College sports and pro wrestling don’t have a lot in common, but there is at least one shared aspect.
Villains.
Who is your favorite University of Hawaii sports anti-hero? We’re talking opponents, so Herman Frazier and Fred vonAppen are ineligible.
My short list came down to Danny Ainge, Marshall Faulk, Brian Gimmillaro, Chris Herren and Jim McMahon. Ainge and McMahon were big stars at BYU when Hawaii considered the Cougars their biggest rival, and they were annoying and cocky. Faulk, San Diego State’s stellar running back, tore up UH’s defenses like an unstoppable super hero.
Gimmillaro is a great volleyball coach whose Long Beach State squad often got the better of the Rainbow Wahine in some awesome matches in the ’80s and ’90s. His dapper attire and demonstrative sideline style made him look like a cross between Rick Pitino and Joe Pesci. UH beat LBSU in a five-set nonconference match this September, and it’s going to be fun when they’re both back in the Big West starting next year.
Herren, a flamboyant and insanely talented basketball guard for Fresno State in the ’90s, is the reason this topic came up. ESPN’s latest “30 for 30” documentary, “Unguarded,” which debuted Tuesday, is about Herren and his struggles with alcohol and drugs.
A couple of my younger friends in the Hawaii sports media, Rob DeMello and Billy Hull, are adamant that Herren is the runaway No. 1 all-time on the UH fans’ love-to-hate list.
I originally thought Ainge might be right up there with him. Star-Advertiser deputy sports editor Curtis Murayama saw both, as did I. And he concurs on Herren. “Because he antagonized the fans. Ainge just had that whiner babyface you loved to hate.”
IT WAS PART of the show for those lucky enough to be backstage that night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Herren runs into the Fresno State locker room, a full 5 minutes after his teammates and reeking of beer. “Someone poured a full cup on my head, from the stands,” he says to coach Jerry Tarkanian. “I’m a recovering alcoholic. Do you believe someone would do that?”
Tarkanian wants to believe. But all he can do is smile and in a weary, quiet voice say, “OK, Chris. Great game.” (Herren’s story was later confirmed as true.)
Herren had just dropped 35 points on UH in a 98-80 victory. It was like a pro wrestling match where the evil grapplers win. It was also the most flamboyant and electrifying individual performance I’ve seen at the SSC. The crowd simultaneously loved and hated it. The more Herren scored, the more they screamed at him, and the more he strutted and the more he scored some more.
“It was the first time in my life I could point to a guy and say, ‘That’s the bad guy,’ ” says DeMello, who watched from the stands as a 13-year-old. “After he made a basket, we’d yell at him, ‘We hate you.’ He’d look at our section, flash a shaka and do it again. He was hard to dislike but easy to hate.”
He’d already failed drug tests at Boston College and Fresno State by this point. And his nightmare was just beginning, as is documented in “Unguarded.”
I’ll always remember him as a supreme talent and entertainer on the basketball court. Watching the film reinforces that the bad-guy thing was part of the act. I now also see a human who has spent the past 15 years struggling to regain and maintain control of his life against a true villain — addiction.
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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon @staradvertiser.com or at 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.
