By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

It is going on two years now since the University of Hawai'i and Brigham Young last played in football and, with nothing currently on future schedules, it could unfortunately be many more years until they meet again.

But never let it be said that the feelings from UH's most compelling series have faded. Or that old scores are easily forgotten and long-ago wounds have healed.

Not when nearly 20 years after he last wore BYU blue, Wai'anae-bred Kurt Gouveia is still reminded of the curious tightrope he is preparing to walk between these two long-time adversaries.

When UH coach June Jones announced that Gouveia would be an observer at the Warriors' ongoing spring practices with an eye toward making him a graduate assistant coach in the fall, the news did not pass unnoticed or without passion.

"Some of the friends I played with at BYU really got upset with me when they heard about it," Gouveia said. "They asked me, 'why are you going there?' "

Likewise, a coach of another sport at UH vociferously complained to a writer the other day about, "the nerve of that guy coming here now!"

Never mind that Gouveia, once an All-Western Athletic Conference linebacker, last played against UH in 1985 and had a 13-year NFL career in the interim. Or, that he had grown up with the dream of staying home and playing for UH.

For years Gouveia's presence in blue served to stoke an already incendiary series. That he ended up at hated Boo-Y-U, of all places, because UH was unable to project where he'd play — quarterback, defensive back or linebacker — and didn't offer a scholarship only made the situation more painful.

"When they didn't offer me a scholarship, there was no question that motivated me to prove that, 'hey, I have the talent to play at that level,' " Gouveia said. "I wanted to prove something, mostly to myself."

The fact that Gouveia seemed to relish the opportunity to take it out on UH and, with NFL success underwrote a $2,500 scholarship to send a Wai'anae High graduate to college on the Mainland, mitigated in some minds whatever sympathy there might have been.

That Gouveia might now find himself at UH, "is something that I never would have imagined back then," he said.

"But I thank Coach Jones (for whom he played for with the Chargers) and UH for offering me an opportunity to get into coaching. I think my heart is here," Gouveia said. "My heart is with the local people. I look at the kids out there (on the practice field) and they want to do well and be the best. I'd like to take what I have learned as a player and help them. I want to be a part of the University of Hawai'i's success."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.