In University of Hawaii basketball terms, the definition of "never" is apparently 32 years.
We know this because the last time the Rainbow Warriors played Chaminade in Blaisdell Center UH officials tersely vowed to "never play Chaminade here again."
That was Dec. 17, 1982, right after Chaminade delivered a stinging 56-47 upset that would echo for decades.
Now, faster than a U. S. and Cuba rapprochement, here we are again, Friday night with the ‘Bows and Silverswords finally renewing acquaintances at the intersection of Ward Avenue and Kapiolani Boulevard.
In the interim a few things have changed, of course. UH has come to call the Stan Sheriff Center and the Big West Conference home and Chaminade has gone on to knock off plenty of bigger names, including Virginia, Louisville (twice), Texas, Southern Methodist, Providence…
When the Silverswords, then competing at the NAIA level, beat UH in 1982 it became readily apparent "they had nothing to lose and we had nothing to gain," remembers Riley Wallace, who was an assistant on then-head coach Larry Little’s staff.
UH, which had a heavyweight nonconference schedule that included LSU, Pitt, Iowa, Providence, Missouri and Oklahoma, needed some breathers. And Chaminade was miscast. "Merv (Lopes) was doing a great job with Chaminade’s program and Larry was trying to build UH back up," Wallace said. "Some people thought it was happening too slow (at UH)."
While the ‘Bows went on to enjoy a 17-11 season that year, they would be dwarfed by Chaminade, which six nights later, stunned the basketball world with the victory over No. 1-ranked Virginia on the way to a 33-5 finish. The drum beat for Lopes to take over at UH grew louder, though he never got past the finalist stage when it came time for UH to pick a successor (Gib Arnold’s father Frank), three years later.
With that as a backdrop, it would be 21 years — and two head coaches — later before anybody at UH wanted any part of Chaminade again, at any site.
Curiously, while these two schools, whose campuses are just a few fast breaks apart, eventually returned to the floor against each other, it was almost everywhere (Maui, Molokai, Kauai and Manoa) but Blaisdell.
And it might well have stayed that way if not for Jamie Dixon. The former UH assistant and now Pittsburgh head coach deigned to play the ‘Bows last month on Maui just before the Maui Invitational.
But UH, which had already planned to play Chaminade on the Valley Isle, didn’t want the expense of two Neighbor Island trips.
Nor, since it was ostensibly a Chaminade "home" game, did the ‘Bows want to venture inside cozy McCabe Gym on the Chaminade campus. So Blaisdell, where the Silverswords haven’t set foot since 2011 and the ‘Bows haven’t visited since 1994, became the location of convenience.
Under terms of the contract, Chaminade keeps the gate and UH will get "75 complimentary tickets" as its renumeration. Meanwhile, UH will count the game in its record, the Silverswords will not, classifying it, for Division II postseason purposes, as an exhibition.
And it only took 32 years.
Reach Ferd Lewis at 529-4820 or flewis@staradvertiser.com.
