey sjs02Access the article at the newspaper's website; learn more about the book from the publisher.

Tomey served as the head football coach at the University of Hawaii (1977–1986), University of Arizona (1987–2000), and San Jose State University (2005–2009), compiling a career college football record of 183–145–7.  He also served as an assistant coach for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.

A baseball standout in college, in 1994 Tomey was inducted into the DePauw University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Source: Arizona Daily Star

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