Chaminade’s hoops squad helps ailing teen have a ball

CHAMINADE University partnered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to grant the wish of a lifetime for a young man with a life-threatening health condition.

Last year, 6-foot-5 Timber Creek High (Orlando, Fla.) basketball player Xhosa Fray-Chinn, 18, was looking at schools where he might land a scholarship. Chaminade was a university on his list. But his dreams of moving up to the next level were shattered when he suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed during a game of pickup basketball and was in a coma for five days.

Xhosa was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He now lives with an internal defibrillator in his chest and his competitive basketball days are over. But Xhosa’s dreams of coming to Hawaii and visiting Chaminade came true as he and his mother, Karen Fray, father, Vernon Chinn, and sister, Zora Fray-Chinn,were flown here by Make-A-Wish.

The family was taken to Chaminade Aug. 16 and met university President Brother Bernard Ploeger, athletics chief Bill Villa and other staff members. A pep rally was held for the family in McCabe Gym, where Xhosa was welcomed by basketball coach Eric Bovaird and named a Chaminade Silversword for the day. He suited up in a Chaminade uniform top and participated in a limited workout with Silversword players. The large crowd, drummed up by alumni director Be-Jay Kodama and new provost Helen Whippy, rocked the gym with cheers. After the event, the family was given a tour of the campus. The next day Xhosa celebrated his 19th birthday, a happy young man, thanks to Make-A-Wish. …

ONWARD: Maui-born filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton is receiving national praise for "Short Term 12," which opens in limited release nationally today.

The independent film, which Cretton, 34, wrote and directed, won both the grand jury prize and audience award in the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, in March. It stars Brie Larson and John Gallagher Jr. as co-workers in a foster-care facility.

Cretton is the subject of Vanity Fair magazine’s "Spotlight" column in its September issue. Writer A.M. Homes reports that Rami Malek plays a character in "Short Term 12" based on Cretton’s own experience working in a foster-care facility in California; Cretton took the job after graduating from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. Homes writes that Cretton, who grew up making movies with his granny’s video camera, "achieves the impossible (by making) a pitch-perfect feel-good film about foster care." …

FLYIN’ ON: The Boston Red Sox’s Shane Victorino, "The Flyin’ Hawaiian," has hooked up with Tongo Coconut Water of Anaheim, Calif., a new bottled coconut water brand. Victorino is Boston’s starting right-fielder and was a two-time All-Star, three-time Golden Glove Award winner and a member of the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies. "I’m excited to be working with Tongo Coconut Water and am grateful for the opportunity," the Maui-born Victorino said. …

Rey Baysa has been named exec chef for Honolulu’s Hard Rock Cafe. …

Family and friends gathered Monday morning at the Outrigger Canoe Club to take part in a final aloha for retired Hawaii Pacific University V.P. Nancy Ellis. Following a joyous and lively celebration of her life, Nancy’s ashes were scattered offshore by her son, Josh, and husband, George Ellis, former director of the Honolulu Museum of Art. Nancy, 66, died May 16 in St. Petersburg, Fla. In her final days, she created a picture book for her grandchildren with last words of advice. At the top of the list: "Education is the key to success. Study hard and work hard" …

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Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.