Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Sports Watch
CHASING Rainbows. Or whatever happened to that wonderfully apt and simple nickname of University of Hawaii's athletic teams -- the Rainbows? Keep that
Rainbow connectionAfter all, rainbows always appear with vivid brilliance in green Manoa Valley, where the university is located.
As a UH alumnus, and one who writes a lot about the school's athletic teams, they will always be known to me as the Rainbows.
On occasion, the 'Bows -- as in baseball 'Bows, basketball 'Bows and football 'Bows. And, as a concession to the women's teams, the Rainbow Wahine.
But never, ever, have you read or heard me referring to the Rainbows as the "Rainbow Warriors."
That is, until now and for the very last time. It's a personal boycott because it's not officially the school's nickname.
That self-styled nickname is used only by the football team. Adopted by former UH football coaches who felt the nickname "Rainbows" was too prissy for such a macho sport.
My main objection, besides it being unofficial, is that a school's nickname should be uniform.
Besides, in recent years, Rainbow players have hardly been warriors on the football field anyway.
Except, maybe racking up excessive yardage in dumb penalties. Perhaps trying to live up to that warrior image has something to do with it.
So it was no loss to me when I heard the school wasn't going to use a warrior mascot this season. Good riddance, I say.
Maybe the athletic department can rid itself of that tacky tack-on term, warrior, as well for the football team.
What upsets me, though, is that there will be no rainbow in the school's new logo.
The UH athletic department will unveil its new logo July 26, according to athletic director Hugh Yoshida.
He wouldn't reveal how it will look. But some people tell me that it will involve the letter "H."
It's the new mark, or logo, that UH will want to market under a new merchandising plan.
An "H." Just great.
I mean, it could stand for Houston, Harvard or Hampton, as in hurricanes hardly happen.
I sure hope nobody mistakes it for Haunani.
The rainbow will disappear from the school's logo, something which I will truly lament. Maybe it's too ephemeral for the bottom-line-only types.
But Rainbows, they'll always be to me. I'll always be chasing Rainbows.
IN keeping with UH's football tradition, Ellen Yanagisawa, widow of sports entrepreneur Mackay Yanagisawa, has agreed to start an endowment for a football scholarship in their name.
"Mackay's life was football. I think he will like that," said Ellen, who donated the initial sum to get the endowment program started.
Yanagisawa died at the age of 87 on May 30, and his funeral a week later was a quiet ceremony with only a few relatives and friends.
"A lot of people were disappointed they couldn't pay their last respects," said Yoshida. "This is one way they can."
Contributions can be sent to the Mackay and Ellen Yanagisawa Fund in care of the UH Foundation.
It's not be the first endowment to the university from the Yanagisawas.
In 1981, they established an endowment for the UH architectural school in the name of their daughter, Linda, an architect with a degree from the University of Southern California who died of cancer at the age of 41.
The endowment fund is now used for a distinguished visiting lecturer.
Bill Kwon has been writing about
sports for the Star-Bulletin since 1959.
