He gradually drifted out of the consciousness of most Hawaii sports fans during those decades of retirement in Oregon. But mere utterance of his rhythmic name anywhere in the islands where basketball fans congregate still evokes memories of the most exciting hoops team the University of Hawaii ever put on the floor.

The Big Island boy who died peacefully yesterday at 86 was a living legend. But there's a difference between acknowledgment and appreciation, and it seems Red Rocha never really got his full due as a local sports icon for the ages.

Maybe he will now.

Sure, he's in all the halls of fame and circles of honor, from Corvallis to Honolulu. The WAC (in which he never coached) and the Pac-10 (he starred at Oregon State) have bestowed accolades. He's the first coach to get the Rainbows to the NCAA Tournament (where they've still yet to win).

In some ways, he was the prototype of today's successful basketball coach: a great recruiter who pretty much let the players play. And when the players are Nash, Penebacker, Davis, Holiday and Freeman, you win and you win big. Hawaii elementary school kids learned those names before those of the islands.

But, eventually, Rocha was fired. It was done infamously at the team banquet, just one year after the Fabulous Five departed. Then the Rainbows got in trouble with the NCAA under the new regime of Bruce O'Neil (with a young assistant named Rick Pitino).

If he'd been as far ahead of his time in contract negotiations as in the art of coaching, Rocha would've made a lot of money the next couple of years for not doing anything. Instead, he watched the program go on probation from his office as head of campus parking ... Rocha went from The Dance to valet after one 15-11 season.

EVEN IF he hadn't been the coach of the Fabulous Five, Rocha's place near the top of the pyramid of all-time Hawaii sports greats should be secure ... and probably higher than where most think it is.

Few remember him as a tremendous player.

But that he was, one of the best of his era.

Today, the NBA plays its All-Star Game in Dallas. Fifty nine years ago, it was at the Boston Garden, when the Washington Wizards were the Baltimore Bullets. The Bullets were represented on the East squad by 6-foot-9 center Red Rocha.

The 1951 All-Star Game was the NBA's first, and Rocha scored eight points in it—getting passes from Bob Cousy, going up against George Mikan. Rocha added two rebounds and three assists to help the East past the West 111-94.

The reason I know this is the Internet. If sports fans had access to cyberspace and TV was anything like it is today, you could argue that Rocha might have been a star in Hawaii the magnitude of Shane Victorino now. The accomplishments are similar, since Rocha was also a key member of an NBA championship team.

Even though the NBA wasn't nearly as popular as it is now, those credentials make Rocha the most accomplished basketball player ever from Hawaii. Let's remember him for that, too.

Rocha deserves to have the court at the Stan Sheriff Center named after him, but I don't think that will happen. Something at UH should have his name attached to it ... maybe the Diamond Head Classic?

Anything other than a parking lot.

Reach Star-Bulletin sports columnist Dave Reardon at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), his “;Quick Reads”; blog at starbulletin.com, and twitter.com/davereardon.