This is part of a series listing an Arizona high school and finding its five all-time greatest athletes, male or female, as selected by The Arizona Republic. It's not just about what they did in high school; the body of work beyond also is taken into strong consideration when finding these Forever Fives.
Gilbert Highland
After Highland opened in Gilbert's sprawling farm land in 1992, several top athletes emerged from the school in the latter part of that decade through 2020. Its range of elite athletic alumni is diverse. This list includes one of the NFL's top journeyman quarterbacks ever, the fastest runner in Arizona history, an Olympic medal-winning gymnast, MLB pitcher, and an NFL linebacker. Here are the top five to ever don Hawks uniforms.
1. Ryan Fitzpatrick
After 15 seasons in the NFL and staving off retirement for another run in 2020, Fitzpatrick has become perhaps the most accomplished Arizona-bred quarterback in the league's history. After graduating from Harvard, winning the 2004 Ivy League Player of the Year award, he was drafted by the St. Louis Rams. During his pro career, which has seen him play for eight teams, Fitzpatrick has completed 60.3 percent of his passes with 210 touchdowns against 161 interceptions, and run for 19 more touchdowns.
He's known by the moniker "Fitzmagic" moniker, which he got with Buffalo in 2010-11 when he led the Bills to historic comeback wins and put up huge passing numbers. In 2018, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Fitzmagic was back with a vengeance, as Fitzpatrick became the first NFL quarterback to throw for at least 400 yards in three consecutive games.
2. Leo Daschbach
One of the best distance runners in not just Arizona high school history, but in U.S. history. The two-time Arizona Republic boys high school Athlete of the Year and the 2020 Gatorade Arizona Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year Daschbacj blitzed past his competition throughout much of his career at Highland. He's racked up records and awards in the process as a junior and senior. Daschbach was also The Republic's 2019 Boys Cross Country and Track and Field Runner of the Year. He has Arizona's top-ranked and the nation's all-time second-best 5K record of 14 minutes, 14.26 seconds when he won the Sole Boys Sweepstakes 5K race at Grande World Sports Complex in Case Grande in September 2019. He's also a two-time Division I individual champion in cross country and led the Hawks to two team state titles in 2017 and 2019. To cap off his remarkable four-year run, Daschbach snared the coveted sub-4 mile at Quarantine Clasico at Oak Ridge High School (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) in May.
3. Alex Naddour
One of the best gymnasts in Arizona history, Naddour took home the bronze medal in his specialty, pommel horse, at the 2106 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the first medal in that event for a Team USA member since 1984. He also was part of bronze medal-winning U.S. teams at the World Championships in 2011 and 2014, as well as a gold-medal U.S. effort at the 2014 Pacific Rim Championship. Naddour is a five-time U.S. champion and three-time world finalist in pommel horse.
4. Shane Loux
Drafted out of high school by the Detroit Tigers in 1997, Loux was one of the best pitchers ever to come out of Highland. After five years in the minor leagues, Loux made his MLB debut in 2002 and appeared in three games. Over the next two seasons Loux went 1–4 for the Tigers in 44.1 innings, with 15 strikeouts and 15 walks. Loux was released by the Tigers after he was moved to Triple A in 2003 and 2004.
Loux's arsenal consisted of a sinker that clocked in the low 90s, cutter in the mid-80s, curveball and changeup. He had a series of additional minor league stints with the Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants between 2008-12. He ended his MLB career 4-7 with a 5.94 ERA and 47 strikeouts.
5. Marquis Cooper
Cooper was an all-state linebacker who played at Washington before he was drafted in the third-round (79th overall) by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004. His NFL career spanned four years on five other teams, including the Minnesota Vikings, Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders. His had 37 total tackles during his pro career before tragedy struck in 2009. Cooper was presumed dead after he went missing along with three other passengers in a boating accident off the Gulf Coast near Clearwater, Florida.
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