Klompus claims she has bowl name

The former Hula Bowl owner says the college football game belongs to the people of Hawaii

It appears a college football all-star game will be played at Aloha Stadium on Jan. 21. But it won't be called the Hula Bowl if Marcia Klompus has her way.

Klompus, former owner of the Hula Bowl Maui and Bowl Games Hawaii (which also included the now defunct Aloha and Oahu Bowls), said yesterday she now owns rights to the name "Hula Bowl" again, because of contract technicalities.

Dick Schaller bought the game from Klompus and her husband, Lenny Klompus, four years ago when it was being played on Maui. When Schaller sold it to other parties -- including Kenny Hansmire of Texas and Mark Salmans of Kansas -- and the game was moved to Oahu this year, the contract was violated, Marcia Klompus said. The contract stipulates the game could not be moved from Maui within five years of sale, Klompus said.

Klompus is now a member of the Aloha Stadium Authority.

Yesterday, the Authority approved the Jan. 21 Hula Bowl date at the stadium. Coaches and some players have already accepted invitations to the 60th edition of the game.

"I'm pretty sure the Hula Bowl is all squared away," Authority chairman Kevin Chong Kee said. "All their checks are in, so as far as we're concerned, they're set."

Klompus did not vote, though.

"I'm going to recuse myself," she said. "According to our lawyers, I have a legal claim to the name Hula Bowl to the extent the applicants are seeking to use that name. We may have adversity which raises a conflict of interest issue."

Klompus said she is not trying to stop the Jan. 21 game from happening. She said her motivation is to protect the name "Hula Bowl."

"I want to protect it and perpetuate it," she said. "We're not going to have happen what happened to the Aloha Bowl, where there's no longer an Aloha Bowl. Mackay (promoter Yanagisawa) worked hard on the Hula Bowl and he created the Aloha Bowl and it just disappeared. The Hula Bowl really belongs to the people of Hawaii."

Klompus sold the Aloha and Oahu bowls to a group led by Fritz Rohlfing in 2000. The games were eventually moved from Hawaii and neither now exists.

Salmans, president of the new Hula Bowl ownership group, did not return a phone call from the Star-Bulletin last night. He and Hansmire became partners with Schaller two years ago, and with support from presenting sponsor Credit Unions of America, bought Schaller out before last year's game.

Hansmire and Schaller decided to move the game back to Oahu after years of mounting costs and lagging attendance at War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku.

"The game was sold because it wasn't profitable," Schaller said. "When the new partners came in, they were the only reason there was a game in 2005. When they bought it I thought they would keep it on Maui, but they didn't. I didn't have any control over that. I think everyone wants to keep it alive."

Klompus said she hasn't met the new ownership group yet.

"I don't know a thing about these people," she said. "They could be very, very nice and 100 percent committed to Hawaii, but they don't live here. We made the mistake before of selling and they moved it even though they lived here.

"I have to do everything I can to assure the Hula Bowl stays in Hawaii. I see they're already selling tickets. But it might have to be to the X-Y-Z Bowl."

Manager wanted: Klompus, who is Gov. Linda Lingle's director of scheduling, said she is not interested in becoming the stadium manager and replacing Eddie Hayashi, who retired in September. Kenny Lum is the interim manager.

Chong Kee said a job description will be developed by the Authority's next meeting, Nov. 17. He estimated the salary would be around $90,000 a year.