Thousands gather to bid a fond farewell to Aloha Stadium

Leroy Mero never got the chance to play football at Aloha Stadium. But he attended many games there.

“And I was a cheerleader here,” said his wife, Doreen, who was on the Kalani High School pep squad in the late 1970s, soon after the stadium had opened in Halawa.

The Meros, who brought their grandchildren, Kekeiki and Ku‘upua Lee, were among the thousands of fans, onetime athletes, coaches and former stadium employees who toured the 47-year-old facility Saturday as part of the “Aloha From Aloha Stadium” event.

A new Aloha Stadium is scheduled to replace the old one at the same site in Halawa in 2027, according to the most recent estimate by state planners. The stands have been closed to the public since December 2020 due to high maintenance costs and lack of revenue amid COVID-19 restrictions.

Saturday’s event kicked off at 10 a.m. with a first wave of visitors allowed to tour many areas of the facility that were normally off-limits to the general public, such as locker rooms and the playing field itself.

The bowels of the stadium were converted into a museum with all sorts of photos and other memorabilia on display from huge sporting events such as the NFL’s Pro Bowl and University of Hawaii football games, and concerts by megastars such as Bruno Mars, Mariah Carey, The Rolling Stones, and Michael and Janet Jackson.

One of the most popular displays was the year-by-year all-league and all-state high school football teams published by Honolulu newspapers. Many people looked for relatives and friends on the replica pages.

“I’m not on there, I barely played,” said Manu Stanton, a member of Punahou’s 2005 state runner-up team. “But it’s fun seeing my teammates’ names again. The whole thing is fun.”

The event was a day full of food and entertainment that turned back the clock at the largest-capacity gathering place — 50,000 seats — in state history. It will likely retain that title for the foreseeable future, since plans for the replacement venue tentatively call for capacity of 25,000 to 30,000.

This farewell was an all-­access open-house that brought back all kinds of memories for all kinds of people.

Blood, Sweat and Tears was not among the bands that played there, but some of the attendees remembered spilling all three as competitors representing their high schools, the state, or both.

“I was one of the lucky ones who got to play here the first year, 1975,” said Dwayne Keomaka, who was a senior running back at Roosevelt High School, as he stood in the same locker room he suited up in nearly a half-century ago.

“It was unbelievable. Such a huge difference from Honolulu Stadium. If it rained there, which it always did, it would smell like a cow pasture,” he added.

“The turf (at Aloha) was brand-­spanking-new. You couldn’t wear football cleats, so I wore basketball shoes. The locker room tripped me out the most because it had air conditioning. AC in a locker room? We had never imagined such a thing even existed. I remember laying on the floor at halftime, just loving it.”

After reminiscing in the locker room, Keomaka charged out of it through the tunnel to the field, whooping as he would with his teammates before a game.

Then he laughed.

More than 30 years after his own high school experience playing at the big-time stadium, Keomaka enjoyed the next best thing: He watched his son, Ryan, play there as a member of the UH football team.

“That was also quite a thrill,” he said.

Keomaka’s daughter, Rena, married Ryan’s teammate at Roosevelt and UH: Chad Owens. That added even more excitement to Rainbow Warrior home games.

Owens was also at the stadium Saturday, helping with a clinic for kids. The record-­breaking UH receiver and return specialist was asked at least once every 10 minutes to pose for photos with fans who remember his exploits of two decades ago.

“There’s too many to choose from,” Owens said when asked for his favorite Aloha Stadium moment. But, after considering it a bit longer: “I think the (2001) BYU game. National stage, sold-out stadium, we were underdogs. Yeah, probably that game.”

Owens — a freshman walk-on — ran wild on kick and punt returns in that contest, breaking NCAA records as UH crushed its rival 72-45. For the next three seasons, Owens was usually the favorite target of record-setting quarterback Timmy Chang.

Chang, who broke the NCAA records for career passing yards and touchdowns while playing at Aloha Stadium in 2004, is now the UH head coach. He spoke at the stadium Saturday evening to an appreciative crowd of fans and posed for photos afterward.

Local sports apparel company Barefoot League had a booth at the event with a large sign memorializing five Hawaii football icons who died in recent years: players Colt Brennan and Vince Manuwai, broadcasters Robert Kekaula and Jim Leahey, and coach Dick Tomey.

Many other easily identifiable Hawaii football legends mingled with the crowd. Samson Satele, Darnell Arceneaux and David Maeva were just a few of many spotted during the day.

Mero, like many other UH fans, got to know Brennan before he died in 2021.

“One day our softball team was short of players and he was looking for a team to play with, so he joined us,” Mero said. “He didn’t have a glove, so I lent him mine. Stuff like that is why people loved him.

“And, yeah, as a player he made this place rock.”

Mero’s favorite Aloha Stadium memories are “the tailgating, of course … And the Colt Brennan years.”

Pamela Self experienced the Colt Brennan years, too, and a whole lot more.

“I was there for the opening, and now the closing,” said Self, who was 19 when she started working at Aloha Stadium in 1975.

“My first day of work was the open house for the new stadium and my first job was usher,” she said. “It was my first job after graduating from Pearl City High School in the school’s first class, 1974.”

As the years went by, Self was promoted to ticket taker, usher captain, and then supervisor of all ushers. She retired from the stadium two years ago but continues her full-time job as a driver for TheBus.

“With no more events, there was nothing left to do (at the stadium),” Self said.

“It was very sentimental, seeing everything there today. All the events. The sports, the concerts, mud bogs and everything else, for all those years,” she said. “I live in Aiea and can see the stadium right outside my window.”

Self saw some of her favorite players Saturday, including Pac-Five and UH star Joe Onosai. “He was one of the mellow boys and so kind-hearted,” she said.

She also spotted some grown men she knew as kolohe young boys who she would on occasion need to remind about stadium rules.

“They were 8 or 9, and now they’re 40. They said, ‘Hey, you’re the usher who told us to sit down.’ We laughed about it, and then they thanked me, said they learned a lot because I kept them in line. I told them it’s OK, we all have to grow up, and I said thank you for remembering me.

“It was very sentimental, that’s why I came back,” Self said. “(Stadium manager) Ryan (Andrews) smiled at me and said, ‘Thanks for coming.’”