History of sporting events, celebrity shows at stadium

Forty years ago, on Sept. 6, 1976, Honolulu Stadium was demolished. The stadium, which opened in 1926, had hosted sporting events for a half-century. This month we look back at the historic venue.

Honolulu Stadium would not be possible if not for a New York lawyer named John Ashman Beaven. He arrived in Honolulu in 1910 and was elected secretary of the Outrigger Canoe Club two years later.

Beaven helped organize several sports leagues on Oahu and became president of the Oahu Baseball League in 1918. That same year he acquired land in Moiliili that became Moiliili Neighborhood Park, one of Oahu’s oldest recreational parks.

In 1925 Beaven bought 14 acres at the corner of King and Isenberg streets in Moiliili. The cost to build a stadium on the land was $150,000. But the 16,000-seat facility was made of wood and became a perfect breeding ground for termites and helped give the stadium a unique nickname, “Termite Palace.”

On July 10, 1926, ground was broken to build Honolulu Stadium, which was completed in less than two months. The official opening day was Nov. 11, 1926. That day an estimated crowd of 12,000 fans watched the University of Hawaii play Scotty Schuman’s Town Team to claim bragging rights for the best football team in the Territory of Hawaii.

The following year the grandstand was completed, adding several thousand more seats.

High school football games were popular events at the stadium, especially the Thanksgiving Turkey Day championship games. Crowds of 30,000 were sometimes claimed at these games, long before turnstiles were installed.

Over the years, rodeos, boxing matches, bullfighting, track and field meets, stock car racing, religious revivals and hula festivals were all held at the stadium.

There were bowl games hosted at the stadium, too: the Poi Bowl, the Pineapple Bowl and the popular Hula Bowl.

From 1932 to 1957 professional football and baseball teams played exhibition games at the stadium.

Babe Ruth came to the stadium in 1933 and 1934 on baseball barnstorming trips. Baseball Hall of Fame players Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle all appeared at the stadium over the years.

In 1946 Olympic track and field gold medalist Jesse Owens gave Oahu youth running tips, made speeches and even outran a horse in an exhibition at the stadium.

Elvis Presley’s affinity for Hawaii began on Nov. 10, 1957, when he played two Honolulu Stadium shows.

On April 20, 1961, the Hawaii Islanders made their home debut at Honolulu Stadium before a crowd of more than 6,000 fans.

Over the years sportscasters Les Keiter, Joe Rose, Carlos Rivas, Harry Kalas, Hank Greenwald, Marty Chase, Ken Wilson and many others announced games at the stadium.

Sports writers and announcers had to climb a 7-foot ladder and go through a trapdoor to enter the press box. And because it was so difficult to get in and out of the press box, if someone needed to use the restroom, a large coffee can was instead passed around.

“They’ll be sitting in a booth at Honolulu Stadium that leaks when it rains, sways like a coconut palm in the wind and gets so hot in the afternoon sun that (Chuck) Leahey and (Al) Michaels work in their underwear,” wrote Bob Krauss in his column in 1969 for The Honolulu Advertiser.

The World League Football team the Hawaiians called Honolulu Stadium home for most of their brief run in 1974 and 1975 before moving to the new Aloha Stadium in Halawa.

The last sporting event held at Honolulu Stadium was Sept. 8, 1975, when the Hawaii Islanders won the Pacific Coast League title.

When the Islanders and the Hawaiians moved to Aloha Stadium in 1975, that marked the beginning of the end for Honolulu Stadium.

On Sept. 5, 1976, Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi hosted a farewell party for the stadium. The following day, bulldozers moved in and demolished it.

“Within a few months a community park will blossom there with natural greenery nourished by the famed ‘Manoa Mist,’” said Monte Ito, a Honolulu Advertiser sports writer in 1976.

Old Stadium Park sits where Honolulu Stadium once was. A plaque at the park commemorates what was once a haven for sports and events. A playground for island keiki now sits near where baseball left fielders once roamed for fly balls.

AJ McWhorter, a collector of film and videotape cataloging Hawaii’s TV history, has worked as a producer, writer and researcher for both local and national media. Email him at flashback@hawaii.rr.com.