Cindy Luis and Ann Miller, two of the finest sportswriters Hawaii has ever seen, will become members of the University of Hawaii’s Circle of Honor.
Luis and Miller were surprised Friday during a blind reveal on Zoom, much like how June Jones was surprised during a Thursday luncheon that was arranged under the guise of a birthday celebration. Luis and Miller were told by UH assistant media relations director Jason Kaneshiro they were going to be interviewed for a story.
“This is amazing. This is such an honor,” Luis said.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Miller said. “I was kind of surprised. Cindy handled it really well. She was able to talk (on Zoom) for both of us.”
Legendary Rainbow Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji popped onto the screen to make the surprise announcement to the award-winning sports writers.
“Hey, Ann and Cindy,” Shoji said. “We’re not interviewing you for a story. Rather, we wanted to take this time to acknowledge your careers and, in particularly, all that you’ve done to promote women’s athletics, especially here at the University of Hawaii. I’ve gotten to know you both for a long time. And I know how hard you have worked. It hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“So I’m honored to welcome you both as our newest members of the UH sports Circle of Honor Class of 2024.
“I’m so honored to be able to introduce you guys.”
Surprise guests included UH athletic director Craig Angelos and long-time volleyball savant Chris McLachlin.
“I’ve read all of your articles since you were writing,” McLachlin said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all you’ve done. Awesome lifetime work.”
Said Luis: “Ann would probably agree with this. We didn’t do this for this honor. We did it because it was an honor to write and cover the University of Hawaii teams. And we were just doing our jobs and I hope we did it well enough.”
“Apparently you did it very well, more than well enough,” said Angelos, who said he was “looking forward” to seeing them during the May 5 induction ceremony.
More colleagues and friends than rival journalists, Luis and Miller became associated with Shoji while chronicling the record achievements (four national titles) of women’s volleyball for decades.
“We felt a duty to the university because they put out such a great product,” Luis said. “They made us better writers, because we had to be good because they were good.”
The lengthy sports writing careers of Luis and Miller coincided, with both coming to Hawaii after they launched their sports journalism careers elsewhere.
Miller, a San Francisco State graduate, came from the Oakland Tribune to join the Honolulu Advertiser in 1980. Luis, a proud UCLA graduate, came from Guam, where she was the first female sports editor in the Gannett chain, to join the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 1981.
In 2010, they were united on the same staff when the newspapers merged to form the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Luis left the Star-Advertiser in 2020 but continued to write on social media, while Miller retired in 2014. Both continued to write columns for the Star-Advertiser for several years after retiring.
Luis is enjoying semi-retirement as a docent at ‘Iolani Palace and a volunteer at Washington Place. Miller is enjoying her life traveling and playing golf, which she cut short to attend Friday’s Zoom gathering.
Their careers documenting Hawaii sports earned the pair numerous awards.
Luis earned a USA Volleyball recognition award as well as AVCA print media awards for the 2005-06 and 2018-2019 school years. She also received the PacWest Conference Media Award in 2011. Luis said she and her son, Tiff Wells, are the first mother-son pair in sports media. Wells has been the radio voice of UH volleyball since 2014.
Miller received awards in golf and tennis, from the Aloha Section PGA and the USTA Hawaii Pacific region.
She was a founding member of the Association of Women in Sports Media in 1987. She served as the association’s treasurer the first 10 years, then later became director of the Board of Directors. She was honored with a crystal award in recognition on her dedication to the organization. The award named in her honor — The Ann Miller Service Award — has been presented annually since 2013.
The rest of the class is made up of former football coach June Jones (1999-2007), former offensive lineman James Kalili (1967-70) and the 2010 softball team that qualified for the Women’s College World Series.
