Ferd Lewis: UH has many stadium memories as it nears milestone win

When Aloha Stadium opened its then-immaculate gates in 1975, it took just two games to wonder if the place was, indeed, cursed.

The Rainbow Warriors lost the first two appearances by a combined 63-15 to Texas A&I and Grambling in their new $37 million home.

Not until their third home game against Portland State and a former UH backup quarterback who would eventually become a sideline regular, June Jones, did the Rainbow Warriors finally prevail in Halawa, 24-7.

Tonight, 43 seasons and 339 games later, against Wyoming, UH (199-138-4) pursues milestone victory number 200.

Since time — and rust flakes — really do fly when you are having fun, we run down 10 of the most significant UH victories in the history of the House That Gov. John Burns Built.

1. The comeback from a 21-0 deficit for a 35-28 victory over Washington before a national TV audience sealed UH’s unbeaten (12-0) 2007 regular season and propelled the Warriors into the Sugar Bowl.

More than a decade later it still stands as the last sellout at Aloha Stadium for Hawaii.

2. A 42-18 victory over Wyoming helped UH clinch a share of its first conference championship in 1992 and the Western Athletic Conference’s berth in the Holiday Bowl in what became an 11-2 season.

3. A 31-24, two-overtime triumph over Fresno State gave UH a share of the WAC title in 1999, one season after an ignominious 0-12 season.

4. Aloha Stadium’s structural durability was tested as never before by a foot-stompin’ sellout crowd when the Rainbow Warriors ended Brigham Young’s string of dominance at 10 games over 11 years with a 56-14 victory in 1989, their first over the Cougars in Halawa.

5. In 1990 some fans actually called the radio station in the later stages of UH’s 59-28 victory over fourth-ranked BYU wondering if it was a replay of the 1989 win. It wasn’t.

6. The game that quarterback, now head coach, Nick Rolovich, and receiver, now assistant coach, Craig Stutzmann will always be remembered for was the 72-45 victory over ninth-ranked BYU in 2001. Rolovich for his passing and Stutzmann for his, well, punting.

The game was also notable for ending BYU’s Bowl Championship Series campaign and, since the Warriors were left without a bowl themselves, giving birth to the Hawaii Bowl a year later.

7. In 1978, its last year as an independent before entering the WAC, there were questions about whether UH could be competitive in its first-ever conference. Those were answered as UH hung in against eventual national champion USC, trailing just 7-5 into the fourth quarter before falling 21-5 in the 1978 finale.

It also marked the first sellout and, of course, the first traffic jam for a UH game in Halawa.

8. Eight games into their Aloha Stadium tenure the ’Bows got their first upset of a nationally ranked team, stunning 15th-ranked San Jose State 30-20. It would be 13 more seasons before they knocked off another at home.

9. Normally, squeezing out a 31-27 victory over Eastern Illinois would merit scant mention, but this victory in the second game of the 1999 season ended one of the darkest periods in UH history, a 19-game losing streak (13 of them in Halawa) over parts of three seasons.

10. One of the reasons for building Aloha Stadium was to get UH into the WAC. Two games into their inaugural conference season of 1979, season, the ’Bows had a victory to show for it, 20-3 over New Mexico.

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