Hot Rod Hundley

PHOENIX -- Hot Rod Hundley, the former NBA player who broadcast Jazz games in New Orleans and Utah for 35 years, died Friday. He was 80.

The Jazz said Hundley died at his home in the Phoenix area.

Hundley broadcast 3,051 Jazz games from 1974 to 2009. He joined the franchise before its first season in New Orleans in 1974-75 and moved with the team to Salt Lake City in 1979-80.

The Jazz honored Hundley in 2010, hanging a banner in the rafters next to the team's retired numbers and dedicating the press room to him.

As part of the tribute, the Jazz redecorated the press room in Hundley's honor. A timeline of his career, including blown-up quotes from some of his more famous calls, and photos from Hundley's decades calling games line the walls of the Hot Rod Hundley Media Center.

The mural features a big and bold "You Gotta Love it, Baby!" -- Hundley's signature line.

"Hot Rod was the voice of the Utah Jazz for 35 years and his voice was synonymous with Jazz radio," Jazz owner Gail Miller said in a statement. "The expressions he used throughout the game broadcasts are legendary. He had the unique ability to make the game come to life so that you felt as though you could see what was happening on the floor when listening to him call the games.

"Rod was a very special talent and will be missed by our family as well as Jazz fans everywhere. Our thoughts and condolences are with the Hundley family."

Hundley also was a broadcaster for four seasons with the Phoenix Suns and four with the Lakers and called NBA games for CBS.

As a player, Hundley starred at West Virginia, averaging 24.5 points in three varsity seasons. He was drafted first overall by the Cincinnati Royals in 1957 and was immediately traded to the Minneapolis Lakers.

He averaged 8.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists in six seasons with the Lakers in Minneapolis and Los Angeles, playing in the 1960 and 1961 All-Star games.

the UH AD search (resulting in Dave Matlin)

[4/29/15] Matlin prepares for his first day on the job
[4/26/15] Ben Jay is still a UH fan

[4/11/15] Dave Matlin is in a curious netherworld
[4/11/15] Matlin's salary set at $290,016 ($24,168 a month).

[3/30/15] Matlin looking to schedule for football bowl eligibility
[3/29/15] Dave Matlin was nominated by Ben Jay

[3/28/15] Amanda Paterson has gained the administration's ear

[3/27/15] Matlin warmed up to the challenge

[3/26/15] Persistence paid off for Matlin
Amemiya has a lot of aloha
Benjy Taylor will apply
The fingerprints of Warren Haruki

[3/25/15] Hawaii Bowl executive director David A. K. Matlin is expected to be named athletic director at the University of Hawaii today.

Matlin's name was forwarded to Manoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman by an eight-member search advisory committee last week.

Matlin did not return calls to the Star-Advertiser last night and a UH spokesman declined comment.

Matlin, 50, has run the Hawaii Bowl since 2008 and the Diamond Head Classic since 2009.

Matlin and insurance executive Keith Amemiya emerged as the leading candidates from a field of at least 70 applicants for the position, though Amemiya was not interviewed by the committee.

Amemiya, 48, was interviewed by Bley-Vroman March 13.

Ben Jay, who held the job for almost two years, announced his resignation Dec. 9 and the process to select a replacement began Jan. 13.

UH has said the choice will go to the UH Board of Regents next month for final approval.

Matlin was born in Honolulu and given the middle names Alexander and  Kalakaua (he shares a birthday with the Merrie Monarch), but raised on the mainland where his father, Lew, was a baseball executive. He is a graduate  of the University of Michigan and received an MBA from UH.

After graduating from Michigan, Matlin worked his way up from an intern with the Houston Astros to the team's marketing operations manager and director of sales. At age 26 he was the youngest director of sales in MLB.

But Matlin and his wife, the former Dana Hatate of Honolulu, who he met at Michigan, wanted to return to Hawaii. Initially brushed off by UH he persisted and got a position doing event marketing for the school, including the Midnight Ohana, while completing an MBA.

