MESA, Ariz. — Nearly 30 years have passed since the Mountain View High School boys basketball team pulled off the unthinkable: going a perfect 31-0 on their way to a State Championship. Although Hollywood hasn't called to do a movie (yet), you can read about the Toros’ magical run in a new book called “Unbeatable: A Perfect Team, A Coaching Icon.”
The 200-page book was written by Mesa native and Mountain View alum Ben Stapley. In addition to documenting a storybook season, Stapley wrote the book to honor Arizona’s all-time winningest coach, Gary Ernst. The longtime Toro helped bring seven State Championships to Mountain View but his first in 1995 is, arguably, the most memorable.
“Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork. It's easy to preach that and say it but that team defined that better than anyone I've ever heard of,” Stapley said. “Part of what helped me get this done was just the inspiration of those guys realizing what they've done and how hard they worked. Perseverance is a big deal.”
Stapley has been covering high school sports in State 48 for more than two decades but writing about the 31-0 Toros was one of the most rewarding experiences of his career. It took Stapley 25 months to finish “Unbeatable.” Two years ago, players from the 1995 team approached Stapley with the idea of doing something special for Coach Ernst. In 2022, Mountain View moved on from the legendary coach, ending his run with the Toros after nearly 40 years. Ernst and Stapley felt the love from their community at a book signing on Mountain View’s campus earlier this month, where former players and their kids were among the people lining up to get their copies of “Unbeatable.”
“This team had a couple of junior college players, no D-I players whatsoever, and what they are able to do because they were so close, so tight with each other really was remarkable,” Ernst said. “Ben did a super job putting the book together and really very accurate. It was riveting. It was just one of those things I read until eyes got tired and then I started reading again because it was just it was cool to reminisce.”
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