Be it a volley or a trolley, Warriors wow their fans
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Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
Middle blocker Dejan Miladinovic and the NCAA volleyball champion Warriors, aboard the trolley from Manoa to downtown Honolulu, join in the shouting: “We’re No. 1!” From fans lining the streets came the same words, loud and clear.
By Leila Wai
Special to The Advertiser
Less than a week after winning the school's first NCAA men's title, the University of Hawai'i volleyball team took a joy ride through Honolulu.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
Throngs of fans cheered the Warriors as they snaked their way from the Manoa campus to downtown on a trolley yesterday to celebrate the team's victory Saturday over Pepperdine for the NCAA championship.
UH volleyball player Costas Theocharidis gets a hug from a well-wisher.
"It happens nowhere else," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "It's so wonderful to accomplish something like this and to share it with the people of Hawai'i. It really, really means a lot."
Junior outside hitter and former Kamehameha Schools athlete Tony Ching echoed those thoughts.
"This is awesome; this is the best thing ever," he said. "You come home and get treated like a king after winning a volleyball game. That is only in Hawai'i, for sure."
The trolley started on campus, where it paused for pictures and autographs at Varney Circle, then took Beretania Street downtown, making stops at the State Capitol and at fan-filled Tamarind Park before reaching Murphy's Bar & Grill.
About a thousand fans — the largest crowd at any of the stops — filled the park and spilled into the road, blocking two of the five lanes of South King Street.
Along the way, the Warriors treated fans, including Ka'ahumanu School students who lined a block along Beretania, with cheers and shakas.
One fan, Eva Uran of Honolulu, 53, encouraged by the players to follow the trolley on her bike, started at the corner of Punahou and Beretania streets and finished her ride with the team at Murphy's.
"There is nothing like this, and I wanted to be a part of the big celebration," she said. "(Their championship) was such a physical feat and I wanted to match them in some way by riding my bike alongside their trolley."
Middle blocker Dejan Miladinovic and assistant coach Tino Reyes didn't have any trouble getting fans to join in on cheers of "We're No. 1!"
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
The police, however, didn't respond to similar encouragement by Miladinovic, who kept shouting over a loudspeaker for officers to lead the procession.
UH Warriors stars Costas Theocharidis and Dejan Miladinovic helped set the celebratory mood yesterday as the trolley stopped for photos and autographs at UH-Manoa’s Varney Circle.
At the Capitol, fans sang along with a slightly off-tune version of Queen's "We Are the Champions," led by Brian Nordberg and Miladinovic.
"It's great to see everyone out here," said sophomore setter Kimo Tuyay. "I didn't think too many people were going to show up, but it is good to see everyone and their support."
UH President Evan Dobelle, who jumped on the trolley at Tamarind Park, said: "They really are terrific men and they deserve their victory, and the people of Hawai'i deserve victory, because it gives us the opportunity to understand that we can compete at any level and at any thing."
Former Warriors also took part in the celebration. Andre Breuer, an All-American middle blocker during his UH career in 1998-99, met the team at Tamarind Park and, later, Murphy's.
"It's a thing you would have liked to experience for yourself, certainly," he said. "But it is good to come back and see how enthusiastic people are about volleyball in Hawai'i."
The thrill of victory hasn't stopped yet for the Warriors.
Today, they will attend an invitation-only luncheon with Gov. Ben Cayetano at Washington Place at 1 p.m. They will depart for Honolulu Hale at 3 p.m. to receive a proclamation from Mayor Jeremy Harris.
Tomorrow, the team is expected at Sunset on the Beach between 6:30 and 7 p.m. at Kuhio Beach in Waikiki.
Maybe by that time, Miladinovic will persuade someone to give him some down time to buy tape for his video camera. Near the beginning of yesterday's ride, he realized he couldn't record one of his last moments as a Warrior.
"Can we please stop by Longs?" he repeatedly asked the trolley driver. "It will take two minutes for me to run in and grab some tape."
It was two minutes they didn't have.
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Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
Ka‘ahumanu School pupils turn out en masse along Beretania Street to greet the Warriors, whose victory represented the first time UH won an NCAA men’s title.
