Tucson was founded by an Irish general serving the Spanish government, Hugo Oconor. He built the fort to close the Mexico border and keep out the Apaches.
Phoenix owes its existence in great part to William John Murphy who came to Arizona after fighting under Sherman in the Atlanta campaign during the Civil War. He organized the company that built the Arizona canals that irrigate Phoenix and later became a developer who brought the citrus industry to Arizona.
The Brophys are famous for their work in mining and ranching and their role in trying to recover the Irish orphans kidnapped back in 1904 at Clifton-Morenci, Arizona, when New York nuns tried to place the children with Mexican miners' families. I gave my son the option to go to Brophy College Prep run by the Jesuits, but he chose public school instead.
Irish nuns built the pioneering hospitals in Phoenix and Tucson and eventually drew my wife and I into their orbit where the planets collided and we ran off to Yaqui point at the Grand Canyon and got married (don't tell Father Boroughs). The famous Barrow Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital has a pavilion named for a very famous Irishman, Muhammad Ali.
Over the years my wife made many trips to the Yaqui outside of Tucson to review management of their health care needs. Didn't think to much about it. Then one day while I was fixing up the Little League field for fall ball, a guy walks up and says:
"Hi, I'm Cisco, I have a team from Clarendon [just south of our league boundary]. Can my kids play with you guys?"
"Sure," Says I, "The more the merrier."
Over the years this worked out well for both sides with Cisco calling us whenever his travel team, the Yaqui, needed a player. Turns out Cisco's from Sonora and a big fan of the Yaqui de Obregon baseball team. Now I'm curious about the Yaqui de Obregon who turn out to be the Yaqui of O'Brian, carrying the name of a Mexican president who was the scion of Irish immigrants.
I wonder if Cisco sleeps with his socks on?
Jim McManus
Proud sponsor, Yaqui de Phoenix
PS: I have been trying convince my wife unsuccessfully for some years now that she is Irish, since as all good classic scholars should know ... Hispanic is the identity resulting from the marriage of the Italians (aka Romans) and Irish (aka Spain's Celts). I ask her, "Can I call you Irish? No! Can I call you Italian? No! Can I call you Hispanic? No! Can I call you my Latin love? Yes!!!!
Jimmy Mac, top row, second from your left.
