Hawaii
Isle resident referees
UH Warrior-BYU game
FOOTBALL had a part to play in many activities over the weekend. The UH Warriors smashed BYU, and a good thing, too. People are always talking about home-field advantage, but had it been a squeaker, BYU might have complained about "home-official advantage," whether there was reason to or not. The reason: Referee Frank White lives in Honolulu. He's an NCAA certified ref who had been slated to officiate the BYU game before the season started, long before its outcome could have been considered crucial, with the Cougars going undefeated and threatening lawsuits against the BCS for not considering them for a major bowl. I asked White if BYU had complained about having a local referee and he said, "I don't even know if they knew -- I didn't tell them." ...SENIOR Craig Stutzman scored a touchdown and then punted the ball into the crowd before leaping into the seats and getting ejected. I was willing to attribute it to the adrenaline of the moment until Stutzman said after the game he'd long planned to go out that way, unlike Chicago Bears great Walter Payton, who'd hand each touchdown ball to the ref, as if he'd been there before. If you want to find history in Stutzman's moment, it probably brought about the only 50-yard extra point freshman Justin Ayat will be called upon to kick. To his credit, he made it ...
HAWAII'S most avid Warrior fan, Don Murphy, kept his bar and grill open for coaches and fans to celebrate into the wee morning hours. He got home at 3:30 a.m., grabbed an hour's nap and was back at Murphy's to greet Honolulu Marathon runners in his Santa suit, posing for photos shot by his elf, Al "Lefty" Leftwich. Murph also became a runner's favorite by having his restrooms open and stocked with toilet paper for those not in a gigantic hurry to finish ...
Good time for Gonzo
HERE to cover the Marathon and get paid for it was Hunter Thompson, who bunked this year at the Kahala Mandarin. It was a different story when the "gonzo" journalist was here in 1980 to write a story about the Marathon for Running magazine. At that time, I was with Thompson at the Kahala Avenue digs of ex-NFL player John Wilbur. Thompson's "coverage" consisted of watching a few runners heading out for Hawaii Kai before repairing inside to watch the New England Patriots football game, swig from a bottle of Chivas Regal and puff on an odd-shaped pipe. He was alerted when the media truck was heading back for the finish line, hopping on board and interviewing a few runners there. He then headed for Kona to research and begin writing his book, "The Curse of Lono," which actor Sean Penn, here with Thompson this year, wants to turn into a film ...
Howdy, neighbor
THE anniversary of Beatle John Lennon's murder took place over the weekend and again, football played a part. When the tragedy happened I was watching "Monday Night Football" with Don Robbs, then KHVH program director, when a crawl at the bottom of the screen told of Lennon being killed. Robbs made a few calls and found not only was the murderer from Honolulu, and not only did he live in the same building as Robbs, Mark David Chapman lived across the hall! ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
The Week That Was recalls items from Dave's 30 years of columns.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com