One of the more well-known ballplayers on the Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) baseball team is left-handed hitter Brad Tolson.
Brad, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, was an outstanding pitcher on the University of Arizona baseball team from 1948 to 1951. In fact, his dad, Andy Tolson, was a star hurler for the Arizona Wildcats from 1922 to 1926.
What a bloodline!
Brad, at one point in his career at Arizona, won 16 games in a row, winning 10 games to end the season in 1950 and followed up with six straight wins to open the 1951 season. Brad leaves the pitching duties to the younger players on the TOTS team, but he does play a mean first base and can still pick those wild throws out of the dirt with ease. Brad is still blessed with a sweet swing at the plate. Brad finished the month of June with a healthy .462 batting average for the TOTS as he went 12 for 26 with eight RBI.
As for his UofA pitching performances decades ago, "I don't recall if it (the win streak) was a record or not...that was a long time ago." However, he does remember having his streak stopped by USC. "I never won a game against USC, but my dad did." That...he remembers.
FAO DAN PRICE re Brad TOLSON;Do you have a contact email for Brad please as I am researching my family history and Brad's Gt Grandfather Benjamin TOLSON was my Gt Gt Grandfather.Benjamin left England for America around 1870 to work in the Pennsylvania Steelworks,he never returned and is buried in Silentland Cemetery Spearville Kansas.My email is sandraheppenstall@gmail.com
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I will e mail you Brad's Tucson address. Brad Tolson is a legend with UofA baseball and the TOTS. Good luck.
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