Chris Gaines never did it for the attention. The former Hawaii guard piled up points, wins and accolades the only way he knew how -- quietly.
Gaines, the all-time leading scorer in UH basketball history, died suddenly of a heart attack on Christmas Day in Orlando, Fla. He was 42.
Word of his passing spread yesterday, shocking his former teammates and coaches. Most had lost contact with the unassuming Gaines soon after his days as a Rainbow Warrior, when he moved to Florida.
Gaines, who put up 1,734 points between 1986 and 1990, had a wife, Diane, and three children, according to his stepmother, Clara Gaines.
Gaines was highly touted out of Waterloo West High, being named Iowa's Mr. Basketball as a senior. A recruit of then-assistant Bob Nash, he arrived in Manoa under head coach Frank Arnold and endured a coaching change to Riley Wallace a year later.
"He just did what you asked him to do," Wallace said. "He could shoot on those curls and coming off the picks. Great with the backdoor, because he could dunk on that. He was a jumper, too. He just was very, very, very coachable. Whatever you'd ask him to do, he did, and that really fit well as a teammate with all of his other teammates as well. Never a problem of any kind. Never one."
Monday, December 27, 2010
Mariota and Parker top All-State team
Saint Louis' Marcus Mariota and Juda Parker are the Star-Advertiser's 2010 All-State players of the year.
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Top Ten Prospects
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Top Ten Prospects
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Hawaii joins Mountain West
The University of Hawaii announced today that they will leave the Western Athletic Conference for the Mountain West Conference in football, while their other sports will join the Big West Conference.
This move is not a surprise; in fact, rumors of talks between Hawaii and the MWC have been floating for about a month now.
The MWC has lost its three most successful programs over the course of the last year.
Utah has left to join the new Pac-12, BYU has gone independent in football and TCU is joining the Big East.
In response, the MWC has raided the four best teams from the WAC: Boise State, Nevada, Fresno State, and now Hawaii.
This move may prove to be a death blow to the WAC.
The conference has lost all four teams that finished this year with winning records. The teams that remain are Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Utah State, San Jose State, and New Mexico State.
The WAC will add UT San Antonio and Texas State in all sports, and the University of Denver, which doesn't have a football team.
In order for the WAC to remain a football conference, it must have eight teams.
***
In what could be pricey early Christmas gifts, the University of Hawaii announced yesterday that it received — and accepted — invitations to join the Mountain West Conference in football and the Big West Conference in all other sports except men's volleyball, sailing and swimming and diving.
The Big West does not compete in football, and UH's men's volleyball and swimming teams are members of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
"This is what our coaches and what our fans want," UH athletic director Jim Donovan said, "and we delivered."
UH will secede from the Western Athletic Conference on June 30, 2012. UH is the WAC's senior member, having joined in 1979.
The announced departures of Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada and UH will leave the WAC with seven football-playing schools in 2012, including Texas State and Texas-San Antonio, both of which will join that year.
Donovan said the geography of the WAC was moving eastward, "and the concern I had was eventually some of those schools would start asking for travel subsidies because of the cost, for them, to travel to Hawaii."
Instead, UH will participate in "cost sharing" — meaning it will pay subsidies — for Mountain West and Big West schools traveling to Hawaii. The payments will involve only airfare, not hotel stays, according to UH officials. They declined to provide estimates, noting negotiations were ongoing.
UH will relinquish the television rights to its sports to the Mountain West and Big West.
UH currently earns $450,000 annually as its share of a deal between the WAC and sports cable-television network ESPN.
In addition, UH earns roughly $2.5 million, mostly from pay-per-view subscriptions, in a deal with Oceanic Time Warner Cable and television station KFVE.
The Mountain West has national television deals with the CBS College Sports Network, Versus and Mountain. In 2009 all but four football games involving Mountain West teams were shown on those channels. If the same arrangements were in place in 2012, most UH games would not be available for pay-per-view sales. Oceanic's UH rights are superseded by the Mountain West's national contract.
However, each Mountain West team receives about $1.45 million a year from the national television deal. And with the loss of three key members, UH, if it had chosen to remain in the WAC, would receive a reduced share, probably about $100,000 annually, from the WAC's deal with ESPN.
In debating whether to leave the WAC, Donovan said, the leadership committee decided "we couldn't afford not to do it."
This move is not a surprise; in fact, rumors of talks between Hawaii and the MWC have been floating for about a month now.
The MWC has lost its three most successful programs over the course of the last year.
Utah has left to join the new Pac-12, BYU has gone independent in football and TCU is joining the Big East.
In response, the MWC has raided the four best teams from the WAC: Boise State, Nevada, Fresno State, and now Hawaii.
This move may prove to be a death blow to the WAC.
The conference has lost all four teams that finished this year with winning records. The teams that remain are Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Utah State, San Jose State, and New Mexico State.
The WAC will add UT San Antonio and Texas State in all sports, and the University of Denver, which doesn't have a football team.
In order for the WAC to remain a football conference, it must have eight teams.
