By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Love, the songwriters tell us, means sacrifice.
It is why Wayne Hunter, a 1999 Radford High graduate, gave up a $24,000-a-year football scholarship at California-Berkeley to pay for his own tuition, books and meals at the University of Hawai‘i.
It is why Hunter worked the graveyard shift — 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. — loading and unloading cargo at Honolulu International Airport.
And it is why when puzzled friends again ask that question — "What the heck were you thinking?" — that he can smile and say, "I really love Hawai‘i."
UH assistant coach Vantz Singletary remembered how fortunate he felt when Hunter, who looks like a model in an NFL catalog, announced he would join the Warriors as a nonscholarship player last summer. "I thought, ‘Christmas came early this year,’ " Singletary recalled.
But Singletary never realized the price paid by Hunter, a 6-foot-5, 300-pound defensive end.
California coach Tom Holmoe refused to sign a release allowing Hunter to receive financial aid from another school for one year.
Also, Hunter’s mother did not want him to transfer from California, where he was majoring in aerospace technology.
"Berkeley is cool," Hunter said. "It’s a great school, and I had great friends over there. The only thing I didn’t like is it’s not Hawai‘i. If Hawai‘i didn’t mean that much to me, I would have stayed up there."
Finally, Hunter’s mother relented. "She gave me her blessing, and said, ‘Wayne, I know this is what you want to do,’ " he recalled.
Hunter, who was allowed to practice but not play last season, admitted "there are regrets every now and then. But I knew I had to do this for me. I had to be selfish. I guess being home meant more to me than a scholarship. Home, I guess, is where the heart is."
Hunter will be awarded a football scholarship during training camp in August. At that time, he hopes, he will have won the starting job at right defensive end.
 In, like Flint: Quarterback Jared Flint, who did not play last season while recovering from shoulder surgery, said he is two months ahead of his initial rehabilitation schedule and hopes to play a significant role this season.
Last August, Flint underwent surgery to reattach a torn ligament in his right (throwing) rotator cuff and arthroscopic surgery to remove loose cartilage in the back of that shoulder. He was expected to throw again in six to nine months, but began workouts in January, two months ahead of predictions.
Yesterday, he said his arm was sore from throwing 200 passes, at various ranges, on Thursday, but "the good thing is it’s not sore in the places where I had surgery."
He said he is restricted to throwing overhand every other day. Yesterday, he only threw under-handed shovel passes.
Flint said he remains cautious, what he describes as the "athlete’s syndrome" of an injury. "You’re always so confident in your ability that when it gets taken away from you, you lose a lot of that confidence. Part of the rehabilitation is building up that mental stability."
Flint exited last spring practice as the top quarterback. Freshman Tim Chang eventually won the job, and entered this spring practice as the No. 1 quarterback.
"I have confidence in my abilities," Flint said. "Timmy did a great job last year and he’ll do a great job this year. But I know, if I’m given the chance, I can perform, too. That’s what keeps me going."
Injury update: Wide receiver Tafiti Uso suffered an injury to his left shoulder Thursday and could miss up to two weeks of practice.
Uso, who was the state’s offensive player of the year as a Punahou School senior in 1996, played on Stanford’s Rose Bowl team two years ago. In transferring to UH, where he pays his own way, he turned down a chance to start for Stanford.
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