The Sun Devils Down the Road: ASU's Polytechnic Campus and Gilbert's College Team
Arizona State's Polytechnic campus sits on Gilbert's border at the old Williams air base — and ASU sports run through this town's living rooms. November's stretch run, from Gilbert's seat.
Gilbert has a university at its edge, which most suburbs cannot say. Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus occupies the former Williams Air Force Base in Mesa, minutes from Gilbert's eastern neighborhoods — a campus of engineering, technology and aviation programs, its own Sun Devil teams in club and intramural sports, and a daily flow of Gilbert students, faculty and staff. On autumn Saturdays, its loyalties point up the freeway to Tempe, where ASU's football team plays the games the whole East Valley watches.
The Sun Devils' November is the season's proving stretch: the Big 12 race resolving, bowl position at stake, and the Territorial Cup against Arizona waiting at the end of the month — the rivalry game that divides Gilbert's neighborhoods, offices and Thanksgiving tables with genuine feeling. ASU's recent resurgence has restored the program's national standing, and the East Valley's expectations have risen to meet it.
The Gilbert-to-ASU pipeline is a story in itself. The town's high schools — Highland, Campo Verde, Gilbert, Mesquite, Higley, Williams Field — have sent generations of athletes to Tempe across every sport, and ASU's recruiting presence in Gilbert's gyms and on its fields is a standing feature of the local sports economy. The town's youth leagues play in the shadow of a university they can see.
Polytechnic's own sporting life deserves its coverage too: the campus's aviation program flies from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway next door, its student teams compete, and its facilities anchor the sports calendar of Gilbert's east side. A town that grew as a suburb has become a college town in fact, whatever the map says.
Our sports desk will cover ASU from Gilbert's seat — the Sun Devils' stretch run, the local recruits in every sport, and Poly's own programs — because in this town, maroon and gold are local colors. The forks are up all over Gilbert. November will tell what they're worth.