Hawai'i Football Through the Years
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HISTORY OF HAWAI‘I FOOTBALL HAWAI‘I FOOTBALL THROUGH THE YEARS 1909 1920 1923 1946 The College of Hawai‘i “Fighting The College of Hawai‘i A rainbow appears over After taking a four-year hiatus Deans” played and won its first becomes the University of the football field after due to World War II, UH game against McKinley High Hawai‘i and the football UH upset Oregon State, returns to the gridiron as a School. team plays its first inter- 7-0, at Mō‘ili‘ili Field. member institution of the collegiate game against Reporters begin calling NCAA. Nevada. UH teams the “Rainbows.” Head Coaches 1909 - Austin Jones 1915 - John Peden Head Coaches Head Coaches 1920 1940 1900 1916 - William Britton 1920 - Raymond Elliot 1940 - Eugene “Luke” Gill 1917 - Dave Crawford 1921 - Otto “Proc” Klum 1946 - Tom Kaulukukui An entire ocean away from its nearest NCAA a collegiate opponent in 1922, a Christmas of Colorado on New Year’s Day. The following opponent, the University of Hawai‘i football pro- Day triumph over Pomona College, 25-6, at season, only Washington State, of the Pacific gram has a unique and storied history. This year Punahou’s Alexander Field. He also took the Coast Conference, scored more than six points marks the program’s 97th season of competition. team to its first road game in 1923 via ocean- against the “Wonder Teams” and was only one liner against that same Pomona team at the of five teams to score at all. UH defeated the THE BEGINNING Pasadena Rose Bowl. The trip took five days. As Cougars, 20-11, on New Year’s Day to close out The College of Hawai‘i was founded in 1907. a result of the prolonged hours of travel, later the 1925 season. Two years later, in 1909, the university fielded teams only traveled to the U.S. mainland every Among the many stars on those teams were its first football team. The “Fighting Deans,” as other year. the famed “Four Horsemen of Manoa” - Bill Hawai‘i athletic During Klum’s “Doggie” Wise, Johnny Morse, Eddie Fernandez teams were known ROARING ’20s reign, another and Theodore “Pump” Searle -- named after the then, defeated During the “Golden Age” of UH football, the teams pro- UH tradition gallant Notre Dame backfield. McKinley High duced a record of 53-21-5 in the 1920s, including consecutive emerged. In the School, 6-5, undefeated seasons in 1924 (8-0) and 1925 (10-0). final game of the A NEW HOME under head coach 1923 season, a In 1926, the Rainbows made the newly built Austin Jones in its rainbow appeared Honolulu Stadium, a 24,000-seat facility in inaugural game. over the gridiron Mō‘ili‘ili, their homefield. UH played its first The historic game late during the game at the stadium on Nov. 11 against the was played before team’s contest Town Team. Hawai‘i lost that game, 14-7, 2,500 fans at against Oregon before 12,000 Armistice Day fans. O‘ahu College, State. The Deans That same season, the Rainbows blanked now known as scored shortly the 8th Field Artillery and Healani by identi- Punahou School. thereafter and cal 101-0 scores. Against Healani, halfback Because of held on to win, Fernandez had one of the best single-game per- limited travel opportunities, Hawai‘i only played 7-0. Reporters started calling UH teams the formances in UH history, scoring six times on local high schools, military and club teams for “Rainbows,” and the tradition began that when- runs, punts and an interception. its first eight seasons. In 1920, the College of ever a rainbow appeared from the “Manoa Mist” Four years later, UH played its first night Hawai‘i became the University of Hawai‘i and over the UH campus, Hawai‘i could not lose. game at the stadium. The Rainbows defeated the Raymond Elliot coached the first intercollegiate game against the University of Nevada (Reno). THE WONDER YEARS TERMITE PALACE Nevada outscored Hawai‘i, 14-0, at Mō‘ili‘ili Under Klum’s guidance, Hawai‘i pro- Nicknamed for its deteriorating facade, Honolulu Stadium Field on Christmas Day. duced the “Wonder Teams” of 1924-25, was home to Hawai‘i football from 1926-74. which went undefeated both seasons. The A POT OF GOLD “Wonder Teams” outscored their oppo- The 1921 season marked the arrival of Otto nents, 606-29, in 18 games. Among the “Proc” Klum, who ushered in the “Golden Age fallen were Colorado, Colorado State and of UH Football.” Known as the “The Manoa Washington State. Fox,” Klum served as head coach and athlet- During the 1924 season, the ics director until 1939, compiling an 84-51-7 Rainbows finished 8-0 and allowed only record. 