Recent news has O’Neil reflecting on his time at UH

Bruce O’Neil was home in Oregon, looking at the Pacific Ocean and listening to an "Iz" CD when his cell phone buzzed Monday.

"And, thinking about Hawaii," O’Neil added. 

He’s been doing that a lot these days. 

Between answering questions about whether new Los Angeles Clippers chief operating officer Richard "Dick" Parsons really played basketball at the University of Hawaii in the 1960s and following a current NCAA investigation of the school, there has been plenty for O’Neil to reflect upon in a relationship with UH that began 50 years ago. 

The Parsons controversy has sent the 68-year-old O’Neil digging into his keepsakes from the 1960s, recalling a period rich in significance but largely lost in official recorded UH history.

Amid media inquiries and calls from former teammates, O’Neil had begun diving into dog-eared programs and dusty artifacts from his tenure as a player (1964-69), assistant coach  (1969-73) and head coach (1973-76).

It has served as a reminder that it wasn’t until the Fabulous Five glory seasons, 1970-71 and ’71-72, that much of UH’s basketball history began to be chronicled in detail.

The ’60s were a time, just after statehood, when the program was transitioning toward an all-college schedule in both basketball and football, getting its marching orders from Gov. John A. Burns to either get serious about fielding an athletic program or forget it.

‘Ahahui Koa Anuenue, the official booster club, didn’t appear until 1967, and the first sports information director wasn’t hired until more than a year later. Not until 1969-70, two years after departing Klum Gym for the Honolulu International Center (later renamed Blaisdell) did the ‘Bows play their first all-collegiate schedule. They went 6-20, including a four-state, three-week road trip.

Up until then, UH often wasn’t the best — or even the second best — basketball team on Oahu. During the Vietnam War years you could have made a case for Submarine Force Pacific (SubPac), the Army Redlanders or Hawaii Marines, all of which featured ex-college players. 

Terry Dischinger, a Purdue All-American and NBA Rookie of the Year two years earlier, was the high scorer in the 1965 Rainbow Classic with 91 points in three games for the Army. 

Ephraim "Red" Rocha, a Hilo native and former NBA player and coach, was tasked with building a hoops program, and O’Neil, who arrived in 1964 from Roseburg, Ore., was one of three initial full scholarship high school recruits. Under NCAA rules at the time, freshmen weren’t eligible to play varsity and played their contests prior to varsity games against all comers.

"They were interesting times, a great adventure in my life," O’Neil said. Activist Walter Ritte was a teammate, and Fred Smith (1968) would become the first ‘Bow drafted by the NBA. "I have a lot of good, fond memories," O’Neil said. 

"The (current) NCAA investigation doesn’t bring back as good of memories," said O’Neil, who was a figure in the 1977 NCAA sanctions. 

"But UH and the state will always be a big, cherished, positive part of my life, my second home."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.