I recently had the privilege to attend the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame 2008 induction banquet. It was held at the Honolulu Country Club and the main ballroom was packed! The crowd of sports minded people covered the spectrum from high powered officials, heads of banks, sports reporters, high school officials, college types - Greg McMackin being one - and so on.

It was the perfect rainbow of people representing two equally deserving but two totally different honorees.

The Class of 2008 is Dr. Edison Miyawaki and Joseph "Nappy" Napoleon. Talk about surf and turf!

The good Doctor is going into the hall under "Professional Football Contributor." Mister Miyawaki could have easily been given the honor for charitable contributions to the state. The first Japanese-American to own part of an NFL franchise - the Cincinnati Bengals - is so quiet and unassuming, you'd never know he gives so much back to the community. Money, time, academics, are all part of the Doc's to-do list on helping others.

A new community education center to be built in Nanakuli owes much to Miyawaki.

Over the years, Miyawaki and his wife Sallie would put away part of their dividends from the Bengals into a special fund. A fund they marked to do something to better the lives of those who didn't have the opportunities and chances others had.

Looking at the account in recent years, the good Doctor told the story of how his late wife said "I think we can finally build the center."

Miyawaki then used his close relationship with the NFL to tap into the league's monies for projects such as this and voila! Nanakuli and the leeward coast kids will have a chance to get ahead of the curve.

When he took the podium to address the crowd you could feel the humility, warmth, and caring coming from this uber successful man of the people. He teared up slightly for two reasons, the realization of the center's future impact and the recent passing of his soul mate, Sallie. No doubt she's smiling from a sky box high above.

Next up another amazing man of distinction.

Say the name Napoleon and you might as well be saying "master waterman" because Nappy's family is one of the premier ocean families of Hawaii.

Among his many watery achievements, how about this one. Back on October 7, 2007 Nappy completed his 50th-straight Moloka'i Hoe! As the coach, Dr. Larry Price said that night "Just doing 50 years of anything straight - even ping pong - is amazing" let alone this long distance paddling marathon.

He goes into the hall under "Canoe Racing Pioneer" - having won six championships (1958, 1961, 1966, 1969, 1972, and 1973) over those 50-years of crossing the Kaiwi Channel.

Napoleon was just 17 back in 1958 when he completed his first 41-mile race from Hale O Lono Harbor on Molokai to Waikiki Beach.

The milestone crossing back in October was special beyond the big 5-0 number. It was done under the Anuenue Canoe Club banner with a crew featuring his five sons - Joey, Aaron, Darryn, David, and Jonah, along with grandsons Josh, Sepa, and Koa.

The sons and grand kids alternated paddling throughout the trek. Napoleon steered every single mile.

How cool is that! To have all of your "boys" in the same canoe must have filled Nappy with a feeling only he knows.

Nappy shared some of that sense of ohana when he spoke at the mic.

Where Doctor Miyawaki had the academic background, Napoleon mentioned how he wasn't the best of students back in the day. But it didn't matter, he got a doctor of letters on the sand and waves as a Waikiki Beach Boy. Becoming a true ambassador to locals and visitors alike.

The other key to his success in life and sports, his wife! Nappy made it a point to point out his wife - Anona - really made him the person he is today. See what a smart man huh?

Seriously, he spoke of his love for her and what she means to him and the entire family. Pretty good stuff when the typical man won't show such a soft side. Again you could feel the goodness of this man, warming the hall.

So there you have it.

Two living legends of Hawaii sports. Both quiet and unassuming but oh so huge when it comes to their legacies of caring and sharing.

To Doctor Miyawaki, I'm glad that always take the time to chat with me when our path's cross. If only I had gone to Loyola Marymount! (Doc is a huge booster of the that school and it came down to attending either UH or LMU back in my senior year of high school.)

To Nappy Napoleon, I'll take away how you love your family, love the water, and love doing things the right way. I'll try to find something to do for 50-years straight. Smile.

I want to send condolences to Andrew Sato and his family. Andrew passed away Saturday after battling leukemia most of his 17-years.

Here's a young man who was abandoned by his mother in a park and at age 8 was first diagnosed with the cancer. He fought it off that first go around, beating it into remission for a number of years.

Unfortunately, the disease would come back in April of 2006. Andrew fought it again. Three months later the cancer was gone.

Andrew was 2-wins and 0-losses against it.

Unfortunately, the third time there would be no victory.

In September of 2007, Andrew was told the leukemia had returned and this time it was untreatable.

I can't even imagine what I would have felt or done if I was in Andrew's place. I get into a funk when I have a sore throat and a bad cold. Moping around like I really have problems.

