Every year at this time, I present my Rearview Mirror Annual Awards to honor those who made, preserved or shared Hawaii history. This week and next, I’ll highlight those I feel deserve special recognition.

Sportscaster of the Year

Al Michaels is one of the best sportscasters in America. He’s covered nearly every sporting event there is, from the Farrington Governors football team to the Olympics.

In May I wrote about his three years in Hawaii. From 1968 to 1971 he was a play-by-play announcer for the Hawaii Islanders, a AAA baseball team in the Pacific Coast League. He also covered local sports for KHVH (now KITV4).

I read his book, “You Can’t Make This Up,” and learned some interesting things about him. For instance, Michaels said that he learned the importance of correctly pronouncing athletes’ names while here in Honolulu.

It was very useful later in his career, such as when the U.S. hockey team beat the Russians in the 1980 Olympics. Russians can have difficult names to pronounce.

“I’d often call a parent of a high school player before the game to have them pronounce the family name for me,” Michaels wrote.

“When you’re doing a McKinley High School basketball game, with turnovers galore and possessions changing every few seconds, and you can identify five Samoan players running a fast break — and get it right — it’s a beautiful melody.

“What I learned was if you screwed it up, you’d often hear from the family. On the flip side, they would really appreciate that you took the extra effort to get it right.”

Michaels was also selected to have a small role in the original “Hawaii Five-O.” A small scene with Jack Lord was more — or less — than he expected it might be.

“In 1969, the show ‘Hawaii Five-O’ was in its second season and starting to gain widespread popularity,” Michaels recalled. “The exteriors were filmed all over Oahu and many of the interior scenes were shot at the Diamond Head Studios.

“CBS had to consider the expense of flying cast members back and forth between Hawaii and the mainland. Jack Lord and James Mac­Arthur were in Hawaii the majority of the time. To fill other smaller roles, though, they would often ‘borrow’ members of the local media.

“One day I got a call from someone involved in the production of the show. They asked if I would be in an upcoming episode, playing the role of a young public defender.

“A number of my colleagues at KHVH had played bit roles and they had fun. ‘Sure,’ I told them.

“I got a copy of the script and, being the perfectionist I am, I made sure I had every line right, every nuance down impeccably.

“I practiced in front of my wife, Linda, a hundred times. On the day of the shoot, I checked in at Diamond Head Studios. (I thought nothing of it at the time, but another guest star on the episode was a young actor named Christopher Walken.)

“Jack Lord was going to be in my scene, but I didn’t see him when I arrived. A production assistant greeted me. They put some makeup on me, and I went onto the set.

“My scene was going to take place inside a jail cell. As local public defender Dave Bronstein, I was going to visit my client, the inmate, who was charged with murder.

“Finally, Lord appeared. He was a big man physically, with a larger-than-life persona. He didn’t so much as acknowledge me. He said something to the cameraman. He said something to the director. I might as well have been invisible.

“No ‘hello,’ no ‘aloha,’ no ‘welcome,’ no nothing.

“Then it was lights- camera-action, the scene began, and I had the first lines. I said about five words and all of a sudden, Lord looked toward the camera and in this booming voice, he yelled, ‘Cut!’

“I panicked. I must have screwed up. What did I do? How did I piss Jack Lord off so quickly? I tried to figure out what I had done wrong.

“Then Lord spoke again. Glaring at a production assistant behind the camera, he barked, ‘I need more hand makeup!’

“What the …? Hand makeup?? How could he even know he needed hand makeup? Lord got his hand makeup in a flash. We then did the scene in about five takes.

“Then I left, still without a shred of off-the-set interaction with Lord. The episode ran a few months later.” (You can watch it online. The episode is from season two and titled “Run, Johnny Run.”)

“I got paid scale — in those days, as I recall, around eighty-five dollars. Hooray for Hollywood.”

After three years in Honolulu, Michaels became an announcer for the Cincinnati Reds. He was with ABC Sports for nearly 30 years and now is on “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video.

For being a good sport, and great sports broadcaster, I give Al Michaels the Rearview Mirror Sportscaster of the Year Award.

Aloha Spirit

I was intrigued when reader Ronald Michioka told me that the Kalama Harbor Lodge in Washington state looked like the Pioneer Inn from Maui.

The lodge and city of Kalama were named for John Kalama, a Hawaiian fur trapper who moved to the area in 1837. Kalama married a Native American chief’s daughter.

The Kalama Harbor Lodge is owned by Mike and Brian McMenamin. When they were young, their family stayed at the Pioneer Inn in Lahaina, and they have good memories of it.

The lodge was “based on the architecture of the Pioneer Inn, and we owe the inspiration behind the design to this historic Hawaiian landmark,” they said.

Following the wildfire in Lahaina, the McMenamins raised more than $18,000 for the Hawaii Community Foundation’s Maui Strong Fund.

For honoring the Pioneer Inn and helping Maui recover from the October wildfire, I give the McMenamin family the 2023 Rearview Mirror Aloha Spirit Award.

Culinary Excellence

This year’s Culinary Excellence Award goes to Fred Livingston, 94, who at one time owned some of Hawaii’s best restaurants: The Trattoria, Matteo’s, Crouching Lion, Davey Jones Ribs, Sunset Grill, Tahitian Lanai and Don Ho’s Island Grill.

Most of the restaurants were started by others, and Livingston rescued them and extended their life spans.

He also subdivided five housing projects on the Big Island and owned K-Lei radio and Paradise Helicopters.

Livingston told me he was a publicist in Chicago in the 1950s. One of his clients was Olympian Jesse Owens (1913-1980). Owens was one of the stars of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where he won four gold medals in track and field.

Germany’s leader, Adolf Hitler, was not happy and refused to shake the African American’s hand.

Fred Livingston expected a warmer reception when he took Owens to the famous Stork Club in New York.

However, the owner, Sherman Billingsley, was not pleased. He took Livingston aside and threatened to have his legs broken if he brought Owens to the Stork Club again.

Livingston also told me that when he was younger he was an occasional driver for Alex Greenberg, who took over the Chicago mob after Al Capone’s incarceration. He liked to go to a Windy City rib restaurant, Livingston said. A few months later, in 1955, Greenberg was shot by two gunmen there.

Livingston retired from the restaurant business in 2010 and lives near Diamond Head.

Above and Beyond

A lot of people work hard to get this newspaper to you. Three weeks ago my usual paper carrier had a health issue, and another carrier took his place.

I wondered why the paper was coming late, and found the substitute added my area to his own and often worked 10- to 12-hour days, six days a week, delivering the paper.

Taking over was Randy Kapowai. His willingness to help out exemplifies the hard work of hundreds of Honolulu Star-Advertiser staff who, without much fanfare, get the paper to your door or electronic device.

Randy Kapowai’s friendly, hardworking spirit makes me appreciate him and the entire staff at the paper. So I give this year’s Above and Beyond Award to Randy Kapowai on behalf of everyone at the Star-Advertiser. I couldn’t write this column without them.

Next week I’ll conclude my Annual Awards.

Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up.