Dear Mr. Football: Is it OK for an Arizona fan to cheer for Hawaii?
A: Ken and Marge Wong of SaddleBrooke have been UA season ticket holders since 2009, always wearing red and blue to Arizona Stadium. But on Saturday night they’ll be wearing Rainbow Warrior gear.
How could they not?
Ken’s father, Mun Kin Wong was the starting quarterback on Hawaii’s powerful 8-1 team of 1941 that beat Willamette College on Saturday afternoon, December 6, 1941.
A day later, after surviving the Japanese attack on his hometown, M.K. Wong joined the Hawaiian Territorial Guard, in which he served for five years during World War II. He never played football again; the following week’s game against San Jose State was obviously canceled.
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After operating Wong’s Drapery Shoppe in Honolulu for 62 years and becoming an assistant coach at Iolani High School, Wong was the last known survivor of Hawaii’s 1941 football team. He was honored by Hawaii coach June Jones in 2007. In an emotional ceremony, Jones presented Wong with the letter he earned as the Rainbow Warriors quarterback in 1941. He died in 2009.
He indeed was a Rainbow Warrior for life.
Ken Wong graduated from Purdue, earned a Master’s degree at Michigan State and enjoyed a career as an executive for the Rockwell Collins corporation in Los Angeles, working on the infrastructure of airplanes, ships and for military intelligence related works.
But there’s more to the story: Ken Wong graduated from Purdue’s ROTC program and became a commissioned officer in the Air Force. Like father, like son.
Dear Mr. Football: How many football players has Arizona recruited from Hawaii?
A: From 1987 to 2016, by my unofficial count, 27 Wildcats played high school football in Hawaii or Samoa. But former UA coach Dick Tomey, who recruited most of them, says that’s inaccurate.
He adds Polynesian recruits from California such as Joe Salave’a, Brandon Manumaleuna and Edwin Mulitalo to the list, among many others.
“Many had moved from the Islands to Polynesian enclaves in California,” he says. “The Polynesian connection is more about family than place.”
Dear Mr. Football: Why don’t more Tucsonans play for Hawaii? Wouldn’t that be fun?
A: Three Tucsonans have played for the Rainbow Warriors the last 40 years. Salpointe Catholic lineman Rich Ellerson was the first, 1973-77, using his days in Honolulu to become a Tomey assistant and defensive coordinator in the Desert Swarm years and head coach at Army.
Salpointe quarterback Tyler Graunke, the 2004 Southern Arizona Player of the Year, started two games for Hawaii’s 12-1 Sugar Bowl team of 2007. Ring a bell? When Rob Gronkowski held his NFL pro day at Arizona Stadium in 2010, Graunke acted as his quarterback, working pass routes with Gronk for days. Graunke now lives in Phoenix.
One of Hawaii’s starting cornerbacks, Jalen Rogers, is a Cienega High grad who spent two years at Mesa Community College.
Dear Mr. Football: What statistic defines Arizona’s 2016 defense?
A: The Wildcats did not have a three-and-out defensive series against Grambling State. That almost never happens anywhere.
When Arizona last played Hawaii, winning 27-6 in the 1998 season opener, the Rainbow Warriors punted 12 times, including five consecutive possessions.
Yes, times have changed. Tomey’s ’98 team was a make-’em-punt, push-’em-back unit, and Rich Rodriguez’s teams have been more of the he-who-scores-last-wins variety.
When the Wildcats beat NAU 77-13 a year ago, Arizona forced punts on four consecutive three-and-out series and had six in the game. By comparison, last week at Michigan, Hawaii opened the game with five series in which it went three-and-out four times and lost the ball on an interception on the second play of the remaining possession.
Michigan won 63-3.
Dear Mr. Football: How did Brandon Dawkins celebrate his debut victory as a starting quarterback?
A: About 20 minutes after the game, as the field cleared and Arizona’s team and staff sang “Bear Down, Arizona” in the locker room, Dawkins was posing for photographs at the 50-yard line with fans and friends wearing “I FEEL LIKE DAWKS” T-shirts close to the Grambling State band.
That’s called enjoying the moment.
But Dawkins also got to listen to the band’s version of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” It was captivating.
No one was taking pictures of me, but as I listened to the song — “We’ve got to find a way, to bring some loving here today” — Dawkins and his friends were mouthing the words.
As a substitute for singing “Bear Down, Arizona,” you can’t do much better.
Dear Mr. Football: What kind of a legacy did Tomey leave at Hawaii?
A: Tomey was a lunchpail guy during his coaching days, step by step up the ladder, from Miami of Ohio to Northern Illinois to Davison, Kansas, UCLA, Hawaii, Arizona, the San Francisco 49ers and all the way to Texas’ associate head coach in 2004 when the Longhorns finished 11-1.
Remarkably, at 73, he went back to Hawaii and became a special teams coach in 2011 when the Rainbows struggled to beat teams like Idaho 16-14.
Here’s part of his legacy: Hawaii’s new special teams coach is Mayur Chandhari, Tomey’s son-in-law. If you think there’s any nepotism involved, you would be wrong.
Much like his father-in-law, Chandhari started at the bottom, at UC Davis, and then coached, in order, at Menlo College, was an intern at Stanford and a full-time coach at Jose State and VMI. He then became a junior varsity coach at Army, earned a spot on the Cadets’ varsity staff and spent the last two years as an assistant at Lenoir-Rhyne. Along the way, Chandhari earned two masters degrees and was a standout lacrosse player at UC-Davis.
Well done.
Dear Mr. Football: What is the most compelling competition for the game?
A: StubHub’s battle for the cheapest ticket at Arizona Stadium is fascinating. As of mid-day Friday, tickets were advertised for $6, $6.95, $7, $8, $8.95, $8.99, $9 and $9.01, all the way to $100 for the big-money seats at the Sands Club.
A friend of mine bought a last-hour ticket at StubHub for the Grambling State-Arizona game for $3.
No, this isn’t the Ohio State-Oklahoma game; tickets at OU’s Memorial Stadium for Saturday’s game are listed on StubHub from $74 to $5,000.
But the UA-Hawaii game is worth far more than $6 if only to get an up-close look at Arizona’s unique Pearl Harbor/USS Arizona uniforms. Given the circumstances, I don’t think all Arizona fans would be upset if the Rainbow Warriors won.
Arizona 41, Hawaii 17
