Hoops legend Kau reached superstar status

Long before the advent of the shot clock in basketball, Robert "Bobby" Kau gained renown as one of the most accomplished ball-handlers to play in Hawaii in the 1940s and ’50s.

So much so that, "They’d say if you had a lead in a game and gave him the ball you’d win 2-0," said former UH coach Vince Goo, who had the stories related to him by his late father, Ah Chew Goo, a UH coach and basketball legend.

Kau, who was an inductee into UH’s Circle of Honor, died Oct. 15 at age 93.

The 5-foot, 8-inch 128-pounder, grew up playing basketball at Palama Settlement and Farrington High.

Plans to attend UH were detoured by World War II, in which he served in the Territorial Guard, worked at Pearl Harbor and then joined the Merchant Marines, according to family.

He followed Goo to UH, where he was a starter on the 1946-47 team, the first to make an extensive mainland road trip. In the course of 19 days in 1947 UH played in six states stretching from New York to Nevada, including an appearance at Madison Square Garden against St. John’s.

The ‘Bows lost to the Redmen 80-37.

In a 2006 story, teammate Richard Mamiya remembered, "… But the next year (1948) we won at Seattle University (47-34)."

"We stalled the last five minutes. There was no shot clock. Bobby Kau was the best dribbler. He’d dribble, and when he got tired, he’d give me the ball. I’d dribble a little bit and give it back to him."

The ‘Bows were roundly booed by the crowd. "We didn’t care. We were there to win the game," Mamiya said.

Kau also starred and captained teams in the University Invitational League and Rainbow Athletic League and coached at ‘Iolani.

Honolulu Star-Bulletin columnist Bill Gee wrote, "We rank Bobby Kau one of the three basketball superstars ever to grace the floor of a basketball court (in Hawaii). The other two were Red Raymond and Ah Chew Goo."

Kau was also an excellent golfer, managing several holes-in-one, and went on to a half-century career in insurance with John Hancock.

Memorial service will be Nov. 18 at 11:30 a.m. at Diamond Head Chapel.