If football is a microcosm of life, as Dick Tomey often noted, it also could be said his life was a macrocosm of faith and dedication.

“He was more than just a great football coach,” said Duane Akina, a long-time assistant coach under Tomey, “he was a great person.”

On Saturday, former players, coaches and associates remembered Tomey, a former Hawaii head coach and television analyst.

Duane Akina

After completing his playing career at Washington, Akina, a Punahou School graduate, asked to volunteer on Tomey’s UH staff. Akina, a former quarterback, wanted to work on the defensive side to widen his football knowledge. A spring-semester opportunity extended to the fall. “After the season, he couldn’t pay me,” Akina said. “He said what he would do is give me his (check) from his radio show. I said, ‘Golly, that would be great.’ When I got the check for the radio show, I realized it was not the No. 1-rated show in Hawaii. But I got filthy rich by being able to be in meetings and walk the sidelines (with Tomey) for 21 years.”

Akina worked under Tomey at Arizona, and later Tomey joined the Texas staff on which Akina was the defensive coordinator. “He was a major part of turning around our Texas football team, changing the culture for us, bringing the blue-collar attitude,” Akina said. A year later, the Longhorns won a national title.

“He was at his best when things weren’t going well,” Akina said. “He knew how to build teams, how to manage players, and how to get the most out of people.”

Rick Blangiardi

Blangiardi remembered the final years of the era preceding Tomey’s hiring at UH. As a coordinator on Larry Price’s staff, Blangiardi recalled, “we didn’t even have money for postage stamps. They wanted Larry out, and they were squeezing us on everything. It was political football in those days.”

When Tomey was hired, Blangiardi was preparing to launch his second career. He eventually was hired as a color analyst for broadcasts of UH football games. That role, which expanded to include telecasts and coaching shows, kept Blangiardi in close contact with Tomey and the program.

Influenced greatly by Bo Schembechler, Tomey believed in ball-control offenses, swarming defenses and reliable special teams. “And his teams won with that,” Blangiardi said. “I remember saying on the air (the Rainbow Warriors ran) 16 dive plays for 5 yards total. And then (Nuu) Faaola would break (a run) for 85 yards, and I’d say, ‘What do I know?’ Dick was a coach through and through. He loved the game, and that’s what became infectious. Guys wanted to play for him. They believed in him, they believed in themselves. The state believed in him.”

Jesse Sapolu

Before an NFL career in which he won four Super Bowl rings, Sapolu endured Tomey’s strict practices in the Manoa humidity.

“He was probably the toughest coach I’ve played for, but it made me a tough player,” Sapolu said. “When I went to the Niners and the going got tough, I was able to see the difference in how I handled those moments compared to other players from different programs. I didn’t know at the time why he was pushing me, but I appreciated it as my career went on. He was one of the most influential men I had the honor of coming across.”

Bob Wagner

“He was good people,” said Wagner, who worked under Tomey and then succeeded him as UH head coach. “He was great to work for. He was great with the players. He was a great motivator. He was an outstanding person.”

Wagner said Tomey was “really big on the rudiments — taking care of the ball, playing good defense, having a good kicking game.”

But Tomey also was innovative. Tomey helped expand UH’s recruiting reach to Australia, New Zealand and American Samoa. He promoted mind-over-matter rituals such as walking bare-footed on hot coals and increasing the thermostat in the locker room after losses. And he implemented the muddle huddle.

But Wagner saw Tomey’s playful side. He witnessed Tomey grimacing when he inadvertently sipped from a soda can a coach had used as a spittoon. When Wagner and offensive coordinator Dave Fagg wore long golf socks to practice, Tomey approached. “Dick came over and said, ‘I want to talk to you about the socks … where’d you get ‘em?’ ” Wagner recalled.

Wagner remembered the “hardest” news he had to deliver to Tomey. Each year, Alex Waterhouse invited the coaches and their families to stay at a spacious place on Maui. Wagner said he had to tell Tomey he and another person would not be available to play in their annual game of Capture the Flag. “He was dumbfounded that we could deny him that,” Wagner said.

Rich Miano

Miano, a former UH and NFL safety, was noted for starting his Rainbow Warriors career as a walk-on, a program that Tomey embraced. “I was intimidated to even talk to Dick Tomey because I was a walk-on,” Miano said. “I was watching those insurance commercials with apples and oranges, his ability as a public speaker. I’d watch that game against USC, and there were 50,000 there. I was intimidated by him. I don’t think I talked to him until junior year.”

Miano and Tomey grew close, and they were both on Greg McMackin’s coaching staff.

“Every breath was about his players and his former players and his love of the game, the love of the people,” Miano said. “He wasn’t a player’s coach for five years. He was a coach their whole life.”