Football is the common thread woven through four generations of athletic endeavors by Alex Kane's family. Sports is big in
the Kane ohanaSPORTING LIFE
Al Chase / achase@starbulletin.com
However, as the family tree branches out, baseball, basketball, soccer, volleyball and paddling have piqued the interest of various family members.
Kane's father, Alexander, played football for Kamehameha, graduating with the class of 1933. Alex Kane played football for the Warriors as well as basketball and baseball. He received encour- agement and inspiration from uncles Gordon and Alvin Lopes, who played football for McKinley High School.
"Sports has always been a big thing with us and the Lopes family," said Alex Kane, 65. Kane's football exploits at Kamehameha earned him an athletic scholarship to the University of Utah from 1954 to his graduation in 1958.
Following graduation, he returned to the islands. He taught at Kawananakoa Intermediate School for four years while coaching football and baseball at Roosevelt High School.
One of his baseball players at Roosevelt was Mike Lum, who went on to a long career in the major leagues.
In 1962, Kane began a 32-year career at Kailua High School, where he continued to coach football, several seasons of baseball and served a number of years as athletic director. His 1965 and 1967 Surfrider baseball teams were High School Athletic Association champions.
He devised the original classification system used by Oahu Interscholastic Association schools for football.
His three sons all played high school sports. Eric, 43, played football at Kamehameha, helped Alex coach football at Kailua, and is now on Kalani Souza's staff at Kamehameha. Jason, 39, played baseball for Kamehameha. Aaron, 36, played football for the Warriors and went on to play inside linebacker for three seasons at the University of Hawaii.
His daughter Kirstie was a volleyball player and paddler at Kamehameha.
Eric's daughter Rachel has played basketball and soccer since she was a youngster. The 16-year-old now concentrates on basketball at Punahou.
"Her goal is to play basketball at the collegiate level," Kane said. "She has gone to basketball camps at Stanford, Oregon and Indiana this summer."
Eric's son Scot, 14, was on the intermediate volleyball team at Kamehameha last year, and Jason's son Nainoa played intermediate football for the Warriors. "We got four grandchildren playing in park leagues. If it's soccer, we're at the park all day. If it's volleyball, we're in the gym all day. We (Alex and his wife, Frances) can't go see one play and not the other. We're busy watching them all year long," Kane said.
Cheering on the grandchildren is his only excuse for not spending more time on a golf course, his outlet since retiring from Kailua High School in 1994. But he remains involved in prep sports.
He is the coordinator for the HHSAA State Girls' basketball Tournament, a job he's held for more than 25 years. He also is a member of the Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association.