Congratulations to the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football team, coach Norm Chow, his assistants Kevin Clune and Chris Naeole and the rest of his staff for their outstanding game against the Washington Huskies last Saturday. Although they lost, 17-16, to the favored Huskies, ranked No. 25, the Warriors were the better team on the field that day. A strong showing was badly needed by UH for many reasons and the team came through with flying colors. The game will go down as a loss in the record books but UH put on a winning performance. Go, ‘Bows! Keep it up against Oregon State Saturday and for the rest of the season …
CONDOLENCES to Mary Diaz, wife of the great Hawaii football player and coach Edward "Skippa" Diaz, 70, who died of cancer Saturday. Skippa loved Farrington High, where he starred in football and track before graduating in 1962. He spent 21 years as a football and track coach and teacher at the Kalihi school. Skippa taught world history, science and a special motivation program to keep youngsters on the right path. He said he enjoyed working with youths. "They keep you young," he added. He advised them "to be good people, love their parents, help their families and get the best education they can find."
Skippa was a standout at Oregon State University, where he made the All Pac-10 team as a 6-foot, 250-pound defensive tackle and played in the Hula Bowl. He graduated from OSU in 1968. In track, he set shot put records at OSU, just as he did at Farrington. After playing pro football in Canada with the British Columbia Lions, Skippa returned to OSU to get his graduate degree. He then came home and taught at Washington Intermediate and was an assistant football coach at Kalani before taking a job at Waialua High. He replaced Chow as football coach at Waialua in 1972. Skippa was to be an honorary co-captain along with his OSU teammate, Kamehameha and Detroit Lions star Rockne Freitas, at Saturday’s game.
Skippa was at Waialua when he met his soulmate, Mary Krause, in 1973. She was a teacher from Wisconsin who planned to stay in Hawaii only for a year. "I met this handsome Hawaiian who sang and played guitar for me under a koa tree," Mary said. They were married in 1977. When I interviewed him for "Wood Craft" a month before his 68th birthday party on Feb. 17, 2012, Skippa said, "There was nothing in the world I wanted more than Mary." …
WITH ALL the glaring headlines about college and pro football players getting in trouble and being arrested, it was a distinct pleasure to write about all the good things Skippa taught his students and players and to read an Aug. 21 story in USA Today about Hawaii-born University of Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, a strong pick to win the Heisman Trophy that is awarded to the best college player in the nation. The story not only told how good the Saint Louis grad is on the field but also what a fine student and person Marcus is. What particularly got me in the story was a fellow quarterback revealing how after most practices last year, Marcus would get a Clif nutrition bar and a bottle of water from the snack shop in the Oregon team’s training facility and on their drive back to campus, Marcus would stop, lower his window and hand the bar and beverage to the person standing on a corner with a sign asking for help. Whatta guy …
Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.
