Sidelines Kalani Simpson

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Hall of Fame
crusade continues

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HIS name is Curt, and he e-mails often. And I mean that in a good way.

He started soon after I wrote about a trip to the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame. I don't know if I awakened this fire, or if he's always been like this, and simply found a new audience, someone else to tell.

His goal is simple. He wants to get more legends into our sports hall of fame, before they're forgotten for good.

Foremost is his "holy trinity" of non-inductees: boxing great Frankie Fernandez, who died in March; "our best-ever island boxer" David Kui Kong Young; "our best-ever hoopster" Ah Chew Goo.

Their absence, Curt thinks, is indefensible. "Omissions," he calls them. Fernandez's recent death, before he could get in?

"One down," you can almost hear the e-mail sigh. "Two to go." And time -- for these legends in their 80s -- is running short.

But wait. There are guidelines, for getting into the hall of fame. There is a nomination form. Explicit criteria. Selectors. A process.

Oh.

Well, OK.

No problem.

So that is Curt's mission now. He e-mails everyone now. Sportswriters. Committee members. Friends to enlist in his campaign. His e-mails go everywhere.

I'm just a CC now.

He debates the greatness of old legends. He regales us with tales of trying to catch (permanent committee member and chairman of the original Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame Commission) Larry Price at the radio station.

"Our fabled folk heroes (such as our consecrated trinity above)," he writes, are "long overdue for recognition. Yes, our mythic frontiersmen/pioneers, real-life action heroes/pathfinders!!"

CURT'S ALL-TIME Hawaii high school basketball team:

>> Red Rocha, Hilo (listed alone at No. 1).
>> C Julian Sensley, Kalaheo.
>> PF Leroy Lutu, University.
>> SF Ed Bento, St. Joseph.
>> PG Ah Chew Goo, Hilo.
>> SG Ia Saipaia, Punahou.
>> McKinley's Red Raymond, Iolani's Derrick Low off the bench.

HE WON'T QUIT. Every week there's another update. More info. Another compelling argument.

The e-mails keep coming. He's not going to give up.

Stringent rules for induction? Curt offers amendments, solutions, suggestions, how it could happen anyway, even though Goo never won a gold medal, or (unless you count a brief brush with the Harlem Globetrotters, when they tried to sign him, when he did all their tricks) went pro.

He e-mails often. And I mean that in a good way.

You have to think that he'll make it happen. That his campaign will catch fire. That his passion for our sports history is as infectious as it seems.

His "holy trinity" has a chance yet.

You know, this is what a sports hall of fame is for, actually. To make you remember. To keep old names alive. To make you talk sports, swap tales and compare feats like a kid.

It's working, with Curt. But it's not complete yet.

"Imua," he writes.

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See the Columnists section for some past articles.

Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com