Until Nov. 19, 1966, sports fans living in Hawai'i suffered with delayed telecasts that rivaled mail delivery by the Pony Express. Some professional football games were shown six days after they were played. TV programs, too.
All that changed with Intelsat-II, a little communications satellite affectionately dubbed "Lani Bird" in the Islands.
The drum-shaped satellite was launched on Oct. 26, 1966, to serve as the first commercial space communications link between North America and the Far East. In its final orbiting position, it would have the power to relay live television coverage of the Vietnam War to U.S. homes.
But what everyone really wanted to see was a football match-up that pitted No. 1-ranked Notre Dame and No. 2 Michigan State. Three local boys were playing for the Spartans — Dick Kenney, Bob Apisa and Charlie Wedemeyer.
At 8 a.m. that November day, an estimated 500,000 Hawai'i residents tuned in to their first-ever live broadcast of a sporting event. Businesses came to a standstill. Half the starting times at
Waialae Country Club were still open at kickoff.
Wrote Advertiser sports editor Hal Wood: "The pictures were so beautiful that we could even see the toenails of our barefooted kicker, Dick Kenney. We think he had a pedicure, but we aren't sure."
And the Michigan State cheerleaders wore lei, too.
At half-time, Lani Bird gave Mainland viewers on the cusp of winter a small dose of Hawai'i: Bikini-clad women on sun-splashed Waikiki Beach.
