Welcome to Wes Nakama’s Hawai’i Sports Mo’olelo, a relatively new blog (born Sept. 23, 2021) dedicated to the stories — or mo’olelo — about our great state’s athletes, coaches, administrators and officials, past and present and from an “old-school” local boy’s perspective.
The old-school “local boy” is me, Wes Nakama, born in The Queen’s Medical Center and raised in the ‘Alewa Heights neighborhood of Honolulu on a steady diet of mostly ILH/OIA/UH sports. My first sports memory is holding my daddy’s hand as a 5-year-old crossing King Street one early September night and walking into Honolulu Stadium to watch the 1973 Father Bray Game between ‘Iolani and Campbell. I recall being fascinated by Campbell’s shiny black helmets, but being an ‘Iolani kindergartener, it was the first of hundreds of (Red) Raiders games in football, basketball and baseball my dad and I would attend over the next four decades.
So … just to be clear from the get-go: Yes, much of the content of this site will be ‘Iolani-centric. Sorry in advance to all other schools, but my dad raised me to be loyal to my alma mater, and it has stuck.
That is not to say there won’t be stories of interest from other schools, as I was always a fan of the rest of the ILH and OIA, and then later the Neighbor Island leagues as well. There will be plenty of stories to go around.
Same with my other alma mater, the University of Hawai’i: My first UH sporting event was a Rainbow men’s basketball game vs. Stanford the last weekend in January, 1976, at what was then called the “Blaisdell Memorial Center.” Although our family was there not to watch UH versus Stanford, but rather my brother’s Fern Park basketball team play KPT in a short “Jolly Roger” youth league exhibition at halftime. Still, I do remember a packed arena (6,000-plus fans) and the excitement of Rainbow Basketball, which I have enjoyed following ever since.
So yes, much of the college content on this site also will center around UH. But I also have more than a few fond memories of Chaminade, Hawai’i Pacific, Hilo and even BYUH and Hawai’i Loa, so there will be small college stories, as well.
And because many of our finest athletes played (and still play) at Mainland colleges, there will be stories beyond Hawai’i. Same goes with professional sports.
Most of the focus on this site will be on historical events versus current, at least for the time being.
Hopefully, things will eventually change and we can mix in some game advances, coverage, etc. … we shall see.
But for now, please enjoy the “soft launch” of this site, which I hope will grow into a source of great interest within our loyal sports community.
Welcome aboard!
Wes Nakama