Arizona to wear uniforms honoring USS Arizona, Dick Tomey in opener

The Arizona Wildcats will kick off their 2019 season on Saturday in a road matchup against Hawaii.

On Wednesday, the team announced that it will be donning uniforms in honor of the U.S.S. Arizona and the late Dick Tomey, who was the head coach of both Hawaii (1977-86) and Arizona (1987-2000) before his passing in May earlier this year.

Honoring those who came before us! A man who impacted so many…and true heroes who made the ultimate commitment and sacrifice for our country.
🅰️#BuildingTheA | #BearDown pic.twitter.com/ir9zzoy3RP

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) August 21, 2019

The Wildcats’ helmets will feature the date of the Pearl Harbor attack (Dec. 7, 1941) along with the ship’s battle cry “At em’ Arizona” and a decal of one of the bells that belonged to the ship. One of the original bells is actually located at the student union on the school’s Tucson campus.

Arizona will also be honoring Tomey on Saturday by having a decal of his initials on the helmets as well.

In his tenure at the helm of Wildcat football, Tomey is probably best known for his “Desert Swarm” defense in the early 1990s, which former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer spoke of at the Fiesta Bowl luncheon on Tuesday.

His 95 wins are the most in school history and included seven bowl appearances (4-3 record) and two of the team’s three 10-win seasons to date in 1993 (10-2) and 1998 (12-1), the latter of which ended with Arizona ranked No. 4 in both the coaches and AP polls, the highest in school history.

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