This led to the creation of the Hohokam Junior College Athletic Conference (HJCAC). The board believed that the formation of a conference was essential for policy development, rules oversight, and an eventual return to the NJCAA. In an attempt to return football to the valley it was important for the board to work cohesively with various individuals and entities including special advisors to the board with various ties to community college football, NCAA football, and strategic business partnerships. The creation of the non-profit Athletic Advancement Association of America (AAAA) became the foundation for the return of football. Recognizing the long odds in actually seeing a reversal of the decision led a couple of coaches to begin securing corporate level sponsorship through a non-profit to bring community college football back to the State of Arizona. We conservatively estimate that those football programs generated more than $8million annually in 4-year scholarship opportunities to their student-athletes.īelieving in the importance of Junior College Athletics as a fundamental step in promoting the transformational growth of young people in our community, we could not sit back and accept this tragic loss of opportunity. This resulted in the loss of athletic and academic opportunities for more than 750+ student-athletes from within the Arizona Community. As a result of this decision Pima Community College, Arizona Western College, and Eastern Arizona College also predictably dropped each of their respective football programs leaving the State of Arizona completely void of football at the community college level. It’s a place for them to celebrate the accomplishments of their ancestors.All of you are aware of the decision made February 2018, by the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) to eliminate football at the four MCCCD football schools after the 2018 season.

He hopes the site, along with other significant Hohokam locales – like Pueblo Grande – inspire a sense of connection to the land and the past in area residents, especially indigenous peoples.Ībbott, an associate professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said, “I think it’s very important for Native American communities. Abbott calls Mesa Grande a once powerful political center that controlled water for farming in the region.

In a July 4 Arizona Republic article regarding the opening, Arizona State University archaeologist and Hohokam specialist David R. Nearly 30 years after archaeologist Jerry Howard began working to save and secure access to the site, the Arizona Museum of Natural History is preparing to open to the public Mesa Grande, as well as a 1,200-square-foot welcoming center. Mesa Grande – the ruins of an important Hohokam village located in northwest Mesa – is considered one of Arizona’s major prehistoric treasures yet has long been closed to the public. Today, evidence of that ancient people remains across the greater Phoenix valley. Centuries ago, in central Arizona, the Hohokam created the largest system of canals in prehistoric North America.

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