2008 Hawaii top sport stories | The Honolulu Advertiser

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2008 Hawaii top sport stories | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Posted on: Thursday, January 1, 2009

'2008 IS THE BEST YEAR EVER'
2008 Hawaii top sport stories

Advertiser Staff

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Remember 2008.

Because when it came to Hawai'i-related sports, 2008 was the most thrilling, compelling and controversial year — EVER.

"A gold in the decathlon; a world championship in Little League; plus a gold and silver in Olympics by people with Island ties; an undefeated football season. I can't think of any year where they had so many spheres of excellence," said sportscaster Jim Leahey, 66, the voice of University of Hawai'i sports and a Hawai'i sports fan for more than six decades.

"The more I think about it, it probably is (the best). It probably is."

"Based on all the accomplishments this past year, 2008 is the best year ever," said Keith Amemiya, Hawai'i High School Athletic Association executive director and a sports follower for more than three decades.

Hawai'i has generated many sports newsmakers in its history. Duke Kahanamoku led a superb Hawai'i group of swimmers in the 1920 Olympics. Ford Kono led another medal-winning contingent in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics. The University of Hawai'i basketball's "Fabulous Five" captivated the Isle's attention in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

But, as Leahey put it, there has never been "as many levels of excellence in so many sports as there was in 2008."

Here's what the past year offered:

An unprecedented Sugar Bowl appearance by the UH football team;

The sudden departure of head coach June Jones just days after the Sugar Bowl, followed by an immediate firing of UH athletic director Herman Frazier and subsequent hiring of Greg McMackin as the football coach and Jim Donovan as the athletic director;

Castle alum Bryan Clay became the "World's Greatest Athlete" by winning the gold in the Olympic decathlon in the Beijing Olympics;

Twelve of the 18 athletes with Hawai'i ties brought home Olympic medals, including Natasha Kai as the first athlete born and raised in Hawai'i to win a gold medal in 50 years, and a handful helped to win silver in women's volleyball and gold in men's volleyball;

Waipi'o's Little League team defied the odds with a record rally in the semifinal and a blowout victory over Mexico to win a world title;

Philadelphia center fielder Shane Victorino, a rare everyday player from Hawai'i, helped the Phillies beat Milwaukee and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League playoffs and then Tampa Bay in the World Series;

Surfer Carissa Moore, at 16, became the youngest to capture a Triple Crown event;

Parker McLachlin became just the fourth Hawai'i golfer to win a PGA event;

Punahou's Manti Te'o became the first recipient of the Dick Butkus Award for the nation's best high school linebacker, earned the USA Today's national Defensive Player of the Year honor, helped the Buffanblu win their first state football title, and was selected The Sporting News' High School Athlete of the Year;

Punahou was selected by Sports Illustrated as the No. 1 high school athletic program.

"(There were) so many unprecedented achievements that were reached this year," Amemiya said. "Standing alone, any of those would be the No. 1 story."

The biggest news in sports kicked off a year ago today — a day the state stood still.

With tens of thousands Hawai'i fans attending the game and festivities in New Orleans and everyone back home riveted to the nationally televised game — did you know anyone who didn't know UH was playing that day? — the Warriors got their first taste of big-time, big-bowl football, playing in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia.

Although the run-up to UH's run to a Bowl Championship Series berth started in 2007, the culmination was the New Year's Day game in the Superdome.

While the game — a 41-10 loss — was forgettable, the ride was memorable.

"As far as people warming to a team ... nothing comes close to the Sugar Bowl fever," Leahey said. "The people who went there, they charmed New Orleans.

"The thing is, we were out of the mold of the usual bowl followers," Leahey continued. "When Hawai'i went to New Orleans, there were so many different forms of us and the New Orleans people had never seen anything like that.

"They were shocked (because) Hawai'i is perceived as just short of the moon."

Leahey said the people of Hawai'i introduced a taste of aloha to the people of New Orleans.

"(We're) happy people, charming people, not boorish," he said. "We saw each other there and there was this bond.

"It was magic. It really was."

With this ever be duplicated?

"No."

ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

"(It) has to be Bryan Clay," Leahey said. "That's the highest form; the No. 1 athlete in the world; and he's undersized. He's not a behemoth of a human being."

SUGAR BOWL GAME

First BCS berth
Played Jan. 1, 2008

2008 HAWAI'I

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