A downer tops
the list of local
sports stories1998 was not the best of years in Hawaii sports. How could it be when the top story of the year came as the result of a winless football season for the Rainbows, who went 0-12 to tie the NCAA Division-I record for futility?
The firing of Fred vonAppen as the Rainbows' head coach immediately after the season with an 18-game losing streak and the hiring of June Jones as his successor two weeks later topped the list of my Top 10 local sports stories of the year.
There were positive stories in 1998 to be sure, but what a downer to head the list:
1. Fred vonAppen gets fired after going 5-31 in three years and June Jones leaves the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League to take over a UH football program that lost its fan appeal. There were a total of 45,545 no-shows for eight home games as the Rainbows averaged only 23,659 fans.
2. UH gets snubbed as the 16-team Western Athletic Conference breaks up after only its third season. BYU, Air Force, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado State, New Mexico, Nevada-Las Vegas and San Diego State leave to form their own league -- the Mountain West Conference.
3. A college football first: Hawaii hosts an historic bowl doubleheader as Colorado beats Oregon, 51-43, in the Aloha Bowl and Air Force whips Washington, 45-25, in the Oahu Bowl that followed on Christmas Day at Aloha Stadium.
4. John Huston breaks a 43-year-old PGA Tour record (28 under par) to win the 33rd and final United Airlines Hawaiian Open with a 72-hole score of 260. Sony takes over as title sponsor in a new event at the Waialae Country Club as the PGA Tour starts at Kapalua's Plantation Course with the Mercedes Championship next week.
5. ILH kingpin St. Louis captures its 13th straight Prep Bowl, 28-20, as 20,959 see the Saints beat previously undefeated OIA champion Kahuku, the first Hawaii public high school to gain national ranking (No. 16 by USA Today).
6. The Crusaders' football team shocks the school and community by trashing a Las Vegas hotel after a preseason game, leading to a forfeit, spoiling an undefeated season and dropping them from a national ranking until the Prep Bowl victory.
7. The Wahine (32-3) win the final WAC volleyball championship, but lose to host Florida again in five games in the NCAA Division I East Regional.
8. The Rainbow men's basketball team reaches the National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals, losing to Fresno State, 85-83, to end its second straight 21-win season.
9. Hawaii Pacific University (31-5), coached by Tita Ahuna, wins its first NCAA Division II volleyball championship, beating North Dakota State in four games at Kissimmee, Fla.
10. Last-minute alternate Warren Moon of the Seattle Seahawks for no-show John Elway, Denver's Super Bowl XXXII hero, earns MVP honors in the Pro Bowl as the AFC beat the NFC, 29-24, before 49,995 fans at Aloha Stadium. It's the first time the AFC won both the Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl in 21 years.
Special Citation: UH's Les Murakami logs his 1,000th career coaching victory as the baseball 'Bows beat Fresno State, 6-5, at Rainbow Stadium on March 22.
Special Citation II: Joe Igber, Iolani School's standout running back, set six high school state rushing and scoring records. They included: career rushing yards (4,472), career (56) and single-season (27) touchdowns and most yards in one game (352 vs. Pac-Five).