Coach Wally Dobbins was born in 1922 and raised in Montana, son of a vagabond and raised by his grandmother after his mother passed in 1929. Wally previously worked as a teacher and coach in Montana before joining the CIA and was stationed in Taipei, Guam, and Marana Air Park (renamed Pinal Air Park). Upon leaving the “outfit” he returned to teaching and coaching at Marana, and helped lead the school to many championship athletic seasons working alongside Coaches Norm Patton and xxxx. He retired from teaching in 1987 while at Butterfield Elementary, but his real passion was working with the underpriveleged student athletes in Marana. He passed in 2002 at age 80. He was married to a Montana gal, Marian Loeken Dobbins, and together they raised three boys, David, Jeff, and Peter, all living in the Tucson area. Marian passed away in Tucson in 2022. Both the folks are interned in Stevensville, Montana.

He grew up in the northwest and served in the Army with the Corps of Engineers in the Philippines and Okinawa during World War II.

After the war, Wally joined the smokejumpers and fought forest fires for eight summers. He jumped at Missoula, 1947-51, 55, 57, and Grangeville in 1952. He graduated from the University of Montana in 1952 and was recruited by the CIA on a project in Taiwan.