Helmet returned to Espinda family

Some mysteries are more intriguing when they’re left unsolved. Just ask Tom Metcalf.

For decades he harbored questions about the football helmet his father brought home in 1975 — a battered, red leather antique owned by David "Lippy" Espinda Jr., the car salesman/TV celebrity known as Hawaii’s King of Pidgin. Metcalf, who grew up in Enchanted Lake but now lives in Carson City, Nev., wanted to know when and where Espinda used the helmet, why he kept it and how to return it.

But Wednesday, after Metcalf handed the helmet to Espinda’s son, David Akana Espinda III, what he knew about the helmet remained practically unchanged. Still, Metcalf couldn’t help but smile when he shook hands with Lippy’s 78-year-old son for the first time.

"This opens a whole new mystery," Espinda told Metcalf.

The two men were brought together by a story Tuesday in the Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser that detailed Metcalf’s desire to find the helmet’s rightful owner. A day later at a Zippy’s on King Street, they sat and shared stories, the helmet between them like a bridge between their families.

"Now your family has a whole new thing to talk about," the 56-year-old Metcalf told Espinda.

Lippy Espinda went to Saint Louis School, but his football-playing days are murky, his son told Metcalf.

"He did play for Saint Louis, but they told him he had a heart problem and he couldn’t play anymore," said Espinda, who stared at the helmet and rolled it around in his hands.

"I’m not sure it would fit my dad," he said.

But his father kept it for some reason.

"I really have no idea why," he said. "Maybe he used it to protect against irate customers."

Lippy Espinda died of a heart attack in 1975, the same year that Metcalf’s father, a construction proj­ect superintendent, began work on Century Center on Kala­kaua Avenue near Kapiolani Avenue. The gleaming high-rise was built on the property where Espinda had his car lot and gas station.

Espinda’s nephews, Vernal and DJ Pratt, used to play with the helmet in the backyard of his Kahala home.

"Then it disappeared," the younger Espinda said. "The first we heard of it again was when Tom brought it to our attention. We hadn’t thought of it in 40 years."

He’s still glad to have it back, though.

"It’s a historical thing now," he said. "Maybe I’ll give it to Lippy’s great-grandson, Lippy V."