THE day the music died is a lyric Kamehameha School coaches Kanani Souza and George Lumpkin can still hum. Kamehameha's Souza, Lumpkin still in tune
In a week, it will be two years since the two former coordinators and longtime coaches at the University of Hawaii were told to hit the road, Jack, and don't come back, no more, no more, no more, no more.
It's humiliating enough telling your family and friends that you lost your job. Imagine what it would be like answering questions about your pending pink slip on television, or reading about it in the local newspapers. Souza and Lumpkin know.
But unlike most members of Bob Wagner's last staff at Hawaii, Souza and Lumpkin remained on the island - for the sake of their families.
They heard it was time for a cool change if the Rainbows were to again become a box office smash.
Never mind Lumpkin's 22 years with the UH program or Souza's 10. Forget that they were an intricate part of the only championship season Hawaii enjoyed since joining the Western Athletic Conference in 1979.
You guys are gone. The president and athletic director - who in 1995 had six years at UH between them - said so. Thanks for the memories.
FAST forward to tonight's Interscholastic League of Honolulu final between Kamehameha and St. Louis for the right to play in the Prep Bowl. For two coaches supposedly past their prime, Lumpkin and Souza find themselves back in the high life again.
They put together a masterful game plan that led to a stunning 34-15 victory over St. Louis less than a week ago. It snapped the Crusaders' 31-game winning streak and sets up one of the more intriguing local high school games in recent memory.
There's also a twist of fate entwined in tonight's game.
For years at UH, Lumpkin and Souza had to look over their shoulder to see if St. Louis coach Cal Lee was gaining on them.
During Wagner's waning years, a strong and vocal contingent wanted Lee to take over and return UH to its glory days. Ironically, Souza and Lumpkin helped start that glorious tradition at Hawaii.
All three interviewed with Hawaii athletic director Hugh Yoshida for the UH head coaching position in December of 1995, but none got the job. Lee remained at St. Louis, but Souza and Lumpkin found themselves unemployed.
They've rebounded nicely, but some bitterness remains over Wagner's firing. In their minds, current head coach Fred vonAppen's complaints about the plight of the program aren't new. Wagner had been saying the same thing for years.
IN 1993, Wagner said the UH athletic department needed to address the changing academic rules or suffer the consequences. He didn't think the team was marketing itself properly and said the Rainbows needed to revamp the ticket structure at Aloha Stadium to maximize profits.
But instead of listening or shouldering part of the blame for the decline of the football program, the UH administration pointed the finger at Wagner and quickly pulled the trigger. That left Lumpkin and Souza wondering what was next for two old coaches in a young man's game.
At the time, Yoshida cited dwindling attendance as the main reason for the dismissals. Wagner and his coaches were leaning too hard on old, familiar ways. But this evening's ILH championship could draw more people to Aloha Stadium than tomorrow's nondescript game between Hawaii and Northeast Louisiana.
And somehow that's fitting for Souza and Lumpkin, who with a win tonight, will play in the Prep Bowl two years to the day the music died.
Paul Arnett has been covering sports
for the Star-Bulletin since 1990.
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