Robert Cranford Funeral Home

Home to the largest copper mine in the United States, Morenci is a company town, at the time owned almost completely by the Phelps Dodge Corporation. Practically every man in Morenci worked for the mine, and every boy knew that his future lay in its depths.Soon after Peterson arrived, Helen Arnold, an English teacher at the town’s small public school, announced a pop quiz. Unprepared, the class breathed a sigh of relief when the principal said that anyone meeting with Peterson could skip the test. Immediately, volunteers ran out, almost trampling each other.Not long after listening to the sergeant’s well-developed recruiting pitch promising adventure and an escape from a future toiling in the mine, nine young men signed up, including eight members of the Class of 1966. Bobby Draper hesitated, but came along after his friends taunted, “Come on Draper, you’re gutless. Let’s go join the Marines.”The light-complexioned, heavyset Draper had short-cropped blond hair and was an Explorer Scout and all-state linebacker. That day several people, including his football coach, Truman Williamson, tried talking him out of joining the Marines, but he persisted. Draper agreed with his comrade, Mike Cranford, who observed: “We were small-town people. We still believed in mom and apple pie. It was part of my duty as a man, growing up, to join the service. They didn’t have to draft us.”On July 4, Draper headed to boot camp in San Diego with his eight friends. The drill instructors immediately pounced, yelling obscenities and questioning their sexuality. They forced them onto the yellow footsteps painted on the ground, heels together and toes pointed out with barely any room in front or behind them.Draper and his friends stayed together in Platoon 1055. Their camaraderie was important; it kept him going after the drill instructors singled him out, questioning whether “Pig” (their nickname for him) was willing to kill because of his Mormon faith. Draper often fell behind on long, tortuou... (New York Times)

FOXSports.comRollie Massimino, who won more than 800 college basketball games and coached Villanova to an improbable national title in 1985, has died at the age of 82.Massimino had been battling lung cancer. He died at his home in Florida."We just thought if anybody was going to beat cancer and never die, you just thought it was going to be coach Mass,'' Villanova coach Jay Wright said Wednesday. "We watched him really struggle at the end, so it's nice that he went peacefully and with his family. But it's a big void in this Villanova basketball family because his presence was just so powerful. It impacted current players, current coaches, all his players, the players that came before him, coaches before him. He was just larger than life."Massimino was best known for leading an eighth-seeded Villanova team to a 66-64 victory against No. 1 seed Georgetown and Patrick Ewing in the 1985 championship game. Massimino compiled a 355-241 record in 19 seasons at Villanova before leaving for UNLV in 1992.Rollie Massimino coached Villanova to one of the greatest upsets -- and titles -- in college basketball history. But long after that 1985 victory over Georgetown, Massimino kept coaching, at unknown outposts, because he was a coach until the end."He's like a father to me," said Ed Pinckney, who starred on Villanova's championship team. "We talked about life, not basketball. I still talked to him all the time. My youngest son, Austin, played for him at Northwood."Ewing, now the Hoyas' head coach, said in a statement, "The Georgetown family is deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Rollie Massimino.""Coach Massimino recruited me to Villanova in 1981 and we always bonded over our Boston ties. Even though his 1985 team beat us, I have always had nothing but great respect and admiration for him. Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time," Ewing said.Massimino spent two seasons at UNLV (1992-93 and 1993-94) and also was the head coach at Cleveland State for seven seas... (ESPN)