LAST Nov. 30, 13 University of Hawaii football seniors took part in the Senior Walk at Aloha Stadium, that touching farewell ceremony after their final game in a Rainbow uniform. A moment to remember
for four seniorsDespite the profusion of leis, it was a bittersweet moment. They lost, 59-10, to Wisconsin, ending a 2-10 season -- the worst in UH football history.
It was a more upbeat occasion this past Sunday as four Rainbow football players -- Doe Henderson, Glenn Freitas, Lesa Maiava and Tony Thomas -- took part in the real senior walk. They received their bachelor's degrees at the commencement exercises at the Special Events Arena. For sure, the leis smelled a lot sweeter, this time around.
So, in the end, it really didn't matter if they had won a lot of football games or not. What mattered was that they got their college degrees, something nobody will ever take away from them.
Henderson majored in sociology, Maiava in Hawaiian studies. Thomas got a degree in business management. Freitas just needs a few credits this summer to finish up his teaching degree. But he wanted to walk the walk for the sake of his family and to join his other three teammates, who were among the 1,250 receiving their degrees.
The four were among the 25 original freshmen in the football recruiting class of 1992.
They could really be called the survivors, a term they used after the painful 1996 football season.
"We're the survivors, the soldiers, the ones who stuck it out," Henderson said. "It hasn't been easy on anybody going from first to worst. But I know I'll be a better man for it."
IT was more painful, perhaps, for Henderson than the others. After all, he had a chance to play as a true freshman in 1992, when the Rainbows shared their first-ever Western Athletic Conference football championship and followed up with a victory over Illinois in the Holiday Bowl.
It never got any better than that for Doe, a 5-foot-9, 182-pound defensive back from Los Angeles, who was first known as Demitreus when he showed up at Cooke Field.
Since that grand 1992 season, the Rainbows went 6-6, 3-8-1, 4-8 and 2-10 and had a change of coaches.
Henderson, who redshirted in 1995 because of a back injury, had the distinction of being the only UH player in this year's Hooters Hula Bowl.
Thomas, a running back, is also from Los Angeles, while Freitas, who quarterbacked the Rainbows, and linebacker Maiava are products of Oahu's public high schools -- Glenn coming from Waianae and Maiava from Kahuku.
THE four might have come in during the best of times and ended their football careers at the worst of times. But as seniors they left an enduring impression on their new coach, Fred vonAppen.
"Their senior campaign must have been frustrating from a won-lost standpoint. (But) the 13 seniors we had on our team were a special bunch of guys," vonAppen said.
"I wish we had Doe under our tutelage longer than we did. In my one-year association with him, he has been a model student."
Thomas was also an exemplary student, according to vonAppen.
"Glenn is already working with the kids at Waianae. They want him for their football program again and I can see why. He's a competitor," vonAppen said.
They got their degrees and proudly took part in the commencement exercises, making it all worth the while in the end.
The four didn't just earn a letter in football. They got their college degrees.
"They can walk out with something to go to the marketplace with," vonAppen said. "That's what it's all about."