University of Hawaii football’s Sugar Bowl team enters Circle of Honor

A newborn was named after the starting quarterback.

Thousands stood in a line that snaked the length of three football fields for an autograph, high-five or selfie.

The composer who scored television shows and created “Law &Order’s” iconic chung-chung sound wrote a theme song for the nation’s only undefeated college football team.

It was 2007, a wonder year in island sports’ history, and for the University of Hawaii football team and its fans, a “perfect season.”

That was the title of one of three books published about the 2007 Warriors, and also a recognition of their 12-0 regular season and accompanying invitation to the 2008 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

The 2007 Warriors, coached by June Jones and led by Heisman Trophy finalist Colt Brennan, are among the four inductees into UH’s Circle of Honor. Also joining the Circle are:

>> Kanani Danielson, a Rainbow Wahine outside hitter who was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s All-America first team in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

>> Rick Blangiardi, a former UH football player and coach who was a television pioneer of UH sportscasts.

>> James “Skippy” Dyer, a former three-sport athlete at UH who was a member of the 1955 football team that upset Nebraska in Lincoln.

A year after the creation of Twitter, Hawaii was atwitter over a football team that became Spam-musubi popular. It began in the spring when Brennan, the record-setting quarterback, announced at a packed news conference that he would return to UH for his senior season. The Warriors did not suffer a loss the rest of the year.

They were tested — holding on to beat Louisiana Tech, Dan “Iceman” Kelly delivering the game-winning kick at Nevada, Brennan slip-sliding on a muddy field in a comeback victory at San Jose State, the vanquishing of Boise State, and, in the regular-season finale, the surge from a 21-0 deficit against Washington.

The following day, in an standing-room-only celebration at the Stan Sheriff Center, it was announced the Warriors were heading to the Sugar Bowl.

“That was pretty cool,” Jones said. “We had to do what we had to do. Everybody bought into it — players, coaches. It was a team effort. It was great everybody will be recognized for that.”

Danielson was admittedly “shocked and surprised” when she learned of her induction from athletic director David Matlin.

“It’s such an exciting feeling,” Danielson said. “And at the same time, I so value the opportunity, and appreciate the fact (the selection committee) thought about me. I was excited to tell my parents. I called them right after. My mom was crying through the phone. It was so cute. … Just to hear those words, (that) they’re proud of me, I did my job of showing how much they’ve done for my life.”

Danielson had offers to sign with Florida, UCLA, Washington, USC and Stanford. But she opted to attend UH to allow her grandmother and parents to watch all her home matches, and to work under Mike Sealey, who was UH associate head coach at the time. Sealey, who coached Danielson at the club level, was familiar with her analytical approach to the game.

Danielson was the Western Athletic Conference’s player of the year three times. She retired from playing three years ago, and now splits her time coaching at Punahou School and at the club level, and being the primary caretaker for her grandparents.

In 1984, Blangiardi had a vision of transforming a television station with mostly Japanese programming into a showcase for UH sports. Blangiardi was at KGMB when the station televised UH football road games and a “smattering” of basketball games. As the newly hired vice president and general manager at KIKU, he concocted a plan to bring football home games and the enthusiasm of Wahine volleyball matches to Hawaii living rooms.

First, the call letters were changed to KHNL (HNL is Honolulu’s airport code), then the way fans accessed UH sports was redefined. Blangiardi knew there was a larger audience than the 2,200 fans who watched Wahine volleyball matches from the pull-out bleachers at steamy Klum Gym.

“So few people could see it, but I knew the appetite and love for the sport,” Blangiardi said.

Blangiardi convinced athletic director Stan Sheriff to allow KHNL to show UH football games on a one-day-delay basis. KHNL’s first delayed telecast was UH’s upset loss to Cal State Fullerton. But according to a “coincidental” — a one-night measurement — the delayed cast finished just behind ratings king “Let’s Go Fishing,” but ahead of the “Hawaiian Moving Company” and “60 Minutes.”

“I knew we had lightning in a bottle,” Blangiardi said.

And lightning struck a second time when the Wahine’s live midweek match beat out the major networks’ prime-time programs.

Blangiardi had to negotiate the ensuing UH sports seasons on a prove-it-first basis. But a dream had been realized.

Televised sports, Blangiardi said, “was a way to connect our islands. And the unifying agent was the pride in UH sports.”