Hawaii Beat

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Wednesday, December 15, 1999

Crusaders are
seventh in the nation

State football champion St. Louis is seventh nationally and No. 2 in the West in the year's next-to-last Fox Fab 50 ratings compiled by prep experts Doug Huff of Wheeling, W. Va. and Mark Tennis of Stockton, Calif.

The Crusaders, who capped a 15-1 season with a 19-0 victory over Kahuku in the first-ever state title game, moved up from 12th on the national list and from third on the regional list

Evangel Christian (15-0) of Shreveport, La., has clinched the No. 1 spot in the country. De La Salle (12-0) of Concord, Calif., is No. 1 in the West.

Top Samoan athletes to be honored at Laie banquet

The fifth annual Samoa Sports Awards Banquet will be held at 6 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 5, at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie. Samoan athletes in football, Sumo, volleyball, boxing, basketball, rugby, weightlifting, strongman, tennis, cricket, and other sports will be honored.

The banquet will honor in particular the "All Samoan Football Stars" selected from the best players of Samoan ancestry (regardless of blood percentage) in high schools and colleges in American Samoa, Hawaii and the U.S. mainland

Bob Apisa, a former Farrington High School and Michigan State football standout who now is a movie actor and stunt coordinator, will be recognized with the Samoa Legend Award for his positive contribution on and off the field bringing pride to the Samoan community.

The 2000 banquet is dedicated to the memory of Mark Tuinei.

A concert feauring popular Polynesian entertainers in Hawaii will follow the awards presentations.

The event is sponsored by TV-Samoa and Samoa International Media.

New UH-Hilo Hall of Famers

Guy Oshiro is the first baseball player to be elected to the City Bank/University of Hawaii at Hilo Athletic Hall of Fame.

Oshiro, from Waipahu, is the Vulcans' career leader in runs scored with 126 and is second all-time in hits (176) and batting average (.339).

Joining him in the 1999-2000 Hall of Fame class are Trevor Wright, a 1988-89 NAIA basketball All-American; Rynee Rodrigues-Bukowski, a 1992 softball All-American, and Ray Fornof, a past president of the Vulcan Booster Club who was selected in the community category.

Kaneshiro PBI Rookie of Year

Kelly Kaneshiro, director of tennis at Lanai's Manele Bay Hotel and The Lodge at Koele, was named 1999 Peter Burwash International Rookie of the Year at the company's annual meeting in Florida recently.

Kaneshiro, from Waipahu, is a University of Hawaii graduate who moved to Las Vegas in 1997 and worked at the MGM Grand before joining PBI last April.

Burwash, a former touring tennis pro, is president of the world's largest tennis management company.

Pautler new HPA tennis chief

Craig Pautler will become director of tennis at Hawaii Preparatory Academy on the Big Island next month.

Pautler succeeds Eric Joachim, who has resigned after eight years as HPA's tennis director and will return to the mainland.