The last time I spoke with Roland LaVetter two years ago for an article I was writing about Lever “Fat” Lafayette, his star player at Pueblo High School in the late 1970s, LaVetter told me he tried to stay active by regularly riding his bike around the neighborhood.
He told me that being 80 wasn’t going to stop him.
LaVetter’s conversation about Lever, which led the Warriors to state titles in 1976-77 and 1977-78, turned to family. His players were part of his family.
“We moved (Lever) to college when he was a sophomore, so he stuck with me a lot,” he said with a laugh. “His children are our children. They were like family members. This is how we worked.
LaVetter, 82, lived to be 80 and took memories of success with him throughout his storied career at Pueblo and Rincon/University. He died Saturday at age 82.
“He’s like my godfather,” Lever said in the 2020 story, which was part of the 52Oh So Good series featuring local talent who made it big.
Lever knew LaVetter from Lever’s days as a youngster playing the Boys & Girls Club.
The former ASU and Denver Nuggets standout point guard also spoke about the impact of the legendary Pueblo tennis coach, administrator and advisor. Ed Nunez done on his life. Nuñez, part of Pueblo’s first graduating class of 1960, died shortly after the story was published from kidney failure at age 78.
“They’ve all supported me through good times and bad,” Lever said of LaVetter and Nuñez, both Pima County Hall of Famers like him. “You learn to be who you are – not what everyone thinks you are – around these types of people.”
Pueblo’s new gymnasium is named after Lever and the old one is named after LaVetter.
La Vetter’s brother Mandrel was a longtime coach at Thatcher’s Eastern Arizona College.
LaVetter, a Tucson High graduate who also earned his education degree in Arizona, moved from Pueblo to Rincon/University in 1980 and coached there for a decade. He ended his coaching career leading the Pueblo women’s basketball program in the early 1990s.
His son Lance LaVetter was an outstanding guard at Rincon/University while playing for his father. He then played at Pima College and NAU before embarking on his coaching career. He eventually landed coaching jobs as an assistant in New Mexico State, the women’s basketball program in Portland and then St. Louis before becoming director of basketball operations in Washington.
He was with the Huskies for 12 seasons before being an assistant at Seattle University from 2015 to 2017.
The young LaVetter, who graduated from Rincon/University in 1986, went on to serve as director of basketball operations and assistant coach in San Diego for five years before becoming athletic director at Wenatchee (Wash.) Valley College in July.
Levi Koenen is a former Rincon/University football player who had the elder LaVetter as his social studies teacher before he graduated in 1991.
“Roland held you accountable, but he also showed so much love and care to everyone he came in contact with,” said Koenen, who became a local high school administrator and assistant football coach.
“When he walked through the halls of Rincon, the students went out of their way to say hello or give him a high five.”
Funeral arrangements are pending.
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Javier Morales, publisher, writer and editor of ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com, is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News, and Baseball America, among many other publications. He is also the author of the book “The Highest Form of Living”, available on Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is currently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.