Tourney has bigger potential
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
To feel Aloha Stadium rock to the beat of an announced crowd of 24,841 Friday night was to wonder why Hawai'i had to be the penultimate state to get around to holding a state high school championship in football.
To witness the showdown that was Kahuku and St. Louis III and all it means to high school sports here, was to shake your head at the curious reasoning that prompted 23 schools — nearly 40 percent of the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association ballots — to turn thumbs down on even having a state championship when it went to a vote in 1999.
Three eye-opening years after the advent of a state football championship not only has the concept proved a critical and financial success, but there is potential to do more.
Attendance has more than doubled from the 1999 inaugural event and the 45 football-playing high schools that share in the receipts could each realize $5,000 or more this year — nearly double the initial projections — if sponsorships meet expectations. Money that goes to help underwrite non-revenue sports.
Small wonder that Keith Amemiya, HHSAA executive director, which runs the event, declared Friday's game, "a great success."
It was such an all-around winner that it is hard to believe so many people were so dead set against a state championship or dragged their feet for so long. Other than finally letting go of the last vestiges of a 30-year-old public school vs. private school cold war, what could they have been afraid of?
Whatever their darkest fears were, they have been shown to be unfounded. Indeed, the state tournament has been responsible for significant moves toward leveling of the playing field, encouraging the private schools to give up participation by fifth-year seniors and ending the practice of immediate eligibility for public-to-private school freshman transfers.
The state tournament has enhanced the season and raised interest, not taken away from them. It has opened the way for Kahuku to end St. Louis' 14-year domination and has brought Neighbor Island schools into the equation so that someday one of them might manage in football what Moloka'i has accomplished in state baseball.
The concern now is that the state tournament will stagnate without vision and action. The fear is that too many people will be content to just take the checks, go back to playing politics as usual and not explore the considerable potential to further develop the state championship concept.
The HHSAA membership needs to at least look into the possibility of classifying into two divisions and holding a championship doubleheader. It should consider the merits of providing a wild-card entry in the field.
The HHSAA woke up late to the considerable benefits of a state football playoff. Here's hoping that now that it has seen the potential, its membership realizes what it has stumbled on to and makes the most of it.
