Concern for Jones spread quickly

"We’re just stunned," University of Hawai‘i football quarterback Tim Chang said of coach June Jones’ car accident yesterday.

Students gathered at the UH-Manoa athletic conference after getting word of the accident. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

It was the consensus reaction from the UH community. Most heard of the accident through television and radio reports.

"I’m just overwhelmed," Chang said yesterday, working out with several teammates at Cooke Field. "I don’t know what to do."

Assistant Athletics Director Marilyn Moniz-Kaho‘ohanohano was returning from lunch with UH development coordinator Kelvin Shoji when Shoji got a call on his cell phone.

"We we heard, we were shocked and sad," she said. "When I got back to work, I had a message from my husband who’s a firefighter and he told me that an accident had happened and that he and our pastor had prayed. We’ve been praying for him and his family today and we’re looking forward to his recovery and to him being restored."

The trauma was felt at nearby St. Louis School, where recruit Pesefea Fiaseu was attending classes when he heard the news.

"I was just shocked," said the two-time all-state running back who signed a letter of intent Feb. 7 to play at UH. "I thought they were lying, but it was all over the news. I was just devastated. It was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I was just shocked."

The news even reached the baseball team in California, where it begins a three-game Western Athletic Conference series at Fresno State starting tomorrow.

"Everybody was stunned," UH coach Carl Furutani said. "At first, it was hard for us to take something like that. You don’t think of things like that happening."

Even Hawai‘i-Hilo got word of the situation in Houston, where it has a WAC series against Rice. Vulcans’ coach Joey Estrella said one of his players got the news when he happened to call home to update his family on his team.

"I’m just shocked," Estrella said. "I hope everything goes well for him and his family."

St. Louis coach Cal Lee has known Jones since 1983, when Jones was a UH assistant. He and brother Ron Lee, a UH receivers’ coach, had just returned from a coaches’ clinic in Las Vegas.

"I heard about it on the radio," Cal Lee said. "It was kind of shocking. When you say critical, you’re shocked. You just want to keep your prayers and hope everything is all right."

Here’s how others reacted:

Riley Wallace, UH basketball coach: "June Jones is a very, very special man. All the people in Hawai‘i we hope will pray for him because he’ll need it all. Prayers go out to his kids and wife and family."

Bob Coolen, UH softball coach: "I was totally amazed at what had happened. I went back to work, still trying to figure out what’s going on, like everyone else. It’s just a totally overwhelming situation."

Flex Armstrong, UH defensive back: "I was about to lift weights and run, but as soon as I heard, I dropped everything I was doing and went straight to the hospital."

Channon Harris, UH wide receiver: "You never think anything like that could happen to that man. That’s a good man, you don’t think anything bad will ever happen to him.

"It’s hard to think about anything right now. It’s hard to do anything else right now. We’re just praying he makes it."

Advertiser staff writers Ferd Lewis and Michael Tsai contributed to this report.

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