Yet Andrew was a teenager that didn't get down on the hand he was dealt. He was mature and brave beyond his years.

He made it a goal to graduate from high school. Last month, he met his goal. Aiea High School honored him with an early graduation ceremony.

Now he's gone.

But I believe his spirit lives on in what he showed to Hawaii. Whether you are young or old, an athlete or an average joe, you can draw inspiration with how Andrew lived his short life.

Be brave, set goals, work at them, win, fail, get up and try again. You'll be a better person whether you're the only one who knows it or your story is in the newspaper or on TV.

Athletics in no way near the same plane as Andrew's efforts. But athletics does mirror in a small way his can-do, fighting, achieving spirit.

Thanks for reminding me Andrew of what a real competitor is.

I would have really liked to have met you.

Rest in peace, you did more in 17-years than many do in a much longer lifetime.

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Services are not yet set. But there's some tentative plans to hold a public memorial for Andrew at the state Capitol next week.

Seems fitting for a champion like Andrew.

In the ideal world we'd add every sport to the TV schedule. But since my company credit card has a restricted limit...it takes time to bring in new sports offerings.

The "new" much deserving sport we are bringing to you is the HHSAA State Canoe Paddling Championships.

The event itself is Friday at Ke'ehi Lagoon - but - the TV broadcast will be the next day, Saturday. Time on Saturday about 9pm - following our tripleheader of Pacwest Softball. Additional encore showings will be on Sunday at 11am and 8pm.

It would be nice to show the races live but time and logistics don't allow it now. Hopefully a 30-minute recap show with feature stories will do the schools justice.

I've covered a few of these championships and think they're great.

First they're easy to follow, prelims, quarter, semi's, finals all flow along quickly. Then a sprint down and back with lots of close finishes at the line. All done in one half day!

Even better this championship features a coed division to go along with the boy's and girl's categories. Great to see the guys and gals work together in a crew for their school. In some regards, I think this is true school spirit in action since they share the same boat for the race.

Could you imagine any other high school sports coed? I guess tennis has mixed events so that's not a stretch. Volleyball? Hmmm... But I digress, paddlers and fans of outrigger canoe races, enjoy this new TV offering on OC16.

Aloha and have a great day!

For the first time prep sports in Hawaii will be broadcast in HD. We'd like to say the first locally produced version overall. ESPN and the other networks have of course done HD sports like UH football and golf before this. But it's still fun to be first in on the prep side of things.

The HD telecast can be seen on Oceanic channel 1016. Good ol' 16 on your cable box will also be there for non-HD viewers.

The menu of basketball tonight is:
Game-1 D2 Boys - Farrington vs Aiea 6pm.
Game-2 D1 Boys - Kamehameha-Hawaii vs Punahou 8pm.

HD fans enjoy and let me know your feedback.

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In other news...

Moanalua didn't play tonight for third place. Na Menehune had an ineligible player and turned themselves in.

Hey there,

Sorry for no entry yesterday. But it was an ever busier day for me at work. For most of the week I've been working the sideline reporter gig for OC16's HHSAA basketball coverage. But, when Lori Santi had another commitment, the viewing public was stuck with me. My apologizes. Smile.

Doing prep work for the "color commentating" role is a lot more effort and time than sidelines. Which got me to thinking that a good number of people might not know our crew's makeup. Basically aside from myself and Jenn Boneza, every other on-air talent, camera person, engineer, producer, and director are doing OC16 work as a contractor. They all have other fulltime jobs during the day then make time for this "second" job.

Among the careers of our hard working crew - postal letter carrier, golf club repair specialist, teacher, Army affairs, and of course various broadcasters/camera peeps from the local stations.

They are all tremendously talented and dedicated to sports coverage and OC16's efforts to showcase Hawaii's talent. The extra hours they pull on the OC16 side can be a grind. They get a decent check for side money but by no means is it enough to just ditch the day job. And there's the occasional harassment from fans at various locations who have sworn and tossed threats at the camera guys. Guess that's a taste of what coaches get to deal with on a regular basis.

So I'll put it here in black and white - thank you crew for what you do. It's much appreciated and without you all, we don't do any of this.

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Tonight's viewing menu is from the girl's championships at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Game-1 D2 McKinley vs Campbell 6pm
Game-2 D1 Iolani vs Punaous 8pm

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Tomorrow is the first HD broadcast in the islands of a prep sport! Both boy's championship games from Blaisdell Arena will be available in HD on channel 1016 - get it? OC16 or channel 16 on regular cable to 1016 on the HD tier...smile.

Check it out and let me know your thoughts on how it looks.

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Happy Aloha Friday all!