University of Hawaii basketball coach Riley Wallace and amateur golfer Anna Umemura were announced as Hawaii's Sportspersons of the Year for 1997 at the Honolulu Quarterback Club's annual Banquet of Champions Monday at the Pacific Beach Hotel. Wallace, Umemura take top
Banquet of Champion awardsWallace was cited for leading the Rainbows to a share of the Western Athletic Conference Pacific Division title last season, and to victories over nationally-ranked Indiana and Kansas early in this season.
Umemura, a Punahou graduate and current University of Tennessee student whose mother, Kathy, accepted the award for her, won all three major Hawaii women's golf tournaments (the State Match Play and State Stroke Play championships and the Jennie K. Wilson Invitational) last year.
Other award winners were:
Canoe paddler Nappy Napoleon (senior male athlete), UH football player Eddie Klaneski (adult male athlete), St. Louis School football player Jason Gesser (high school male athlete), swimmer June Ford (senior female athlete), UH basketball player Nani Cockett (adult female athlete), Punahou runner Eri Macdonald (high school female athlete), UH volunteer Ben Yee (Scotty Schuman Award), sportscaster Jim Leahey (Neal Shaw Blaisdell Award), and sportscaster Les Keiter (Joe Reynolds Award).
VULCANS' EQUIPMENT STOLEN: The University of Hawaii at Hilo's softball team had most of its equipment stolen from a storage facility at Carvalho Field last weekend.
"We lost all of our bats, balls and hitting training aids," said Vulcans coach Callen Perreira. "We got to practice Monday and it was gone. We ended up practicing with whatever our players brought with them: two bats and three balls."
Efforts are being made to replace the equipment that is valued around $1,800.
Anyone wishing to contribute can contact Perreira at 974-7703 (Big Island) or pager 898-1316.
'SWORDS SHARP ON ROAD: At Silver City, N.M., Darnell Clavon scored 20 points and added seven rebounds to lead Chaminade to a 74-68 win over Western New Mexico in Pacific West men's basketball Tuesday.
It was the third straight road win for the Silverswords (10-13, 4-6) who had lost 15 league road games in a row before winning two last week.
Western New Mexico is 7-16, 3-7.
ANZAI KEYS SEA WARRIORS' WIN: At Riverside, Calif., yesterday, Lee Anzai had three hits and tied a school record with six runs batted in as the Hawaii Pacific University baseball team defeated UC Riverside, 10-7, improving its record to 5-4.
COWBOYS LEAD BURNS GOLF: Oklahoma State paced the team competition with a 6-under-par aggregate of 282 and New Mexico's Doug La Belle was the individual leader at 6-under 66 after yesterday's opening round of the 54-hole John A. Burns Intercollegiate Golf Tournament at the Kaneohe Klipper course.
UNLV and Oklahoma were one shot behind Oklahoma State in team play. One University of Hawaii team was tied for fourth place at 284 and the other was 16th at 297.
La Belle held a two-stroke lead over a group of four that included UH's Isaac Sanchez.
SALUD FIGHTS HERE TUESDAY: Jesus Salud returns to Hawaii to fight Kris Wuritimur for the Asia/Pacific junior featherweight title Tuesday night at Blaisdell Arena.
Wuritimur, nicknamed the "Asian Assassin," is 17-4 with nine knockouts. Former world champ Salud, who once called Nanakuli home, is 38-9 with 34 KOs.
The first bout on the undercard begins at 7 p.m.
SHERIFF CENTER DEDICATION: The official dedication of the Stan Sheriff Center will take place outside the University of Hawaii sports facility near Gate A tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
A pregame ceremony honoring the late UH athletic director also will take place before Saturday's Hawaii-Tulsa men's basketball game, which has a 4:30 p.m. tip-off.
UH-SAN DIEGO IN WATER POLO: The University of Hawaii women's water polo team, 6-1 in its first season of intercollegiate play after a 4-1 California road trip, returns to Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex tonight for the opener of a two-match series with ninth-ranked UC San Diego.
The teams meet at 6:30 tonight and Saturday night.
WAHINE IN LAS VEGAS TOURNEY: The once-beaten University of Hawaii softball team, fresh off a title conquest in its own Paradise Classic, takes on Bowling Green and Washington tomorrow in the UNLV Classic at Las Vegas.
At 10-1, the Wahine are off to their best start since 1994.