***
In what could be pricey early Christmas gifts, the University of Hawaii announced yesterday that it received — and accepted — invitations to join the Mountain West Conference in football and the Big West Conference in all other sports except men's volleyball, sailing and swimming and diving.
The Big West does not compete in football, and UH's men's volleyball and swimming teams are members of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
"This is what our coaches and what our fans want," UH athletic director Jim Donovan said, "and we delivered."
UH will secede from the Western Athletic Conference on June 30, 2012. UH is the WAC's senior member, having joined in 1979.
The announced departures of Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada and UH will leave the WAC with seven football-playing schools in 2012, including Texas State and Texas-San Antonio, both of which will join that year.
Donovan said the geography of the WAC was moving eastward, "and the concern I had was eventually some of those schools would start asking for travel subsidies because of the cost, for them, to travel to Hawaii."
Instead, UH will participate in "cost sharing" — meaning it will pay subsidies — for Mountain West and Big West schools traveling to Hawaii. The payments will involve only airfare, not hotel stays, according to UH officials. They declined to provide estimates, noting negotiations were ongoing.
UH will relinquish the television rights to its sports to the Mountain West and Big West.
UH currently earns $450,000 annually as its share of a deal between the WAC and sports cable-television network ESPN.
In addition, UH earns roughly $2.5 million, mostly from pay-per-view subscriptions, in a deal with Oceanic Time Warner Cable and television station KFVE.
The Mountain West has national television deals with the CBS College Sports Network, Versus and Mountain. In 2009 all but four football games involving Mountain West teams were shown on those channels. If the same arrangements were in place in 2012, most UH games would not be available for pay-per-view sales. Oceanic's UH rights are superseded by the Mountain West's national contract.
However, each Mountain West team receives about $1.45 million a year from the national television deal. And with the loss of three key members, UH, if it had chosen to remain in the WAC, would receive a reduced share, probably about $100,000 annually, from the WAC's deal with ESPN.
In debating whether to leave the WAC, Donovan said, the leadership committee decided "we couldn't afford not to do it."
Curtis Iaukea
Curtis Iaukea, a Hawaii sports legend as a high school athlete and later a pro wrestler, died yesterday after a long illness.
"He died peacefully, with family around him," his son, Rocky, told the Star-Advertiser, last night. "At his home in Papakolea."
Iaukea was 73.
Iaukea starred in sports at Punahou, and then at the University of California, where he received an award for standing out on offense and defense.
He went on to a year in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders and several seasons in the CFL.
But his biggest claim to fame came as a pro athlete in wrestling, where he was known as "King Curtis Iaukea," and Curtis "Da Bull" Iaukea.
Iaukea, who stood 6 feet 5 and weighed 350 pounds, was one of the main headliners who made the 1960s and 1970s the golden age of pro wrestling in Hawaii.
He, along with promoter Ed Francis (father of former NFL great Russ Francis), "King Ripper" Collins and "Handsome" Johnny Barend made 50th State Big Time Wrestling must-see TV during its time with its wild and captivating locker room interviews and antics, much like what's seen in the WWE.
Iaukea would oftentimes hold his interviews in sunglasses with his broad back to the camera.
Iaukea's signature move in the ring was the "Big Splash," where he would launch himself onto a fallen opponent for a pin.
***
Curtis Iaukea stories
Dusty Rhodes on King Curtis
"He died peacefully, with family around him," his son, Rocky, told the Star-Advertiser, last night. "At his home in Papakolea."
Iaukea was 73.
Iaukea starred in sports at Punahou, and then at the University of California, where he received an award for standing out on offense and defense.
He went on to a year in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders and several seasons in the CFL.
But his biggest claim to fame came as a pro athlete in wrestling, where he was known as "King Curtis Iaukea," and Curtis "Da Bull" Iaukea.
Iaukea, who stood 6 feet 5 and weighed 350 pounds, was one of the main headliners who made the 1960s and 1970s the golden age of pro wrestling in Hawaii.
He, along with promoter Ed Francis (father of former NFL great Russ Francis), "King Ripper" Collins and "Handsome" Johnny Barend made 50th State Big Time Wrestling must-see TV during its time with its wild and captivating locker room interviews and antics, much like what's seen in the WWE.
Iaukea would oftentimes hold his interviews in sunglasses with his broad back to the camera.
Iaukea's signature move in the ring was the "Big Splash," where he would launch himself onto a fallen opponent for a pin.
***
Curtis Iaukea stories
Dusty Rhodes on King Curtis
Monday, December 06, 2010
Don Meredith
Don Meredith, the Dallas Cowboys and SMU quarterback and Monday Night Football icon, died Sunday evening in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 72.
Meredith died at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, a hospital spokesman confirmed this morning. The Meredith family's attorney, Lisa Fine Moses, said his wife, Susan, and daughter Mary were at his side.
Meredith had battled emphysema in recent years and suffered a minor stroke in 2004.
He was the only living Cowboys Ring of Honor member unable to attend the franchise's September 2009 inaugural game at Cowboys Stadium.
Meredith was the original Dallas Cowboy, signing a personal services contract on Nov. 28, 1959, two months before the franchise officially gained admittance into the NFL.