As an assistant ticket manager at UH is was credited with overseeing a conversion to computerization that dragged the office into the 21st century. In 2002 he became associate director of the inaugural Hawaii Bowl and in 2008 was named executive director of the game for ESPN Events, which owns it. He added the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in 2009.

[3/19/15] Keith Amemiya traded it in

Dave Matlin really wanted to live in Hawaii

[3/18/15] A search advisory committee Tuesday recommended Dave Matlin as the next athletic director of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. But chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman might choose Keith Amemiya, sources told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Matlin referred questions to the search committee. Amemiya declined comment. Another finalist who was interviewed by the committee, UH associate athletic director John McNamara, referred questions to the committee.

Matlin, executive director of the Hawaii Bowl and the Diamond Head Classic, was the top candidate among finalists interviewed by the committee.

Amemiya, an insurance executive and former executive director of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association, was seen on campus with Bley-Vroman last week. He was not interviewed by the committee.

Bley-Vroman can take the committee's recommendation, or make a choice of his own. An announcement will be made by UH by March 31, according to a UH news release. Then the Board of Regents would have to approve the selection at its April 16 meeting.

"I'm confident that we will be able to name an athletic director that possesses the right combination of executive leadership skills and vision to guide and grow the program through these challenging times," Bley-Vroman said in the release.

Current athletic director Ben Jay will step aside when his successor is selected. It was announced on Dec. 9 that Jay would leave at a later date.

[3/14/15] In 2002, take-it-to-the-bank word around town was that the University of Hawaii athletic director’s job was Dick Tomey’s.

Right up until the time that UH President Evan Dobelle saw Herman Frazier’s Olympic medalist resume, that is.

As one former AD long ago put it, “It is never over until they call the press conference — and even then you should look around to see who else is standing at the podium.”

We bring this up because the current process to hire an AD shows signs of not being over. Just because the search advisory committee is said to have concluded its interviews and is polishing up its official recommendation to Manoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman doesn’t necessarily mean the white puff of smoke from Hawaii Hall is imminent.

Hawaii Bowl executive director David Matlin got high marks from the committee and is widely expected to get the august body’s “official” endorsement. Perhaps as soon as next week.

But the drama thickened considerably Friday after insurance executive Keith Amemiya was seen on campus with Bley-Vroman.

A UH spokesman declined to “either confirm or deny” a meeting took place.

the toughest jobs in Hawaii sports

Here are the 10 hardest (paying) sports jobs in Hawaii, ranked in order of difficulty:

1. University of Hawaii athletic director: I won't know whether to tell the guy who gets the post congratulations or send him a sympathy card. The pay is good, but is it worth being a public piñata?

2. UH football coach: It's hard to imagine the frustration of so much homegrown high school talent choosing to play elsewhere, year-after-year, no matter how hard you recruit. And, yes, the home-field advantage is good, but it doesn't make up for the toughest road challenges faced by any team in any sport.

3. Kahuku football coach: Even when the Red Raiders win state championships it isn't enough. Ask Reggie Torres.

4. Saint Louis football coach: Cal Lee created an impossible standard, which Delbert Tengan, Darnell Arceneaux and John Hao — all fine coaches in their own right — learned the hard way. Now Lee is back, and word is the Crusaders are loaded for the future. But so is Punahou, Kamehameha and Mililani.

5. Any basketball referee: Officials everywhere of all sports get a hard time. It seems a lot more up close and personal in hoops. I remember a high school game here when a player's mom rushed the court and punched a ref.

6. Coach of any team at Punahou, especially baseball: Another example of bars set so high there is no margin for error. Eric Kadooka guided the Buffanblu to seven state championships in a row. After they didn't win it all in the eighth year he retired.

7. Star-Advertiser sports department editors: Every night — especially weekends in the fall — they perform magic largely unrecognized by the public, defying the laws of time and space to make deadline. Not for one story, for an entire section.

