Posted at 7:35 a.m., Sunday, June 24, 2007
Fab Five gathering nets $25,000 donation to UH hoops
Advertiser Staff
A recent gathering of members of the Fabulous Five, the history-making University of Hawaii basketball starting unit of the early 1970s, netted $25,000 for the UH men's program, according to the school's Web site.New UH head basketball coach Bob Nash was a member of the team, which became the first to reach the National Invitation and NCAA Tournaments.
The event — "A Toast to the Coach" — took place Thursday at The Plaza Club in dowtown Honolulu and was sponsored by Dwight Holiday, a former Fabulous Five member, and the Partnership Ministry.
Also in attendance were fellow Fab Five members Al Davis, John Penebacker, and Jerome Freeman along with their coach Red Rocha.
The former teammates and coach were reunited to produce a documentary about their remarkable seasons. The Fab Five teams of 1970-71 and '71-72 accumulated a 47-8 combined record. The documentary is being produced by OC16 and scheduled to be released in November.
At the end of the event, Holiday presented his former teammate Nash with a $5,000 check. At the same time, the donation was matched by four individuals.
Nash was named the successor to Riley Wallace, who coached the Rainbow Warriors for 20 years before announcing his retirement at the conclusion of the 2006-07 season. Nash served as Wallace's associate coach for all of those years.
