Dave Reardon: Fans share most beloved sports teams in Hawaii history

May 10—My friends on social media tend to be a little bit over the median age in Hawaii, which is just under 40. That means that we ... unh, I mean they ... tend to be less prisoner of the moment and a little more nostalgic than the typical local sports fan.

My friends on social media tend to be a little bit over the median age in Hawaii, which is just under 40. That means that we ... unh, I mean they ... tend to be less prisoner of the moment and a little more nostalgic than the typical local sports fan.

So, I asked where the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team—with two national championships and now a runner-up finish in the past three years—ranks among the most beloved teams in the islands' sports history.

Not surprisingly, a basketball team from 50 years ago was mentioned often.

Remember the Fabulous Five ?

No, not the Fab Five at Michigan—that was 20 years later.

The funny thing about the UH Fabulous Five is that it never came close to winning a national championship (unless getting to the quarterfinals with one NIT win in 1971 counts ). But Bob Nash, John Penebacker, Al Davis, Jerome "Hook " Freeman and Dwight Holiday—coached by Red Rocha—captured the imagination, and the hearts, of basketball fans in Hawaii like no hoops team before or since.

In the two years they were together they went 47-8, and averaged 91.7 points per game their second year (which ended with a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Weber State ).

Abe Villanueva was attending Maili Elementary when UH won in the first round of the NIT. "Our teacher came into the classroom just after lunch and said, 'We won !"

Part of the allure is "mystique, " Villanueva wrote—because there wasn't the over-saturation of media coverage there is today.

That's true. In the'70s, people's phones stayed home when they went to games, and didn't double as cameras.

Daryl Matsuo is among those who put the 2007 UH football team, led by Heisman Trophy finalist Colt Brennan, at the top of the list. He has the Fabulous Five second.

"The Five came from out of state and dominated sports chatter, " wrote Matsuo, who was a student at UH. "After graduation most stayed here and are still respected community members."

The UH women's volleyball program still has twice as many national championships as the men's program, with four. The Wahine also won back-to-back national titles in 1982 and'83.

While Stan Sheriff rightfully gets plenty of credit for getting the arena named after him built, Dana Sugimoto says we should not forget the team that got people thinking UH needed a bigger on-campus facility.

In 1979, Dave Shoji's women's volleyball team had "a lot of key local players and had been knocking on the door of a championship for a few years prior, " Sugimoto posted. "They played to wild 'capacity' crowds at the sweat box called Klum Gym. They were the foundation to the success of the women's volleyball program and to some extent the men's success. They also helped to stoke the fires for a new top-notch arena."

Russell Shimooka, the retired sportscaster, wrote that the Chaminade basketball program should be remembered for more than just its one victory—as great an upset as it was—over No. 1 Virginia and Ralph Sampson in 1982.

"The best team no one saw, because they were not on TV and only their true fans watched them pound opponents, to include nationally ranked teams at the time, " Shimooka wrote, accurately pointing out that the'Swords beat other highly ranked teams, including SMU, which was ranked fourth when Chaminade edged the Mustangs in 1984. "During this year's NCAA Tournament, FAU reminded me of the Silverswords back in the day. All talented, but unheralded."

Another former Hawaii sportscaster, Bob Hogue, wants to remind people about the UH men's volleyball team that drew 10, 000 fans to matches on what seemed like a regular basis.

"Yuval Katz, Aaron Wilton, and the ... teams of the mid-90s, " Hogue posted. "So crazy popular, their young and adoring fans treated them like rock stars !"

Some of coach Mike Wilton's players were mobbed by admirers so much that they had to sneak out of the arena in laundry bins.

UH baseball was so strong in the late'70s and 1980s that it didn't miss a beat when the guy named one of the three "Players of the Century " by Collegiate Baseball moved on to pro baseball in Japan. If the'Bows missed Derek Tatsuno's NCAA-record-setting 20-1 record as a pitcher in 1979, it didn't seem like it, as Les Murakami's team finished second at the College World Series in 1980.

"Living in Hawaii in the'70s and'80s, Derek Tatsuno was king, " posted Mike Wise, who starred in basketball and football at Campbell High before doing so on the sports pages as a New York Times and Washington Post columnist.

Wise just missed Garrett Gabriel and the breaking of the UH football jinx against BYU.

All four of Hawaii's Little League World Series championship teams are also still fan favorites, and probably always will be.

If you missed the first three seasons of "Young Rock, " you might not know that Hawaii was a hotbed of pro wrestling.

Paul Ogata remembers a great team.

"How about some love for the THREE TIME WWE world tag team champs, Mr. Fuji and Professor Tanaka ? Both those dudes are from Hawaii, although those matches all happened out of the islands, " Ogata posted. "So, if you need a more Hawaii-centric team, I give you Mr. Fuji and Curtis Iaukea, who won the NWA Hawaii tag team titles in Hawaii."

I didn't know until now that my favorite professional comedian from my alma mater was a member of the "team " that went undefeated at Aloha Stadium and the Rose Bowl.

"I'll add that as a (Pearl City High School ) band geek I was on the field at the Pro Bowl more times (four ) than Dan Marino (two ), " Ogata posted.------Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon @staradvertiser.com.