Rick Humphreys
WHILE Jordan tries his hand at golf, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is sticking to basketball, and at 7-2, what else is one to do? He met up with another former center, Bank of America honcho Rick Humphreys (who at 6-4 played the post at Punahou in high school days.) They were both at BofA's "Jammin' Hoops Camp" at Salt Lake District Park last week. Also on hand were 6-11 center Ervin Johnson of the Denver Nuggets and a guy Humprheys felt more at home with, San Antonio Spurs guard Avery Johnson, a mere 5-10. More than 1,300 kids took part in the camp and got their pictures taken with the NBA stars...
THE biggest basketball player I've ever seen up close and personal was at Jimmy Borges' Alana Hotel show Friday night. A star player from Japan, here for Pete Newell's "Big Man's Camp," he was there with Newell and former NBA star Wayne Embry, a longtime fan of Borges'. They introduced him as Chibi ("Tiny") but his coach, who was also with him, called him Yasu-san. I thought he was a hunchback when he walked into the room, as he had to lean over from his chest. I found out why when he stood upright and his head touched the ceiling. Not the rafters hanging down six inches or so, but the ceiling! You suppose Cleveland Cavaliers honcho Embry has his eye on Chibi? Only if he looks upward. Borges recalled from the stage that Embry played for Boston and asked when that was. Newell quipped, "About the time of Tea Party." ...
WHILE we're on the subject of television, the KHET airing of "Les Miserables" Saturday night resulted in a record for money raised in a single pledge program, $40,706 and counting. The previous record was $34,000 when Les Miz first aired in March. As one in attendance at the October '95 taping of the one-time-only 10th anniversary concert version of "Les Miz" at Prince Albert Hall in London, I co-hosted the pledge breaks with KHET G.M. Don Robbs. We were joined by KHET board chairman Jim Becker, who was in the opening night audience at the Rubicon Theater in London when the original show debuted 10 years ago. The TV audience response was remarkable - one call even came in from Honolulu Club founder Gene Axelrod in L.A., whose ladyfriend Jeannie told him about the show. He pledged $500 long distance. As one PBS volunteer put it, "That's a first." Mahalo to all who made pledges. ...
WE'RE not talking presidential politics here. But Miss Hawaii Teen USA '96, Monica Ivey, is in Las Cruces, New Mexico for the national Miss Teen USA pageant. CBS will televised the pageant Wednesday (8 p.m. on KGMB) and if you're connected to the Internet, you can cast your vote for her as Miss Photogenic by calling up http://www.missteenusa.com ...
