Way before UH basketball star AC Carter, there was AC Goo -- or as he is better known, Ah Chew Goo. UH basketball’s first AC
shares gifts with othersBASKETBALL BOYS
Dave Reardon / dreardon@starbulletin.com
Every Hawaii sports fan knows the last name. But the father of University of Hawaii Wahine basketball coach Vince Goo also had a lot of game. AC Goo made his name way back in the 1930s and '40s.
The 5-foot-412-inch Goo threw passes and dribbled like no one had seen before.
"He did everything with the ball except make it talk back to him," sportswriter Andrew Mitsukado said.
Abe Saperstein of the Harlem Globetrotters tried to sign him up.
"He played against the Globetrotters in the '40s, and they didn't want to play against him the next year," said Vince Goo. "But he played, and used some of their tricks -- the flat dribble, the free-throw attempt with a string -- against them."
Ah Chew played in an exhibition with Hall-of-Famer Hank Luisetti, who came away impressed. "Ah Chew can make any college team in the country," said Luisetti, after receiving dazzling pass after dazzling pass from the man known as "The Mandarin Magician."
But Ah Chew, who had led Hilo High School to three territorial championships in the 1930s, never played in college or the pros. He played in local exhibitions, coached and held clinics.
Today, most people know Ah Chew Goo as the father of Vince, the highly successful coach of the University of Hawaii women's team. Ah Chew lives a quiet life with his wife, Clara, in Hawaii Kai. Sports fans see him ringside at boxing matches, where he serves as the official knockdown timer.
At 83, Ah Chew still works with young players, passing on his gift to point guards of the future. Last year, Moanalua coach Dana Dias called him to tutor her point guard, Amy Kotani.
"She's got a lot of basketball sense," Goo said of Kotani. "After three sessions with her, I could tell she would be OK.
"Vince tells me it's OK to teach, but he doesn't want me running. I just run through it once. If they're a good learner, you have to show them once."
Ah Chew said he has little to do with Vince's success as a coach.
"He was always a coach on the floor, from intermediate school days," Ah Chew said. "I always credited his genes, but not mine -- my wife's brother, Soo Sun Kim, was one of the outstanding players in the territory.
"My boys all played basketball, but only Vince took it the step farther," Ah Chew said.
His sons Keenan, 50, and Darryl, 57, both became courtside announcers. Darryl handled the duties during the UH "Fabulous Five" era of the early 1970s, and Keenan's voice echoes through the Stan Sheriff Center to this day.
Vince, 54, is a Kalani High School graduate who also coached at Kaiser after graduation from Southern Oregon University in 1969.
He has taken the Wahine to unprecedented heights on the court while demanding academic excellence from his players.
"I guess what I learned the most from him was, you have to work hard to be a good coach," Vince said.
Vince and his wife, Gay, have four children: Cappy, 28, Kippy, 26, Casey, 23, and Kimi, 21. All played various sports in high school.