Three more stars gain induction
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Former UH place kicker Jason Elam, track star George Uyeda and swimmer Jeanne (Childs) Siragusa will be inducted into the UH Circle of Honor tonight during halftime of the San Jose State-Hawai'i basketball game.
Richard Ambo • Honolulu Advertiser |
"I had my bank account here when I went to UH," Elam said yesterday, looking around the Bank of Hawai'i executive dining room after he was introduced as part of the UH Sports Circle of Honor.
Elam, who just signed a $9 million contract with the Denver Broncos, chuckled. "All $10 of it," he said.
Elam, 32, graduated with a degree in communications, All-America honors and every UH and Western Athletic Conference place-kicking record. In a decade, he has tacked on two Super Bowl rings, three Pro Bowl appearances, an assortment of NFL records and several zeroes to his checking account.
Siragusa, 42, started swimming as a high school sophomore in Colorado. By 1980 she was an Olympic hopeful in the breaststroke. Her hopes were crushed by the U.S. boycott.
"I was 19," recalls Siragusa, who now lives in Florida with her husband and two children. "I had to look on a map to find Afghanistan. Now I really know."
She swam for Texas as a freshman and was miserable among 40 other Olympic wannabes. Searching to soothe her soul in a much smaller fishbowl, she called UH coach Al Minn, who had recruited her earlier.
Minn redesigned her stroke through thousands of laps and hours of explanation, showing her a "seahorse" style that brought her body farther out of the water and took full advantage of her powerful legs.
Siragusa's seven new teammates taught her about "ohana," — "I never felt like I was swimming alone," Siragusa recalls.
She swept the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the AIAW nationals in 1982, where UH finished 11th with three swimmers. Soon after, she broke the American record in the 200 with a 2:32.41 at the World Swimming Championships trials.
As a senior, Siragusa swept the same two events at the NCAA Championships and indoor nationals.
Uyeda's jumping feats were phenomenal, particularly for a 5-foot-4, 120-pounder living 2,500 miles from his closest competitors. In 1947, after graduating from McKinley, working three years in the Military Intelligence Service in Japan and attending Kansas State, he returned to UH.
On one magical day in Manoa, Uyeda leaped 25 feet, 3/8th of an inch. It was the second best jump in the nation that year, third in the world.
After his startling jump, track followers compared him to Jesse Owens. Uyeda attended the 1952 Olympic trials alone and fell short of qualifying. But even now, a day before he turns 80, it remains the longest jump in Hawai'i history.
"I changed my style of jumping," Uyeda said. "I used to just sit in the air. That day somehow I walked in the air."
Uyeda graduated in recreation leadership and worked for the Hawai'i State Judiciary Division of Driver Education until retiring in 1989. He and wife Ethel have been married 53 years.
Uyeda, Siragusa and Elam will be inducted into the Circle tonight at halftime of the UH-San Jose State basketball game. Their plaques will be displayed in the Stan Sheriff Center along with the 58 individuals and five teams previously inducted.