8. UH volleyball coach, after Dave Shoji: Who will have the chops and the guts to follow the most successful college coach in state history?

9. TV news sports director: Rob DeMello, Robert Kekaula and Mark Carpenter get plenty of recognition and perks. But part of being successful at what they do is making what takes a lot of skill look like anyone can do it. They and their staffs work much harder than most people realize.

10. HHSAA executive director: Chris Chun's job is to herd cats, some of them eternally angry with each other.

-- Dave Reardon

Lee Leslie resigns as Kahuku coach

[5/19/15] John Hao and Gerald Welch join Tata's staff

[4/22/15] Tata stops by to see Junior Ah You

[4/21/15] Vavae Tata, a former All-State player at Saint Louis and an assistant at Vanderbilt University, will be named the new Kahuku football coach, according to sources close to the school.

The sources said the school administration picked Tata over four other finalists recommended by a selection committee. Although he did not confirm Tata as the selection, vice principal Ikaika Plunkett said Kahuku will announce the new coach Tuesday morning.

Tata was an All-State defensive lineman for the Crusaders in 1992 and '93. He will leave his post as an assistant in player development for the Commodores. He previously held assistant coaching positions at UCLA, Stanford and San Jose State, as well as McKinley High School.

He was a defensive lineman for UCLA from the 1994 to '98 seasons, capping his career in the 1999 Rose Bowl.

Among the other finalists were Kamehameha assistant David Te'o, a former Kahuku assistant; Kahuku assistant Sterling Carvalho; and Asai Gilman, executive director of Education 1st.

About 30 applied for the job, including Siuaki Livai, who won four state titles as Kahuku head coach; Kahuku assistant Tommy Heffernan Sr.; Kamehameha assistant and former Kahuku assistant Byron Beatty; Kapolei assistant, former Kailua coach and former Kahuku assistant Darren Johnson; and Kahuku junior varsity head coach James Kammerer; and former Dixie State head coach Greg Croshaw.

Kahuku selected Tata despite a troubled past that includes two drunk driving arrests, most recently in Tennessee in February 2014.

According to a 2014 Associated Press article, Tata's penalty was the loss of his license for a year, 48 hours in jail and a suspended sentence.

Also, in 1997, while still a student at UCLA, Tata was charged with felony DUI after an accident in which he and two others were injured.

Tata will replace Lee Leslie, who coached the Red Raiders last season before returning to Idaho to spend more time with his family. The team went 10-3 and made it to the state semifinals.

[3/20/15] After one year at the helm, Lee Leslie has left the Kahuku football program.

Leslie submitted his resignation from Idaho on Thursday morning. He flew back home last Friday for spring break after handing out the program's practice calendar through the rest of the year. He intended to return, but realized that time with his family was too precious. He left his wife home while coaching the team last year.

"I just chose my family," Leslie said. "I was away from them for 257 days and I never thought I could do that. I loved my time at Kahuku and I feel strongly about the support system there, those kids are second to none in the country."

Leslie spent a single season at Kahuku, taking over for Reggie Torres, who won successive state titles in 2011-2012 before slipping to 6-5 in 2013 and missing the state tournament.

The Red Raiders went 9-3 last year, losing to Kaiser, Mililani and Punahou. Kahuku won the OIA Red regular-season title and made it to the OIA championship and state semifinals.

When he was hired, Leslie said that Kahuku principal Pauline Masaniai told him that his primary job was improving the team's academic standing. Leslie leaves behind a refurbished locker room complete with names of all of the All-State players on the walls, cleaned up facilities and a program that sent five seniors to major colleges and another seven to junior colleges. Leslie says he will be helping the program from afar if allowed.

"Kahuku will put 14 kids in college again next year," Leslie said. "I don't know what the future holds, only that any decision on my next job will be made with family in mind first, but I will take three weeks out of the year to make sure those (Kahuku) kids get the opportunities they deserve."

"It's a surprise. I thought he was going to come back," junior defensive back Keala Santiago said. "I knew that he missed his family. We're ready for whatever comes next. We've been with each other as teammates since we were little, so we're used to each other."

