"Although he was a Republican state chairman, he was a fine person," said Jim Ferry, head of the Department of Land and Natural Resources under Gov. Jack Burns.

Burns beat out Woolaway's candidate, Republican Bill Quinn, while Woolaway was state party chairman.

Ferry, a close friend who served on the board of Woolaway's tour bus company, Gray Line Hawai'i, said Woolaway was a man who dedicated his life to giving to his community, a man whose well-known interest in UH sports was motivated by love, and a good friend who faced life with a strong sense of humor.

"He was a real joker," Ferry said. "You could disagree with him, but you just couldn't be disagreeable about it.

"We never let the Republican-Democrat thing come between us."

Ferry said he had tried to convert his friend away from the GOP, but a perusal of Woolaway's brief but spirited letters to the editor during the Clinton administration show Ferry probably never succeeded.

Woolaway sold Gray Line Hawaii, a sightseeing franchise, to InterIsland Resorts in 1978. He'd owned the business since 1953.

Woolaway was also an assistant to the president of Alexander & Baldwin, and retired from that position in 1978.

During his retirement, Woolaway split his time between his home in Kailua and his home in Houston, Ferry said. With his wife, Suzanne, beside him, he died at the home of a relative in Dallas.

In recognition of his contributions and boosterism, Woolaway, three decades ago, was appointed "volunteer assistant" to the UH basketball team. The appointment was made by Coach Red Rocha, and Woolaway remained a near-constant presence on the UH bench.

"Art was a supporter of every coach here at UH," said Riley Wallace, current head coach. "He was a friend of every player and taught both coaches and players what Hawai'i was all about."

Newspaper archives show generations of staff and team members referred to Woolaway as "the GM" — for general manager.

When NCAA sanctions were leveled against UH for 69 violations in the 1975-76 season, Woolaway was cited for one of them: helping a New York recruit find inexpensive housing.

In 1979 he was still incredulous about the charge.

"In Hawai'i," Woolaway told an Advertiser sports reporter, "people do something for other people when they are in need."

He was co-founder of the university's primary scholarship fund-raising organization, 'Ahahuiui Koa Anuenue, and the Rainbow Basketball Booster Club. The basketball team's outstanding player award is named for him.

Woolaway, who was raised in Hawai'i, was a four-sport athlete at Punahou and chairman of the first Punahou Carnival in 1932.

After graduating from the University of California, he moved to Maui, where he coached football and the All-Maui track team.