Air travel trouble postpones Hawaii-Nevada football

Scott Sonner

Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001 | 5:18 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Travel difficulties stemming from terrorist attacks have forced the postponement of the Western Athletic Conference football opener between Hawaii and Nevada Saturday, school officials said Wednesday.

Officials at the University of Hawaii said earlier in the day the Warriors intended to make the trip to Reno for Saturday's game as long as the team could get a flight out of Honolulu by noon Thursday.

"We want to go. If we can get a flight out we will," Lois Manin, Hawaii's sports information director, said early Wednesday afternoon.

But Nevada Athletic Director Chris Ault issued a statement later that said the game would not be played Saturday and would be rescheduled at a later date.

"In lieu of the tragic events this week in America and coupled with difficult travel arrangements for Hawaii coming trans-Pacific to the mainland, it has been determined not to play the game this Saturday in Reno," Ault said.

Officials at both schools initially had agreed they wanted to try to play the game despite terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C.

"We want to be as sensitive as possible to the events that have happened. But we're also trying to follow the lead of the nation and get back to business as usual," Manin said Wednesday from Honolulu.

Jamie Klund, Nevada's sports information director, said, "We certainly concurred with that.

"It's awful what happened, there's no question about that. But we agreed with the idea of trying to get back to business as usual," he said. "President Bush talked about that last night."

Klund said the schools were working to reschedule the game.

"We definitely will not cancel," Klund said.

The Honolulu Advertiser reported that the game is expected to be rescheduled for Sept. 22 in Reno, although the WAC would have to shuffle the league schedule.

Hawaii has a bye next week and Nevada is scheduled to play at San Jose State. The newspaper said that because Hawaii and Nevada don't have any common open dates, it is likely that the Nevada-San Jose State game will be moved.

WAC commissioner Karl Benson said there is no possibility the Hawaii-Nevada game will be played on Dec. 8 after both teams' season finales Dec. 1.

"The college football (regular) season is over on Dec. 1," Benson said, noting a deadline is needed to arrange postseason bowl pairings.

Hawaii had planned to travel to Reno Thursday on a commercial flight and it was not clear whether it would have been allowed to take off from Honolulu International Airport.

Marilyn Kali, spokeswoman for the Hawaii Department of Transportation, said Wednesday resumption of flights to the U.S. mainland were on hold until West Coast airports were certified to have intensified security measures.

WAC officials said Wednesday they were leaving it up to individual schools in the league to decide whether to postpone games this weekend.

San Jose State and Stanford postponed Saturday's game at Spartan Stadium and rescheduled it for Dec. 1.

"Our focus is on the safety of our student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans," Stanford athletic director Ted Leland said. "The games are insignificant."

San Jose State coach Fitz Hill, a veteran of the Gulf War, encouraged fans to make a donation at a local blood bank instead.

Texas-El Paso was supposed to play Texas Tech Thursday night, but that game has been postponed and might be played Saturday.

WAC spokesman Dave Chaffin said the league was taking no position on whether any of the games should be played.

"It's up to the schools," he said Wednesday from league headquarters in Englewood, Colo. "What we've been hearing from Washington and President Bush is that everybody should try to return to normalcy. To do that would be to return to the games."

About 3,000 Hawaii fans originally had planned to make the trip to Reno, and that figures in the travel considerations, Manin said. But the main concern was getting the team there in time for workouts Friday before Saturday's game.

"If we can't get there in a timely fashion, it's not a good idea to play," she said. "It's hard enough to cross the Pacific Ocean. It'd be different if we were coming in from Fresno."