Is the Hula Bowl dead if there is no one to sign the death certificate?

What had been Hawai'i's longest-running major sporting event is the apparent victim of a lack of interest after 62 years, the apathy extending to its last-known owner, Nick Logan, who hasn't confirmed or denied its demise.

The game, which had been played in January at Aloha Stadium, has neither a contract nor a date reserved at the facility for this year. Stadium manager Scott Chan said he has attempted to contact Logan but has not heard back.

Nor is the game listed anywhere else on college football schedules.

Calls to numbers listed on the Georgia-based Cornerstone Hula Bowl Web site, www.hulabowlhawaii.com, were either not accepted or went unanswered. E-mails to several Internet addresses either bounced back or were not answered.

The Web site has not been updated since its Jan. 12, 2008, game, a 38-7 win by the 'Aina team before a few thousand fans at Aloha Stadium.

There have been no announcements from Logan or his representatives about a 2009 date, the naming of coaches or selection of players. The University of Hawai'i, which has had as many as nine of its players participate in past games in a single year, said it has had no communication with the bowl.

The disappearance by the Hula Bowl comes amid decades of declining crowds and changing ownership. The game, which began at Honolulu Stadium, moved to Halawa with the opening of Aloha Stadium in 1975, landed in Maui's War Memorial Stadium for eight years and shifted back to Aloha Stadium in 2006.

The brainchild of Honolulu sports promoter Mackay Yanagisawa, the Hula Bowl was once the stage for the who's who of college football elite. More than 20 Heisman Trophy winners performed here. In one stretch of the 1960s and on into the early 1980s, it featured 13 Heisman Trophy winners in 16 years.

NFL Hall of Famers Mike Ditka, Dan Marino, Larry Czonka and Tony Dorsett were among the most valuable players in the games. Paul Hornung, Gale Sayers, O.J. Simpson and Joe Montana were among the many stars who played in the game. Coaching legends Bo Schembechler, Darrell Royal and Bud Wilkinson were among its coaches.

Hawai'i Community College Chancellor Rockne Freitas grew up watching the game in Honolulu at a time when pros and collegians were mixed in its lineup.

"As a kid, we all wanted to do well enough to get to a level and eventually be picked to play in that game," he said.

Both Freitas, an Oregon State alumnus, and his son, Makai, out of Arizona, played in the game. "It was an overwhelming experience," Rockne Freitas said.

"Back in the day, it was the pre-eminent game," said Rich Miano, a UH assistant coach who played in the game (1985), coached in it and has been the Warriors' liaison with the game in recent years.

"It was the Senior Bowl of its day," Miano said. "As a player, there was no better game to be in."

The game regularly filled 25,000-seat Honolulu Stadium and drew 43,000 or more in six of its first seven years at Aloha Stadium, in the process raising millions for local charities.

But the Hula Bowl began to fade in the shadow of the newer and more popular Pro Bowl, which moved here in 1980. Then, the postseason football dollar in Honolulu was stretched further by the introduction of the Aloha Bowl in 1982.

Suddenly, the Hula Bowl, which had a monopoly for four decades, was running third in a three-bowl field.

In 1984, Yanagisawa warned of a "crisis" in what he termed a "pep talk" letter to season ticket holders. Soon after, he retired and 30 of the longtime volunteer staff went with him.

By 1986, Hula Bowl attendance dipped under 30,000 for the first time in 12 years in Aloha Stadium while the NFL's all-star game lined up a string of sellouts at the 50,000-seat facility.

Meanwhile, the Mobile, Ala.-based Senior Bowl became the all-star game of choice in a crowded field by tying in with the NFL, which sent its coaches, general managers and scouting people to the game in huge numbers that players, hopeful of NFL careers, couldn't overlook.

Miano said the Hula Bowl's demise, "is really sad; it is a tremendous loss for the state of Hawai'i. There was a lot of visibility for the state. It brought people here and the scouts came to look at the players. It was good for our players to be able to show what they could do against the best players in the country."

"Hopefully, somebody will come along and jumpstart it and run it correctly," he added. "I think there is still a place for it."

If Logan knows where and when that place is, he isn't saying.