Hawaii, Vegas form tight bond

Ron Kantowski, Jeff Haney and Brian Hilderbrand, Las Vegas Sun

Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006 | 7:39 a.m.

So why do the football and basketball teams at Hawaii and UNLV schedule each other when they are not required to do so and are 2,760 miles and half an ocean apart?

Well, it's as elementary as an ABC store.

It makes sense. A lot of dollars, too.

The synergy between Honolulu and Las Vegas is getting so profound that in addition to those eclectic ABC department stores with the floral print shirts and the macadamia nuts, we now have Hawaiian restaurants, a Hawaiian marketplace and what is basically a Hawaiian casino smack in the middle of downtown Las Vegas, even if they call it The California.

More than 30,000 native Hawaiians now call Southern Nevada home. From 1995 to 2000, 12,079 people moved from Hawaii to Nevada, according to the U.S. Census, more than the combined number of 10,597 residents on Lanai and Molokai, two of the nine Hawaiian Islands.

Actually, there are only eight Hawaiian Islands. Fremont Street, when the Warriors are in town, is more like a peninsula of islanders.

A crowd of 34,287 - at the time, the third-largest gathering in UNLV history - turned out to watch the Rebels knock off Hawaii 33-22 on Mike Hamrick's second football day on the job as athletic director. Shortly thereafter, he called his old buddy Herman Frazier, the Hawaii athletic director whom he had known since their Conference USA days when Hamrick was athletic director at East Carolina and Frazier at Alabama-Birmingham, and began making plans for a series of football games.

The Warriors and Rebels met at Aloha Stadium this year with Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corp. serving as game sponsor. They will play five times over the next six years and probably would have played in 2008, too, had the Rebels an opening in their schedule.

Hawaii and UNLV also played home-and-home in basketball last year - virtually unheard of for nonconference rivals - and will do it again this year, with the rematch set for Dec. 5 on the Islands.

"We like to go there and their fans like to come here," Hamrick said, strumming "Tiny Bubbles" on his ukulele. "It was pretty much a no-brainer."

The recruit

The ties between Hawaii and UNLV on the field of athletic competition became a little more profound last week when Rebels basketball coach Lon Kruger signed Kendall Wallace (right) to a scholarship.

Wallace sat behind the UNLV bench at Friday's game against Hawaii, which had to seem a tiny bit strange, given the familiar face stalking the sideline in front of the Rainbows' bench.

Longtime Hawaii coach Riley Wallace is Kendall's uncle.

But Kendall Wallace, a 6-foot-4 guard who averaged 17 points. 5 rebounds and 4 assists in leading Mountain View High School in Mesa, Ariz., to a state championship last year, said signing with the Rebels wasn't as tough as it might seem, family ties notwithstanding.

The fans

You didn't have to look too terribly hard to find a green-and-black Hawaii cap or a floral print shirt at the Thomas & Mack Center Friday night when the UNLV basketball team opened its season against Hawaii.

Johnny Cabjuan (Hawaii cap) and Dennis Panganoran (floral print) were hanging loose, as they say in their homeland, midway up the lower bowl.

Cabjuan said he moved to Southern Nevada 23 years ago. He's a cook at the California Hotel (where else?) downtown. Panganoran, who relocated to Las Vegas eight years ago to buy a home - the price of real estate on The Islands is higher than a Samoan Palm - is a waiter at the California.

Both say there are times they miss paradise. But they aren't as frequent as you might think.

"I had the ocean for 35 years," Cabjuan said.

Panganoran, who goes back to the Mark Tuinei days as a Hawaii football fan, said he's glad the Rainbow Warriors and Rebels are playing each other a lot these days but that it also creates a problem.

"I don't know who to cheer for," he said about his divided loyalty.

"More important, I don't know who to bet on."

He said his uncle's retirement is probably imminent and that he will make his home in Las Vegas when he hangs up his whistle.

"I would have loved to have played for him," Kendall Wallace said. "But I have a feeling I'm still going to be getting a lot of coaching from him."

Hawaii events

Like Las Vegas, Honolulu does not have a professional sports franchise. But also like Las Vegas, there are plenty of major sporting events from which local fans can choose:

NFL Pro Bowl: The NFL's (almost) tackle football all-star game is held every February at Aloha Stadium.

Hawaii Bowl: Played on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, the college football postseason game attracts teams from Conference USA or the Pac-10 against a Western Athletic Conference team. It also usually attracts at least three guys wearing Santa Claus suits with Bermuda shorts.

Maui and Rainbow classics: Pete Maravich, Elvin Hayes, Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas are some of the basketball legends who have hooped it up in Hawaii's annual college basketball tournaments while their coaches wore loud print shirts with flowers around their necks.

Ironman Triathlon: The granddaddy of all the triathlons. If you've got zero percent body fat and are up for swimming (2.4 miles), cycling (112 miles) and running a marathon before lunch, then does Hawaii ever have an event for you.

Honolulu Marathon: The world's fourth largest marathon attracts more than 25,000 runners every year, including several from Kenya who never seem to get blisters on their feet.

Golf in Hawaii, Las Vegas

When you think of tourist attractions in Honolulu and Las Vegas, it doesn't take long for thoughts to turn to golf. Both Hawaii and Nevada boast some of the top public golf courses in the United States, according to Golf Digest's "America's 100 Greatest Public Courses, 2005-2006." But take a look at the magazine's list of 100 greatest public golf courses, and you'll notice that you have to hop a plane in Honolulu to reach the first tee at its courses while four of the five courses are an easy drive from Las Vegas.

Hawaii

12. The Prince Course, Princeville, Kauai.

32. Mauna Kea Golf Course, Kohala Coast.

60. The Challenge at Manele, Lanai City.

74. Kapalua Golf Club (Plantation Course), Kapalua.

90. Kauai Lagoons Golf Club (Kiele Course), Lihue.

Nevada

3. Shadow Creek, North Las Vegas.

27. Wolf Creek Golf Club, Mesquite.

54. Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, Stateline.

69. Cascata, Boulder City.

86. Reflection Bay Golf Club, Henderson.

What's in a name?

Prior to 2000, the University of Hawaii's men's teams were referred to as the Rainbow Warriors, complemented by an athletics logo featuring a rainbow. However, the football team complained, and the school changed its athletics logo to a stylized "H" and allowed each team to pick its own team name.

While the football team is now officially the Warriors, the other sports' coaches are free to choose from Rainbow Warriors, Warriors, Rainbows, Rainbow Wahine and Wahine.