Sabino High is a public secondary education school located in Tucson, Arizona. Located on the northeast side of the city, it is a part of the Tucson Unified School District. The principal is Kevin Amidan. History The school was established in 1972 in response to the boom of Tucson, Arizona's east side in the 1960s and 1970s. It is named after nearby Sabino Canyon. (Contemporary establishments Santa Rita High School and Sahuaro High School have similar facilities.) Starting with grades 9 and 10, it finally had a full graduating class in 1975. This class chose the school colors purple and gold, and chose Sabercats as the mascot. A committee of freshman at Sahuaro who were going to transfer as sophomores into Sabino came up with the choices put up to a vote of all of the incoming sophomores. The other option was maroon and silver, with the mascot of the Toros. In the early years of the school, a junior high (grades 7 and 8) was located on the same campus. Sports Sabino has a rich sports tradition, mainly in the sport of football. Apart from football Sabino has also won team state championships in volleyball (1989) softball(1991) cheerleading (2004, 2010) golf (1986), baseball (1997), men's (1995, 2005) and women's soccer (1996, 2008), swimming and diving, cross country (2007), and track and field, and individual state titles in wrestling and tennis. Early years Sabino struggled through its first two decades. Coached by Don Holley in their first varsity seasons, the Sabercats struggled for wins, culminating with an 0–20 record in Coach Holley's last two seasons. Those struggles were soon forgotten with the arrival of Arizona high school coaching legend Ollie Mayfield, who had led perennial state championship contenders at Tucson High School. Mayfield instilled a sense of pride and commitment that spurred Sabino to its first playoff game in 1977 against cross town powerhouse Amphi. Mayfield was still quite popular at Tucson High, so end zone bleachers at Rincon High School were added to accommodate the overflow crowd. Sabino lost, but it was the beginning of a superpower football program in Arizona. In 1978, Mayfield led Sabino back to the playoffs where the Sabercats stunned No. 1 ranked Sunnyside 24–7. Sabino advanced to the state playoffs for the first time, but lost to Phoenix Washington 7–3. Mayfield continued with his successes in 1979, again moving the team into the playoffs