12 points all season. The team con- Klum coached UH to its first victory over cluded the season with a 13-0 shutout 2013 UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I RAINBOW WARRIOR FOOTBALL 101033 HISTORY OF HAWAI‘I FOOTBALL HAWAI‘I FOOTBALL THROUGH THE YEARS 1955 1966 1973 1974 The Rainbows upset Nebraska, UH completes its first all-col- The Rainbows record the UH becomes an NCAA 6-0, in Lincoln in what is con- legiate schedule. The Rainbows biggest upset in school Division I member. In June sidered one of the school’s all- are ranked as high as No. 5 in history by defeating 1976, the NCAA reclassifies time biggest upsets, four years weekly Division II poll. Washington, 10-7, in and drops UH to Division before the Territory of Hawai‘i Seattle. UW was favored I-A (now I-AA). Athletics becomes the 50th state of the by as many as 50 points. Director Ray Nagel appeals Union. the decision and the next Head Coaches month the NCAA reinstates 1962 - Jim Asato UH to Division I status. 1965 - Clark Shaughnessy Head Coaches 1966 - Phil Sarboe Head Coaches 1951 - Archie Kodros 1960 1967 - Don King 1974 - Larry Price 1970 195 0 1952 - Hank Vasconcellos 1968 - Dave Holmes 1977 - Dick Tomey Honolulu Athletic Club, 28-0, Oct. 8, 1930, In 1941, the Rainbows just completed a as a player and coach, he was chosen as a charter before 9,500 fans. 20-6 Shrine Game victory over Willamette, in member of the National Football Hall of Fame For 48 years, the affectionately nicknamed front of a sold-out Honolulu Stadium crowd Association. “Termite Palace” housed the Rainbows and their of 24,000. The next morning, Japan invaded fans until the construction of Aloha Stadium in Pearl Harbor, resulting in the cancellation of the HAMMERIN’ HANK 1975. team’s upcoming game against San Jose State The 1950s marked the arrival of the Hank and the 1942-45 seasons. Lost in the news of Vasconcellos era as head coach and athletics THE GRASS SHACK the attack was the naming of halfback Nolle director. Vasconcellos, a Maui native, coached One of the earliest stars in UH history was Smith as a first-team Associated Press Little All- the Rainbows for nine seasons during the pro- Thomas Kaulukukui, a 5-foot-5, 140-pound American. gram’s highest and lowest moments. back from Hilo. As UH returned The 1954 season ended with a humbling a member of UH’s NO. 32 to the gridiron 50-0 loss to Orange Bowl-bound Nebraska in undefeated 1934 The only number retired in 1946 after the front of a crowd of 20,000 fans at Honolulu team, Kaulukukui in Hawai‘i football history conclusion of the Stadium. helped lead the was worn by UH’s first war. That same In the rematch between the schools the All-American, Thomas Rainbows to a Kaulukukui. He still holds year also marked next season, the Rainbows pulled off one of the 14-0 shutout of the school record for lon- the program’s biggest wins in the program’s history before California in the gest kickoff return (103) entrance into the a crowd of 23,000 at Nebraska Stadium. As New Year’s Day against UCLA in 1935 at NCAA under head 40-point underdogs, the 27-member team won Classic (later re- the Los Angeles Coliseum coach Kaulukukui. in Lincoln’s 95-degree heat and 26 mile-per- named the Poi and also went on to Hawai‘i finished hour winds. Of the 11 starters, seven played the Bowl). That team become one of UH’s most the season with entire 60 minutes, including star back Skippy finished 6-0 and fea- successful coaches. an 8-2 record, Dyer, who broke up a Cornhusker pass on UH’s tured stars Maynard culminating with a 10-yard line with less than two minutes to play. “Buster” Piltz and Anthony Morse. 19-16 victory over Utah in the Pineapple Bowl Despite a 34-0 shutout loss to San Jose The next year, Kaulukukui gained national (formerly Poi Bowl). State the next week, the Rainbows went on to fame and earned his nickname, the “Grass In the late 1940s, the team began to travel finish with a 7-4 record and followed that season Shack,” by legendary sportswriter Grantland by air, making the journey to the West Coast with a respectable 7-3 mark in 1956. Rice. During a 19-6 loss to UCLA at the Los in an unheard-of nine hours. To cut down on But only six years after that infamous vic- Angeles Coliseum, Kaulukukui scored the team’s costs, the teams stayed on the U.S. main- lone touchdown, an electrifying 103-yard kickoff land for at least two weeks at a time.