Every August, Sun Devil Football heads to Camp Tontozona to prepare for the season. Few people know the camp better than Dave Boller.
As football operations director from 1985 to 1995, after beginning as a student manager while earning his business degree at Arizona State, Boller helped keep the program running behind the scenes during one of the greatest eras in school history, including the 1986 Rose Bowl championship season.
Four decades later, he still makes it a point to stop by and relive the memories.
“My family has a cabin right in Christopher Creek, so I’ll stop in once a year and just reminisce,” Boller said.
And Boller has a lot to reminisce about.
"There was no one doing what we were doing. It was the most unique thing in college football. There were no off-season camps like Tontozona at the time," he said.
“It was just incredible for me to be a part of something that amazing. I’ve been fortunate to make those lifelong friendships.”
Working behind the scenes at Camp Tontozona
While Boller wasn’t in the trenches with the team, he and the football operations staff kept camp running.
His days consisted of driving the equipment truck, hauling laundry up and down the hills, painting and lining the practice field, transporting the goalposts and making sure the meeting rooms were ready for coaches and players.
"We had to haul the video department and classroom stuff. We’d bring up TVs for the meeting rooms and a big screen if you could find one. It was hard to get 11 overheads in there - we were doing transparencies back then - because there were no computers. The wheels would get stuck,” he recalled.
Every evening brought another mountain of laundry. Every morning meant repainting the field before practice began.
"It was probably just as much of a workout for us as it was for the guys."
The road from Camp Tontozona to the 1987 Rose Bowl
Like every Sun Devil Football team since 1959, the 1986 Sun Devils started the season at Camp Tontozona. Boller believes the time spent together in the pines outside Payson helped shape the chemistry that carried the team through one of the greatest seasons in program history.
That journey ended on New Year's Day 1987 in the Rose Bowl against Michigan.
For Boller, one moment stands above the rest.
"I was coming out of that tunnel before the game started and seeing how many people were there," he said, fighting back tears.
"Coach is standing there with the guys behind him, and you could see the look. They were not intimidated at all. He wasn't scared. None of the guys were. They were on the biggest stage they'd ever been on."
Staying cool under pressure, the Pac-10 champion Sun Devils erased a 15-13 halftime deficit to defeat Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan Wolverines 22-15, securing the first Rose Bowl victory in school history.
"Man, once they got going, they knew they were better than they were."
The brotherhood that never fades
The roster Boller watched grow at Camp Tontozona became one of the most accomplished in Sun Devil history, producing Hall of Famers Eric Allen, Randall McDaniel and John Cooper, while quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst earned a place in the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.
Yet Boller says the team's legacy isn't measured only by championships and accolades.
"It's just the greatest atmosphere for the guys to bond," he said.
“I think every team is close, but now everybody goes to three or four different colleges. But the bond between this team has always been really tight. Most of them were together for four and five years.”
Now, on the 40th anniversary of that championship season, those relationships remain as strong as ever.
The team reunites often at alumni golf tournaments, weddings, trips back to Camp T, and games at Mountain America Stadium.
"We look forward to seeing each other anywhere we can all come together,” Boller said.
That bond was evident again when members of the 1986 team reunited for Eric Allen’s Pro Football Hall of Fame induction in 2025.
"I had a group of ASU guys come out, which was so important to me because I wanted every phase of my football life to be represented,” said Allen.
Allen said Boller played a significant role in helping players navigate college life beyond football.
"He was like the older brother. He was instrumental in helping us navigate a lot of the hurdles that come up within the team. He was a little older and had experience because he’d probably seen it or heard it before,” Allen recalled.
More importantly, Boller helped the players off the field and beyond football.
"He might not know this, but he helped us understand that there were opportunities in the program that were not about playing football,” said Allen. “Whenever you can give someone an idea and hope to be involved in something they love doing without being able to play, that goes far beyond any X and O’s.”
Elaborating further, Allen said, "I think that’s the biggest thing that Dave gave to most of us, that there are spots for you on a football team that aren’t about the depth chart. It’s about your love and your passion for the game. You can display those things outside the football field, and ultimately, that’s lifelong."
A Sun Devil for Life
Looking back, Boller doesn’t remember just the Rose Bowl victory.
He remembers the early mornings, the laundry runs, the creek, the cabins and the friendships built in the pines outside Payson.
For him, Camp Tontozona is more than a football camp. It’s a rite of passage, and it’s where some of the best years of his life began.