Friday, April 3, 1998
UH fall practices
return to campus
Hawaii's football team
By Paul Arnett
bids farewell to Barbers Point
Star-BulletinThe University of Hawaii bid a fond farewell to Barbers Point.
UH head football coach Fred vonAppen announced yesterday that the Rainbows will conduct this year's fall camp practices at Cooke Field.
For the past two years, vonAppen sequestered his team at the Naval Air Station to promote what he liked to call "wall-to-wall football."
There are several reasons why the team will return to campus. Chief among them is the unsettled situation at Barbers Point.
"First of all, they're going through quite a transition out there," vonAppen said of the base's pending closure. "There is also a new commander out there that we haven't dealt with before.
"We also found ourselves in a difficult situation out there last year because it rained so much. We ended up having to go to Aloha Stadium several times to practice on the turf and that cost us a ton of money.
"We have a turf field available to us on campus should it rain and force us off the grass fields. The fact that we have our new locker room completed certainly makes a difference. We can also use our own weight room."
The third-year head coach said players taking part in fall camp will report Aug. 8. The Rainbows will need every available day to get ready for the Sept. 3 opener with the University of Arizona. The Thursday night game will be shown nationally on ESPN2.
"We'll have a lot to get done in a short amount of time," vonAppen said. "We have several new recruits coming in who we believe can help us, so there will be some positions up for grabs during fall camp, including quarterback."
Junior quarterback Dan Robinson was officially cleared yesterday for full contact in spring football. He is coming back from severe shinsplints. Senior linebacker Stephen Gonzales also was cleared by the UH training staff. He had a bad ankle and shoulder last year.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
