Rarely has there been a year like 2014 in local sports for demonstrating the power — and triumph — of perseverance.
Marcus Mariota, Michelle Wie, Mililani High football and Kolten Wong were prime-time examples in a year in which another dark cloud hovered over University of Hawaii athletics.
Mariota, Wie, the Trojans and Wong, all had something to prove this year, and went about it on some of the biggest stages in sports.
MARIOTA MAKES MAGIC
This time last year Mariota’s decision to forego a shot at the NFL Draft and return to the University of Oregon was being minutely dissected.
A projected high first-round pick, there were questions about the considerable gamble he had taken — namely, could he stay healthy after suffering a knee injury in 2013?
But as the Ducks (12-1) head into the Rose Bowl on Thursday, the Saint Louis School graduate is making the gamble pay off. He’s won the Heisman Trophy, led Oregon to the semifinals of the inaugural College Football Playoff and is tabbed to be as no worse than the second quarterback taken.
Meanwhile, he has raised the status of Hawaii football. "No question, he’s made Hawaii football stand out," said Mark Helfrich, Oregon’s head coach.
TURMOIL IN MANOA
After a 2-6 start to the 2014 football season there was a rising cry for the firing of head coach Norm Chow.
But Chow ended up outlasting not only men’s basketball head coach Gib Arnold and assistant Brandyn Akana, but also his boss, athletic director Ben Jay, in a turbulent year that begged more questions than it answered.
The university dismissed Arnold and Akana on Oct. 28 "without cause," and Jay resigned Dec. 4.
Despite a 4-9 season record, an 8-29 mark overall, and a $400,000 shortfall in football revenue, Chow will remain at least through 2015, his fourth season of a five-year contract, UH officials announced.
All this while an NCAA investigation has hung over the men’s basketball program. Despite the tumult, the Rainbow Warriors have managed to go 12-4 under head coach Benjy Taylor, who replaced Arnold in November.
WIE WINS A MAJOR
It had been a long drought, four years between LPGA Tour victories, for Wie when she teed it up this season.
Her fortunes started to change with a win at home, at Ko Olina, in April.
That victory helped spur her to her first major, the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open, two months later. Wie sank a clutch 15-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to fend off Stacy Lewis.
Wie, who finished 41st on tour in 2013, was fourth this year, making 19 of 21 cuts.
MILILANI PREVAILS
After losing to Punahou in the 2013 Hawaii High School Athletic Association state football final, Mililani High wasn’t to be denied this year in a one-for-the-ages 53-45 victory.
With an Aloha Stadium crowd of 19,254 on hand, quarterback McKenzie Milton passed for a state-record seven touchdowns — four of them to receiver Kalakaua Timoteo, another record.
It was the first state football crown for the Trojans, who fell, 28-22, to Punahou in 2013.
WONG GETS IT RIGHT
Wong’s 2013 season ended on the bitterest of notes: being picked off first base as a pinch runner for the final out of Game 4 of the World Series.
And 2014 wasn’t going all that well, either, as he was sent down to the minors in April.
But Wong returned in May and overcame shoulder ailments to finish third in National League Rookie of the Year voting.
The second baseman from Kamehameha-Hawaii and UH hit three postseason homers, the most dramatic a walk-off shot to beat the Giants 5-4 and tie the National League Championship Series. Overall, he hit .249 with 12 home runs and 20 stolen bases.