The players won't know who their head coach will be, but Leslie has his hopes for the program and believes his staff is more than capable of carrying on. He intends to return next year for a Kahuku home game.

"I am crossing my fingers and hoping that Ma'ake Kemoeatu can step up and take the job," Leslie said. "He is the greatest player to come through Kahuku and he is exactly the role model those kids need. The job screams for a local person who knows the culture and he is perfect."

Torres will probably be in the discussion after he was fired to open a spot for Leslie and still helps out with the Kahuku wrestling team. But Torres, who was Punahou's offensive line coach in a state semifinal win over Leslie and Kahuku, saw what the new coach accomplished with his former players.

"Once he left his family, it's understandable," Torres said. "He did good things in his year at Kahuku, it is just too bad for the kids. We don't know what the future holds, but I am happy at Punahou."

2015 NFL Transactions

3/14/15 - Reggie Bush to sign with 49ers
3/13/15 - Vikings acquire Mike Wallace from Dolphins
3/12/15 - Trent Richardson released by Colts / Richardson files grievance
3/12/15- Ryan Matthews signs with Philadelphia too
3/12/15 - DeMarco Murray signs with Philadelphia for five years, $42 million
3/11/15 - Ryan Fitzpatrick traded to Jets from Houston
3/11/15 - 49ers signs Torrey Smith
3/11/15 - Andre Johnson signs with Indianapolis
3/10/15 - Frank Gore signs with Indianapolis instead
3/10/15 - Sam Bradford traded from St. Louis to Philadelphia for Nick Foles
3/10/15 - Jake Locker retires from Tennessee
3/10/15 - Darrelle Revis returning to Jets
3/10/15 - Jimmy Graham traded to Seattle from New Orleans for Max Unger
3/10/15 - Brandon Marshall traded from Chicago to Jets
3/6/15 - Reggie Wayne won't be re-signed by Indianapolis
3/3/15 - LeSean McCoy traded from Philadelphia to Buffalo for Kiko Alonso

Otto Porter defense

No big deal, you see this all the time with four-year-olds playing soccer

Hawaii athletics has a fundamental problem

The expected $3.5 million deficit next year for the UH athletics department is set to continue the trend of underfunding that’s led to a deficit in 11 of the last 13 years, according to a report released by the school earlier this month. 

“It underlines the fundamental problem,” athletics director Ben Jay said. “Structurally, we have not been funded to the level that everybody else is that we compare ourselves to.” 

The schools that UH compares itself to are those in both the Mountain West and Big West conferences. At the request of UH Mānoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman, Jay compared the finances of the department with those other programs and assessed the university’s bottom line for last year and the future.

When the undefeated UH football team played in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia in 2008, the athletic department ended the year in a rare surplus. Although the Warriors fell to the Bulldogs, it marked one of just two times the department ended the year without a deficit in the past decade.

However, through a $4.4 million payout for the high stakes national matchup against Georgia, the success on the field only managed to mask the athletic department’s financial struggles.

“Yes, the Sugar Bowl brought in money, but if we had not been in the 2008 Sugar Bowl, this department would have lost money,” Jay said.

The surplus that year was $295,243, according to the university, meaning that without the selection to a Bowl Championship Series game, the department would have been nearly $4 million in deficit. The following year, it lost over $2.6 million to return to the trend of deficits that stems from underfunding, according to Jay. 

No magic bullet

Football has statistically been the university’s biggest revenue sport, and two of the Warriors’ most successful seasons in the last decade coincided with profitable years for the athletic department. However, Jay said otherwise when asked whether consistent football success and a full Aloha Stadium would solve the department’s “critical” financial state.

“If we had 10,000 more paying fans a game, basically over that seven-game home schedule, you’re probably coming close to $1.4 to $1.5 million,” Jay said. “It just shows you that even 10,000 more fans doesn’t solve the budget deficit.”