Hailing from Mount Vernon in East Texas, the quarterback nicknamed "Dandy Don" had the unique distinction of playing all of his home high school, college and professional football games within 100 miles of Dallas.
"I'm very thankful," said Meredith, when a reporter from The News visited him in Santa Fe last October for a profile commemorating the 50th anniversary of his signing with the Cowboys. "I'm very thankful about where I'm from and who I am."
He had given few interviews since leaving the Monday Night Football booth in 1984, preferring to remain largely out of the public eye while residing in Santa Fe with Susan, to whom he was married for 38 years.
Meredith was a two-time All-American at SMU and played for the Cowboys from 1960 to 1968. He led the Cowboys to the 1966 and 1967 NFL title games, both defeats to the Green Bay Packers, but he abruptly retired from pro football at age 31.
Already famous in his native Texas, he quickly became a national celebrity through his work on Monday Night Football, starting in 1970. Millions tuned in each week to hear Meredith's quick wit, homespun stories and needling of intellectual booth-mate Howard Cosell.
And, famously, Meredith would croon "The Party's Over" to viewers when he determined that the game was out of reach.
By BRAD TOWNSEND/The Dallas Morning News
btownsend@dallasnews.com
Meredith died at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, a hospital spokesman confirmed this morning. The Meredith family's attorney, Lisa Fine Moses, said his wife, Susan, and daughter Mary were at his side.
Meredith had battled emphysema in recent years and suffered a minor stroke in 2004.
He was the only living Cowboys Ring of Honor member unable to attend the franchise's September 2009 inaugural game at Cowboys Stadium.
Meredith was the original Dallas Cowboy, signing a personal services contract on Nov. 28, 1959, two months before the franchise officially gained admittance into the NFL.
Hailing from Mount Vernon in East Texas, the quarterback nicknamed "Dandy Don" had the unique distinction of playing all of his home high school, college and professional football games within 100 miles of Dallas.
"I'm very thankful," said Meredith, when a reporter from The News visited him in Santa Fe last October for a profile commemorating the 50th anniversary of his signing with the Cowboys. "I'm very thankful about where I'm from and who I am."
He had given few interviews since leaving the Monday Night Football booth in 1984, preferring to remain largely out of the public eye while residing in Santa Fe with Susan, to whom he was married for 38 years.
Meredith was a two-time All-American at SMU and played for the Cowboys from 1960 to 1968. He led the Cowboys to the 1966 and 1967 NFL title games, both defeats to the Green Bay Packers, but he abruptly retired from pro football at age 31.
Already famous in his native Texas, he quickly became a national celebrity through his work on Monday Night Football, starting in 1970. Millions tuned in each week to hear Meredith's quick wit, homespun stories and needling of intellectual booth-mate Howard Cosell.
And, famously, Meredith would croon "The Party's Over" to viewers when he determined that the game was out of reach.
By BRAD TOWNSEND/The Dallas Morning News
btownsend@dallasnews.com
Friday, December 03, 2010
LeBron returns to Cleveland
CLEVELAND » He tuned out the boos. He smiled at the derisive chants. He embraced all the negativity Cleveland could muster.
LeBron James wasn't fazed by anything.
He brought his talents back home and reminded everyone -- even the haters -- why he's missed.
Returning as a villain to his native state and the city he scorned this summer, James scored 38 points -- 24 in a virtuoso third-quarter performance -- to lead the Miami Heat to a 118-90 win last night, turning his hostile homecoming into another embarrassing moment for the Cavaliers.
By halftime, James was the one having fun. By the fourth quarter, he was watching from the bench as Cavs fans headed into the cold for a disappointing drive home.
This wasn't the payback they waited five months to inflict.
With security guards forming a human barricade to line his entrance, James came hopping out of the tunnel and into the electrically charged atmosphere inside Quicken Loans Arena, as more than 20,000 fans, the same ones who once adored him, turned their fury on James.
It was rowdy, but thankfully not violent. There were a few minor incidents in the stands.
Just in case, Moondog, the Cavs' fuzzy mascot, wore a bulletproof vest.
LeBron James wasn't fazed by anything.
He brought his talents back home and reminded everyone -- even the haters -- why he's missed.
Returning as a villain to his native state and the city he scorned this summer, James scored 38 points -- 24 in a virtuoso third-quarter performance -- to lead the Miami Heat to a 118-90 win last night, turning his hostile homecoming into another embarrassing moment for the Cavaliers.
By halftime, James was the one having fun. By the fourth quarter, he was watching from the bench as Cavs fans headed into the cold for a disappointing drive home.
This wasn't the payback they waited five months to inflict.
With security guards forming a human barricade to line his entrance, James came hopping out of the tunnel and into the electrically charged atmosphere inside Quicken Loans Arena, as more than 20,000 fans, the same ones who once adored him, turned their fury on James.
It was rowdy, but thankfully not violent. There were a few minor incidents in the stands.
Just in case, Moondog, the Cavs' fuzzy mascot, wore a bulletproof vest.
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