I received an e-mail from a former newspaper colleague about the recent passing of a gentleman named Carl Rollins.

The note said: Do you know this guy?

I did not know him, but I knew of him. Most people who followed high school football back in the 1960s did.

It was a time when Phoenix and its suburbs were growing bigger and bigger by the day. A few new schools were opening in the west Valley. One was Maryvale, the other Alhambra.

The two schools even looked like each other. They had the same design, the same construction, along with new East Phoenix High along 48^th Street just north of Van Buren.

Maryvale developed an immediate rivalry with Alhambra. Until Trevor Browne opened in the early 1970s, Maryvale and Alhambra became one of the top rivalries in the Valley. It was when the Phoenix Union High School District was in its heyday.

I wasn’t of high school age in the early-mid 1960s, but I remember some of the names. I lived in the Alhambra attendance zone, and my heroes were guys like running back Larry Hampshire, linemen like big Joe Lugo, a tough guy named Lynn Larson and a quarterback named Larry Yancy.

Rollins was the head coach at Maryvale, and he had his share of stars – quarterback Craig Holland and a pair of great defensive backs – Mike Clupper and Bill Glatch.  Clupper went on to star at Arizona State and was head coach at Tempe Marcos de Niza in the early 1990s. Holland played at Northern Arizona, was the long-time head coach at Flagstaff High and now is in his first season at Avondale Agua Fria.

Rollins was a rugged guy who was raised in Wyoming and Utah, played for the University of Wyoming and was running backs coach at BYU. He also was a serviceman – serving his country in the U.S. Army.

When you played a Carl Rollins team, you knew you were in for a tough one.

Rollins left Maryvale in the late 1960s and became head coach at nearby Glendale Community (junior) College and wrapped up his coaching career as an assistant at Mesa Community College.

He died on Aug. 21 at the age of 92. He lived a full life and accomplished many things. His family was very proud of him.

His football players were his family, too. Many of them remember what their coaches teach them as if it were yesterday.

I glanced through the online guestbook for Rollins. One of the people who wrote a note was the aforementioned Bill Glatch.

The note said, “When I hear the sounds of pads and helmets clashing as I coach or watch a game, I will remember him for the things he taught me on and off the field.’’

Those are the perfect words to describe what Rollins meant to his athletes.