Virgil Stan

Virgil Stan lived in Tucson, AZ since 1956. He began his 33-year teaching and coaching career in Tucson Unified School District at Tucson High School. He then moved to Sahuaro High School as the head football coach and History/Geography teacher when it opened in 1968 until his retirement in 1989. He was an outstanding teacher and coach and often said the best part of teaching was seeing students years later who told him how much he positively impacted their lives. As a coach, he never wavered from doing the right thing and never sold his soul to win a game. He was an expert in the history of the Southwest as well as Native American culture and lore.

He graduated from Western Colorado University in Gunnison, CO with both Bachelor and Master degrees. While there, he was a four-sport athlete, but was a standout in football, as a quarterback and punter. He was named All-American Mountain Athletic Conference and Little All-American (from smaller colleges) as a quarterback in his sophomore, junior, and senior years. As a junior, he led the nation in punting with a 45-yard average. He also finished ninth nationally in passing and 12th in total offense. Additionally, he finished second in the conference in scoring with 80 points. He minimally played two varsity sports a year and in his sophomore year, he received varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball, and track. He was elected to his college Sports Hall of Fame, the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame as well as the Sahuaro High School Hall of Fame.

He was a true Renaissance man, with great humor, unwavering faith and strong intellect. His talents and accomplishments were extensive:

• Virgil served in the Army during the Korean war and received the National Defense Service medal.
• He was an avid reader, skier, bicyclist, and runner.
• His “green thumb” created an oasis backyard in the home where he raised his children. His masonry skills (at his home of 43 years) were unsurpassed and resulted in a newspaper article and photos in the AZ Daily Star.
• As a hobby, he created Southwest turquoise and silver jewelry.
• He had a lifelong love of music as a singer. He was an actor, appearing in 43 musicals at SALOC (Southern Arizona Light Opera Company), Corral Theatre, and University of Arizona summer theater with his best friend Peter Marroney. He and Helen also acted in many Kodak commercials.
• He was a founding member of Holy Resurrection Eastern Orthodox Church and sang for many years as their cantor and in the choir. He belonged to SARCOA (Southern Arizona Retired Coaches/Officials Association) and spent most weekday mornings with them having coffee at McDonalds. He was the emcee at their monthly meetings and organized many bi-annual golf tournaments.
• He loved to entertain, cook, landscape, golf, garden, complete Bible word searches and Sudoku puzzles, and most importantly, spend time with his family.

Virgil was married to his wife and the love of his life, Helen, for 64 years. She passed away in 2019. He is survived by his four daughters - Cynthia (John) Riesgo, Melissa (Phil) Agnew, Julia (Tony) Stan, and Jennifer (Carl) Berk. He dearly loved his eight surviving grandchildren: Dylan Johnson, Morgan (Johnson) Zell, Adam Fischer, Tyler McClees, Ashley (Riesgo) Noble, Chesley Riesgo, and Garrett and Briana Berk. Five great-grandchildren also loved their “Mo.”

He touched so many lives - ballplayers, students, colleagues, friends and especially his family. He was a true gentleman who valued his family above all else.

He was our husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, teacher, coach, leader and our strength. Most importantly, he was Helen’s best friend. There was never a man so generous with his heart, his time, his knowledge, and his love. We will never forget what he gave us because that is who we are. If you can tell the success of a man by the number of friends, he was truly successful. He will be sorely missed by his family and many friends.