UH hoping Waterhouse gift inspires more to donate

For symbolism the University of Hawaii chose the newly renovated athletic department lecture hall as the site of Tuesday’s press conference announcing a $1 million-plus donation by the Waterhouse Charitable Trust.

It could have also made a statement had the event been held a couple of first downs away at the 10,000-square-foot Waterhouse Physiology Research and Training Facility that Alexander Cooke Waterhouse wrote a $303,000 check for in 1994.

Or, it could have gone a couple sky punts in the other direction to the football practice field, where Waterhouse shelled out nearly $500,000 on a 1999 renovation.

Is it really any wonder why the football team’s top trophy is named the “Waterhouse MVP Award?”

It is also interesting to note, as several people observed, that the department’s two most generous boosters, Waterhouse and Clarence T.C. Ching, whose foundation donated $5 million for the athletic complex that carries his name, are deceased. Waterhouse died in 1999 and Ching in 1985.

Because even as their contributions are honored there is also concern about who might follow them.

To be sure there are some boosters who help out in smaller amounts. And there are some who prefer to remain in the shadows, including Duane Kurisu and Stanley Mukai, who played significant roles in helping facilitate the Waterhouse grant and other areas.

The largesse of Waterhouse and others has allowed UH to have some of what limited state and institutional funding would not have otherwise permitted. But at a time when so much is needed and state and school resources are earmarked elsewhere, will there be additional reinforcements on the funding front?

“This is something that we can’t do on our own at UH,” President David Lassner said Tuesday in renewing the call for community assistance for the state’s only major college athletic program.

“We can’t do this ourselves,” Lassner said. “Not only do we have a very unique set of challenges here (in) our travel costs, the subsidies that we pay, the particular relationship that we have with Aloha Stadium … but on top of all of that, Division I is changing and that is presenting new financial challenges.”

The Waterhouse gift helps underwrite UH’s 246 scholarship athletes to an average of $1,000 each for 2015-16 as well as funding football’s training table, summer school, supplements and assorted equipment needs.

But as athletic director David Matlin acknowledged, that just gets UH’s foot in the door, much less allowing it to keep up with Fresno State, San Diego State and San Jose State. Just through this year and, maybe, a start on 2016-17 at that. Boise State is a whole new ballgame.

Lassner said, “We need the support of our entire community and policy makers of Hawaii now more than ever, that’s why this gift from the Waterhouse Trust is so special and so important to us and we appreciate (the) leadership and we really look forward to this gift inspiring others to help us.”

The million-dollar question is: Will it?

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.