Rick Blangiardi managed a group of about 10 young men long before he ran a city and county of more than a million inhabitants.

“I was the linebackers coach,” said Blangiardi, now the mayor of Honolulu.

On Sept. 15, 1973, Blangiardi coached in his first game as a full-time football assistant at the University of Hawaii, where he’d lettered two seasons while studying biology and physical education.

It also happened to be his 27th birthday.

The Rainbows were at Washington that day. It was a daunting challenge. Although UH had finished 8-3 in 1972, it was now taking on the team favored to win what was back then called the Pac-8.

Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder was to sports betting then what Mel Kiper Jr. is to the NFL Draft now. He appeared on the TV as the UH coaches prepared to leave their hotel for Husky Stadium. Snyder rattled off the point spreads for the rest of the games across the country before getting to Hawaii at Washington.

“He said, ‘They can name their score,’ with ‘they’ being Washington,” Blangiardi said. “I can’t tell you the exact words of our reaction, but I can tell you it was a series of expletives.”

Jimmy the Greek was wrong on this day, by a lot.

Hawaii beat Washington 10-7. It is either the biggest or second biggest upset victory in UH football history (the Rainbows won 6-0 at Nebraska in 1955, facing similar odds).

As you might imagine by the score, defense dominated, like it did in ’55.

“The Sonny Sixkiller era at Washington had just ended, and they were getting away from the passing game to running the veer, which was very much in vogue then,” Blangiardi said.

Sixkiller was the starting quarterback for back-to-back 8-3 seasons, under legendary coach Jim Owens, who was nearing the end of an 18-year run as the Huskies coach.

“They ran a classic Jim Owens smash-mouth offense,” Blangiardi said. “And our defense was tailor-made for that. It became a real physical battle. They thought they could run and win the game, and our guys were up to that challenge. We took away their veer attack.”

In accounts of this game, two names on the defense coordinated by Larry Price usually come up first: Levi Stanley and Harold Stringert. Stanley was in on 16 stops as a tackle, and Stringert, a cornerback, intercepted three passes. Some fans remember others, like ends Simeon Alo, Pat Richardson and Cliff Laboy, and Jeris White at the other corner. (He, like Stringert, started several years in the NFL.)

Blangiardi’s linebackers don’t always get enough credit. The Mayor will never forget them.

“Dexter Gomes in the middle, Manny DeSoto on the strong side,” Blangiardi said. “We had Bill Letz and Danny Miller on the other side, and another back-up at middle linebacker who played, Dave Stephens.”

And don’t forget the safeties, Mike Perkins and Kenny Shibata. Paul Lee was the defensive tackle next to Stanley.

Hawaii won despite six turnovers. UH’s defense stopped Washington five times on fourth down, and four times within 5 yards of the end zone.

“It was a great birthday present,” Blangiardi said. “We were all so elated. That was opening day, a beautiful day, and they came in their boats, the place was packed (with 52,000 fans).”

Nobody slept that night. Blangiardi spent it cutting the game ball head coach Dave Holmes had given him into pieces.

”There was something very ceremonial about the cutting and very tribal about it,” Blangiardi said. “I found some industrial strength scissors and cut enough for everyone on the defense to have a piece, about two-thirds the size of a business card, with ‘Hawaii 10, Washington 7, Sept. 15, 1973’ written on it.”

Certainly, a coach that dedicated, that passionate had a future in the game, no?

“I wanted to stay in coaching but couldn’t afford it, and really wanted to stay in Hawaii,” Blangiardi said. “I became the defensive coordinator when Larry became the head coach. I had a master’s degree and was making $15,000 a year. In 1976 my wife got pregnant. Rather than go to the mainland and look for a coaching job, I stayed here and re-invented myself with a job at KGMB in sales. (KGMB owner) Cec Heftel told me if I worked hard I could be making $50,000 in a year. It was a life-defining decision.”

UH football fans knew him as a TV color analyst, but his real job became broadcast management. That career took him away from Hawaii for more than a decade, but Blangiardi returned in 2002.

He officially announced his candidacy for mayor a month after his January 2020, retirement from TV as Hawaii News Now president and general manager.

Somewhere along the way, around 20 years ago, Blangiardi’s wallet was stolen. It contained his little piece of the pigskin he’d chopped into a couple dozen pieces on his birthday in ’73. But he still has a ball from that game that Price gave him.

The Warriors are 37.5-point underdogs at Oregon on Saturday, 50 years and a day after they beat all odds on a trip to the Northwest.

“I’d tell them what I told my teams before: ‘What you give is what you keep, what you save is what you lose. Don’t leave anything. Give it all you have,’” Blangiardi said.

“I’ve never stopped loving the game.”