WARRIORS NOTEBOOK
Rice's AstroTurf is its field of dreams

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

Rice coach Ken Hatfield happily bills Rice's seven-year old AstroTurf 12 surface in Rice Stadium as, "the fastest field in America."

"Hawai'i," Hatfield predicted, "will find that out (today)."

The AstroTurf, over grass, gives Rice's spread option offense an extra step to the quickness of its execution, Hatfield believes. "That's why people don't like to play on it here."

UH coach June Jones has been a vocal and persistent critic of Aloha Stadium's AstroTurf surface, blaming it for excessive injuries to his players. Brigham Young University officials also blasted the surface after last year's game.

"But, hey, Boise has a blue turf that gives them a homefield advantage and we have AstroTurf," Hatfield said. "We think that gives us a little advantage at home so we're gonna keep playing on it."

Hatfield said the field has not resulted in excessive injuries. "We'll probably keep it until it is 10 years or until something better comes along. Our engineers run tests, checking its bounceability, each year and we wouldn't use it if it was unsafe."

Hatfield said another major reason for the AstroTurf "is that we use the stadium for all kinds of events: high school football, concerts, even softball. We just had three weeks of rain and if we had grass, we wouldn't be able to play on it. Our practice fields are grass and we couldn't use them for a couple weeks."

Scouts abound: Rice sports information director Bill Cousins said he expects approximately 20 scouts for today's UH-Rice game, the most he can remember for a game at Rice stadium.

"I think they're mostly here to see Hawai'i," Cousins said. "There would be more, but we have a policy of one seat per (NFL) team. Otherwise some of them like Houston would have four or five."

Maui no ka 'oi: A popular snack bar item at Rice Stadium is "Maui Wowi" — a tropical ice product.

Part of history: The 52-year old Rice Stadium played host to Super Bowl VIII — Miami vs. Minnesota — and was also the sight of President John Kennedy's 1962 reach-for-the-stars speech in which he challenged the U. S. space program to put a man on the moon by decade's end.

Success against UH: Rice head coach Ken Hatfield is believed to be the only opposing coach to beat UH while the head coach of three different schools: Air Force, Arkansas and Rice.