Better late than never for UH receiver | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Better late than never for UH receiver | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Posted on: Friday, October 3, 2003

Better late than never for UH receiver

•	SportsWest to provide TV coverage
•	Coach trying to restore Tulsa's past
•	FERD LEWIS: UH might be taking its last trip to Tulsa
•	2003 UH football schedule

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

MICHAEL MIYASHIRO

TULSA, Okla. — Wide receiver Michael Miyashiro, a senior on the University of Hawai'i football team, didn't look forward to his 10-year high school reunion.

At 29, Miyashiro must look backward.

"I went to my reunion, and I had a great time," said Miyashiro, a 1992 Pearl City High graduate. "That was an experience. Some people really changed. Holy smokes, a lot of them had kids.

"When I told them I was in school, they were like, 'Oh, great, what are you studying?' When I told them I was playing football, they were like, 'What?' Most of them have been out of school for five years, with careers and families. They were surprised, but not too surprised because it was me. I've always been the one to go a different way."

But even to close friends, the 5-foot-6, 164-pound Miyashiro's ascension on the depth chart has been unexpected. Miyashiro or second-year freshman Sean Stennis will start in place of injured Jeremiah Cockheran in tomorrow's game against Tulsa. Although UH coach June Jones earlier declared Cockheran unavailable because of a badly sprained right ankle, there still is a possibility he will play.

If not, the Warriors will turn to Miyashiro, who resumed his football career three years ago when he enrolled at Mount San Antonio College in California. Before that, Miyashiro was a professional dancer and occasional actor who earned his Screen Actors Guild card at 18. Among his credits were ads for Liberty House and his role as a macadamia nut yearning to become a macadamia nut cookie.

But he couldn't scratch his itch for football, he recalled, "and I knew I had to play and get it out of my system. I knew acting was something I could do my whole life, but I only had a short time to play football."

Although associates did not express their doubts, "I could see the look in their eyes sometimes, like they thought I was crazy," Miyashiro said. "It was like, 'Football? Really?' " Stennis' expanded role also is remarkable, considering he was stripped of his scholarship in January and encouraged to transfer to another school after his arrest on suspicion of possessing a stolen laptop computer. The case was resolved, and Stennis performed well enough in his studies to earn an invitation to training camp.

UH football

• Who: Hawai'i (2-2, 1-0 WAC) vs. Tulsa (2-2, 0-0)

• When: 1:05 p.m. tomorrow Hawai'i time

• Where: Skelly Stadium, Tulsa, Okla.

• TV: Live on K5

• Radio: Live on 1420-AM

"I made an immature decision and I had to suffer the consequences," Stennis said. "I want Coach Jones to know he didn't make a mistake taking a chance on me. Even before the situation happened, I was so thankful he gave me a chance to play for his team. I feel the only way I can thank him is on the field."

Stennis, whose uncle Michael Stennis was a UH starting quarterback two decades ago, has not reclaimed his scholarship. "That's OK," he said. "I can't really say anything because I was at fault from the get-go. I shouldn't have had my name anywhere near the situation, especially because I'm representing my uncle and my family. I can't make our family look bad. I feel bad about that."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.

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2003 UH FOOTBALL SCHEDULE