Cleveland Colter was an outstanding football player and attended Northern Arizona University on a football scholarship and later Phoenix College.  In high school, he was chosen for the All-State team in 1968-69.  As a Tiger Football player, he averaged 38 points a game and scored 21 touchdowns in one season.  In 1969, he carried the ball 148 times and averaged 8.6 yards per carry.  At the 1969 state championship game, he scored all of Marana’s 21 points which led that team to the Class B State Championship.  Mr. Colter will long be remembered for his many contributions to Marana’s football history and his amazing athletic ability.  As his coach Don Hawkins said, “He always let you know where he stood on things, so you had to respect him.”  Mr. Colter continued to be involved in football as a Pop Warner Football coach from 1973-76.Colter dominated on both sides of the ball during his days with the Tigers. He was Captain of the All-State defense as a linebacker in 1968 and was also a first-team All-State halfback that year.

Colter won four state championships as a senior — football, basketball, baseball, and track— and was also an All-State fullback on Marana’s 1967 championship football team.

One son, Cleveland “Cadillac” Colter III, was an All-American at USC, and another, Spencer Colter, won a national championship with Colorado in 1990. His grandson, Kain, is the starting quarterback at Northwestern. Cleveland II died under anesthesia in the mid-1970s after going in for a dental appointment.