The Shawn Akina Classic, which paired top local teams with outstanding mainland teams, will not be held this summer. Aloha Stadium dates are not available, according to its founder and organizer, Skip Akina.
"That's a real blow to prep football in Hawaii," said Tom Lemming, editor of the Prep Football Report and one of the nation's top prep talent scouts.
"I think it was the best of its kind in the country and it really hurts the kids in Hawaii to lose it," he said in a telephone interview yesterday.
"Thanks to the Akina Classic, people found out that Hawaii prep football was just as good as mainland football, and maybe even better," said Lemming.
Lemming, who annually travels to almost every state in the country to scout players, successfully nominated two Shawn Akina Classic players for USA Today All-USA first-team honors (Patrick Kesi in 1990 and Jason Ching in 1995).
In 1991, Kahuku offensive lineman Chris Naeole caught Lemming's eye and went on to earn USA Today All-USA second-team honors.
"The classic was giving Hawaii exposure, and now none of the kids will get national attention," he said.
Lemming cited the 1991 Shawn Akina Classic, when St. Louis shocked the No. 7 team in USA Today's national poll, Bakersfield (Calif.) High, by a 30-13 score as a milestone in developing national respect for Hawaii prep football.
Morse High (San Diego) head coach John Shacklett, who has been bringing teams to Hawaii for preseason play each year for most of the past decade, said he, too, was disappointed.
"The Akina Classic was a vehicle we used to play some great teams," he said.
The beginning of the end for the Shawn Akina Classic seemed to come last December when perennially nationally ranked St. Louis, the cornerstone of the prep extravaganza, announced it was pulling out of the classic altogether.
The Crusaders arranged independent games against Waianae at Aloha Stadium on Aug. 29 (a date Akina would have preferred for the classic) and Baldwin at War Memorial Stadium on Aug. 24.
Akina said he hopes to revive the classic.
Mules' wrestling coach Thomas Taflinger has also resigned to join the Honolulu Police Department.
Inquiries for these jobs are being taken by athletic director Richard Townsend at 621-6148.