George Chun remembers when fellow KIKI radio disc jockey Tom Moffatt played on the air a song called “Hound Dog,” by a new artist he had never even heard of.

“What the hell are you playing that crap for? It sounds awful,” Chun recalled saying at the time.

The new artist: Elvis Presley.

“All these years he had the last laugh,” Chun said.

Moffatt, who died Monday at the age of 85, was remembered by his friends, colleagues and associates Tuesday as a humble, kind and honest man who nevertheless managed to excel in the rough-and-tumble, often cutthroat music industry.

As a deejay, record producer, talent manager and concert promoter, Moffatt had a knack for knowing what people in Hawaii wanted to hear, they said.

For example, in 1973 he staged a concert by a new group named Cecilio and Kapono. C&K didn’t even have a record out, but 5,000 still flocked to the Waikiki Shell.

“He took a chance on us,” said Henry Kapono, the “K” in C&K. “He saw something was happening.”

After the record came out, more than 10,000 appeared at the Waikiki Shell for C&K’s second concert.

Kapono said Moffatt was a kind man with a good heart and a real sense for the music business.

“It’s not easy being a promoter, but he was always great,” he said. “I will miss him and thank him for believing in us. Those were great times.”

Recording artist Kapono Beamer said he’ll remember Moffatt as a kind and generous man who went beyond the call of duty as a record producer.

Among other things, Moffatt allowed Kapono, his brother, Keola Beamer, and their band to use his house as a rehearsal venue and allowed the brothers to stay at a second place on the North Shore to work on their music.

Moffatt persuaded music legend Teddy Randazzo to produce and arrange the Beamer Brothers’ hit song “Honolulu City Lights,” which became the biggest-selling record in Hawaii for 2-1/2 decades.

“I will always be grateful,” Kapono Beamer said. “You could always count on (Moffatt). He was like a second dad.”

Honolulu Star-Advertiser columnist and former Honolulu Advertiser entertainment editor Wayne Harada recalled that Moffatt helped make Hawaii a destination for both budding and established stars with his initial “Show of Stars” at the old Civic Auditorium.

When the Blaisdell complex was built, he became the promoter of choice, staging some big shows and making Hawaii an attractive destination for touring acts, Harada said.

Over the years Moffatt worked in a variety of roles in the music industry, but it was the importation of major talent that would become his calling card, he said.

“I was a high school paper editor when I first got to know him and his prowess in pop music,” Harada said in an email. “When I joined the Honolulu Advertiser as a cub reporter, I covered most of his shows — and he emerged as the entrepreneur who would bring the biggies to town, from the Young Rascals to the Monkees, from the Rolling Stones to Michael Jackson, from Elvis Presley to Bruno Mars.

“He was always a gentleman, which is why acts gravitated to his circle. A handshake often sealed the deal; entertainers liked and trusted him — a style he nurtured over time.”

Jeffrey Portnoy, a friend and attorney for 30 years, said he was devastated by the news of Moffatt’s death. He said Moffatt was “pretty spry” only a couple of months ago.

“I knew it was coming. I didn’t know it would be that quick,” he said.

Portnoy said Moffatt was warm and caring, and honest in a business that could be brutal at times. Some said he was too honest and nice, he said, but it was that consistency of character that kept the big acts returning to him.

He said Moffatt was an “extraordinarily humble” man who rebuffed any suggestion he be honored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But, Portnoy said, there should be a place for him there, considering his importance to rock music in Honolulu.

“He’s an incredible human being,” Portnoy said. “Hawaii lost an absolute treasure.”

Former Gov. Ben Cayetano said just about everyone his age remembers listening to Moffatt on the radio in high school. Later, as governor, he would meet the man and get to know him.

“He was the best,” Cayetano said. “He was one of the most decent guys I ever knew.”

Chun, Moffatt’s best friend and colleague in the business going back to the early 1950s, said his pal never said anything bad about anyone and that he never took advantage of anyone, either. In his dealings with other promoters, he said, Moffatt would always say there was enough business to share.

“That’s the kind of person he was,” Chun said. “I’m going to miss him.”

Andrea Dismuke, an accountant with A Tom Moffatt Production since 1983, said that what impressed her the most about Moffatt was that he literally never held a grudge.

“I’ve never known anyone who was like that. But (Moffatt) was. He always let it go. It was his personality. It never dawned on him to hold a grudge,” she said.

Dismuke said there was “never a dull moment” working with Moffatt over the years.

“It’s a very, very sad day. We were like a little family. We really were,” she said. “He’s going to be missed. He was one of a kind. There will be no one else on earth ever close to him.”