
Some days are meant for nostalgia. Was reminded of this today when seeing the story by former Hilo Tribune sports editor Bill O’Rear on FaceBook. Bill, a former Vulcan basketball player, said he usually checks in with ex-Vulcans coach Jimmy Yagi monthly and this time Yagi was being visited by former Chaminade coach Merv Lopes.
I was just thinking about Merv. I found the souvenir program from the 1994 Pete Newell Big Man Camp that featured a very young Shaquille O’Neal on the cover. Lopes was on staff as the Hawaii Coordinator.
I always enjoyed covering the Big Man Camp with “Papa Pete” Newell as his children called him. Happened to go to high school with Newell’s son Greg and got to know older son Tom, who played for Hawai’i, in later years.
Will share some other memories about covering basketball in the islands down the road, including the Rainbow Warriors for a couple of decades.
But feel very fortunate enough to have covered the great NAIA/District 2/29 teams of Chaminade (Merv Lopes), Hawai’i Hilo (Jimmy Yagi, Bob Wilson, Jeff Law), HPC/HPU (Paul Smith, Tony Sellitto), BYU-Hawaii (Ted Chidester, Chic Hess, Ken Wagner) and Hawaii Loa (Koko Santos, Steve Tucker). Some really memorable games, including the upsets by Lopes’ Silverswords in the early 80s which led to the Maui Classic/Invitational.
Have enjoyed seeing O’Rear, who has since moved to my native San Diego, when I have visited. Bill continues to give back, helping out at San Diego State camps and other venues around the city and state. Bill mentions the 1975 Hilo-UNLV game that set the NCAA scoring record, the teams coached by Yagi and Jerry Tarkanian, respectively. The Runnin Rebels won 161-111 … and this was pre-3-point shot days. One of those basketballs is in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. (Or it least it was when I was there in 1995). I’d recommend a visit if and when you get the chance.
BTW gotta love Coach Yagi showing the “V” for Vulcans. Live long and prosper!”
Sharing Bill O’Rear’s story entitled “A Legendary Meeting Filled with Respect”
By BILL O’REAR
Retired sportswriter
When legendary Hawaii small college basketball coaches Jimmy Yagi and Merv Lopes met in Hilo this past week, the two men smiled and shared their special aloha.
Now, both in their mid-80’s, they have the time to sit back and fondly remember those remarkable days in the late 1970’s and into the 1980’s when the University of Hawaii at Hilo and Chaminade University battled on the basketball court.
New Vulcans head coach Kaniela Aiona had invited Lopes to a team practice, and then took Lopes over to Yagi’s home so the two highly respected basketball gurus could reconnect.
Yagi still lives in Hilo and closely follows the Vulcans. Lopes lives in West Hawaii and has known Aiona since the Vulcan coach was a star player at Honokaa High School in the late 1990’s.
Pandemic or no pandemic, Aiona was thrilled to get Yagi and Lopes together again.
Back in the day, it was an intense rivalry between Yagi’s Vulcans and Lopes’ Silverswords and attracted tremendous statewide attention as those two small college programs often stole the spotlight from the then struggling NCAA Division I University of Hawaii.
In 1976, Yagi was in his sixth season with UH-Hilo and the Vulcans had just joined the NAIA. That was a big step and helped start small college basketball in Hawaii.
Previously, the Vulcans were an independent team, playing in local men’s leagues and later against junior college and college teams that sought to come to Hawaii as a recruiting tool and to play games.
One of those college teams, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas played the Vulcans in 1975 before 3,500 fans at a sold-out Hilo Civic. The Jerry Tarkanian-coached Runnin’ Rebels defeated UH-Hilo 164-111 in what was then an NCAA record for most points scored in game.
That was well before the 3-point era. And immediately after the high-scoring contest, the game ball was shipped to the Basketball Hall of Fame to be displayed.
Written on the ball was the final score: UNLV 164, UH-Hilo 111. Wow. And Yagi said Vulcan fans gave his team a standing ovation because it scored 111 points against the talented Runnin’ Rebels!
That UNLV game was a perfect springboard for the 1976 season when the Vulcans played an all-collegiate schedule and became part of the NAIA’s District 2, along with schools from Oregon and Idaho.
Yagi’s 1976 team included mainland talent and local players, and the Vulcans surprised basketball fans throughout the state by knocking off D-I Nebraska (71-66) and New Mexico (81-78) in the preseason before those teams went on to beat the University of Hawaii at Manoa on Oahu.
UH-Hilo also stunned District 2 opponents that season by winning the district title and advancing to the NAIA National Championships in Kansas City, Mo. The Vulcans fell in the second round in double overtime to Jack Sikma-led Illinois Wesleyan and finished the year with a 23-3 record.
UH-Hilo played Chaminade twice that season and won both games. The Silverswords were coached by Jimmy Wong. But the following year (1977), Lopes took over as head coach and the Vulcans vs. Silverswords rivalry would intensify tenfold.
The Vulcans remained in the NAIA and the Silverswords opted to join NCAA Division III. It didn’t matter — the Hawaii teams played three times in 1977 with UH-Hilo winning two, including the final war at Hilo Civic, a 101-80 victory before 3,000 fans and on statewide TV.
The Vulcans captured the District 2 title again, and made their second straight trip to the NAIA National Championships. They fell in the second round to eventual champion Grand Canyon.
UH-Hilo finished the year with a 27-5 record.
Yagi would coach the Vulcans for 18 seasons, the last 12 in the NAIA, winning 3 district titles. He finished his official collegiate career with a 218-87 record (12 NAIA seasons).
In Lopes’ first season at Chaminade, he proved that his teams would be highly competitive and a difficult opponent for UH-Hilo or any other college team to play.
Lopes would end up coaching Chaminade for 12 seasons (1977-89), finishing with an impressive 236-120 record. And that successful span included the Silverswords moving to the NAIA to join the Vulcans as well as BYU-Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific University in a newly created district, District 29.
Those Hawaii small colleges later joined NCAA Division II and all, except BYU-Hawaii, continue to play at that level. BYU-Hawaii dropped its athletic program.
But even more remarkable than Chaminade’s success at the small college level was the Lopes-coached Silverswords’ success in beating elite D-I teams over the years, like Virginia, Louisville and SMU.
On Dec. 23, 1982, Chaminade pulled off what many basketball fans still believe is the biggest upset in college basketball history — a 77-72 win over then No. 1-ranked Virginia, led by All-American Ralph Sampson.
The memorable game was played at Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, and sparked the idea to create a new college basketball tournament in Hawaii.
In 1984, that idea turned into the now enormously successful Maui Invitational, hosted by Chaminade at Lahaina, Maui. The original field included Chaminade and 7 elite D-I programs.
The Maui Invitational is currently in its 36th year and considered one of the premier basketball tournaments in the country. It is televised each year by ESPN.
Without Chaminade’s incredible success under Lopes, especially in knocking off Virginia, there would be no Maui Invitational.
It’s also safe to say without those highly competitive years when Yagi’s Vulcans and Lopes’ Silverswords battled for state bragging rights, small college basketball in Hawaii might not have reached the same high level of success or earned the national recognition without those two legendary coaches leading the way.
It was an intense rivalry over the years. But this past week when Yagi and Lopes met again, it was a time filled with fond memories and respect — each former coach understanding what one another meant to their own life journeys, on and off the court