For those reading the names of the three newest additions to the University of Hawaii Sports Circle of Honor, the selections will come as no surprise.

But for the trio chosen, it does come as a surprise. Because Allen Allen, Kanoe Kamana’o Ka’aihue and Maureen O’Toole-Purcell competed for the honor, the love and the respect of their chosen sport, not for all the honors the All-Americans would ultimately achieve.

It was volleyball fame for both Allen and Kamana’o Ka’aihue, while swimmer O’Toole-Purcell carried the torch for women’s water polo for decades until it finally became an Olympic sport.

They are the Class of 2012, the 31st for the Sports Circle of Honor, which was established in 1982. Their plaques will join those of 96 individuals and 10 teams hanging on the walls of the inner concourse of the Stan Sheriff Center.

The official induction is during Friday’s Rainbow Wahine volleyball match against Cal State Northridge at the Sheriff Center. The three also will be introduced at Saturday’s homecoming football game against New Mexico at Aloha Stadium.

"You think about the thousands and thousands of athletes who have represented UH all these years and I’m grateful to even be considered, let alone be chosen," said Allen, currently an assistant women’s volleyball coach at Gonzaga. "It’s such a small percentage … and it makes me feel even more special.

"But I didn’t do it by myself. I had lot of people who helped make this happen from the time I first put on that UH uniform in 1986. The coaches, my teammates. If we didn’t win as a program we wouldn’t be talking about this."

Allen (1986-89) always will remain in the conversation of great UH men’s volleyball players. The program’s first three-time All-American, he helped the Rainbows attain their first No. 1 national ranking in 1989.

His senior night in Klum Gym was not only marked by his wearing the traditional Samoan lava lava but by his marks on the UH record book. The Castle High graduate was the program’s leader in kills (1,483), kill average (4.83), kill attempts (3,151), block solos (112), digs (739), dig average (2.41) and single-match kills (38). Some 20 years later, he remains in the Top 10 of those career categories, including No. 1 in block solos.

Allen’s teams never made it to the NCAA final four. Kamana’o Ka’aihue’s did once, in 2003 when she was the Rainbow Wahine’s first AVCA national freshman of the year.

As a four-year starter (2003-07), she led UH to a 122-16 overall record and became the program’s second four-time All-American. The setter out of ‘Iolani School was the Western Athletic Conference freshman of the year and three-time WAC player of the year. She twice received the Joe Kearney Award given to the WAC’s top athletes and was the 2007 Jack Bonham Award winner, considered UH’s most prestigious student-athlete honor.

Kamana‘o Ka‘aihue remains the program’s leader in assists (6,428) and No. 2 in digs (1,416).

As decorated as O’Toole-Purcell was as a swimmer at UH (1983-84) — a three-time All-American who helped set two UH relay records — it was in water polo that she made her mark years before Hawaii offered the sport.

She was named to the U.S. national team at the age of 17 and was selected to the inaugural FINA World Cup all-world team. She went on to be named the MVP of the World Championship six times, was the U.S. MVP 15 times and a four-time Sportswoman of the Year by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

At age 39, she came out of retirement to captain the U.S. Olympic team to a silver medal as the sport made its debut at the Sydney Games. She has been inducted into both the International Swimming and USA Water Polo halls of fame.