Posted on: Thursday, August 5, 2004

Carrying reputation of a school

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Fifty-seven times the University of Hawai'i gave West Keli'ikipi, its poi pounder of a running back, the football last season.

It gave it to him in big third-down situations and in important goal-line moments. But at no time did the Warriors hand it to the 6-foot-1, 260-pounder in a situation anywhere as crucial as this.

When the school signed off yesterday on reinstating Keli'ikipi from a two-month suspension that allows him to play this season, it put a lot more than its usual Wilson 1005-model football in his hands.

It put the reputation of the school and the athletic department squarely in those hands as well.

It wagered that, with an indictment on felony theft charges hanging over him, Keli'ikipi will not only stay out of trouble until those charges are addressed in court but receive and make good upon the deferred acceptance of no-contest plea his attorney has spent the last couple months pushing for.

The easy and, in fact, prudent play here would have been to keep Keli'ikipi on the suspension the athletic department imposed May 4, five days after an O'ahu grand jury returned the indictment, and be guided by the court's eventual ruling.

The likelihood of a trial not taking place until November or December, such an action by UH could have also effectively meant the end of his senior season.

That was something not overlooked by either Keli'ikipi, for whom coach June Jones last season had forecast an NFL career "as a blocking fullback for the Pittsburgh Steelers or somebody," or for the Warriors, whose fortunes would be enhanced by his talents this season.

How much the school was really guided by the intent to grant a second chance to someone who, we're told, has had a spotless record at UH, we can only guess. Nor can we be sure how much its enlightened self-interest played a part.

With this much on the line, you'd hope it was a lot more of the former than the latter. But at a time when the headlines tell of the University of Miami being all too willing to overlook the 13 arrests by a promising linebacker it recently allowed to enroll, there is reason for cynicism and ample evidence we should not be surprised by anything.

Five years ago, you may recall, Jones and UH took another calculated gamble. That time it stuck out its neck on a talented but troubled young recruit from the San Diego area, linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa.

Ultimately, Tinoisamoa justified the Warriors' trust in him, turning around his life and becoming something of an example for what a second chance placed in the right hands can bring.

Now, UH has staked a lot on this opportunity it has given Keli'ikipi. The hope here is that he, too, will make the most of it. Both he and UH have a lot riding on it.

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