It was known as the "Tiger Hunt" — a drill so dreaded and exhausting that, to this day, 40-plus years later in some cases, it still evokes painful cringes from many of the Punahou School football players who endured it in the 1950s and '60s.

Initially, it did little to endear players to their head coach, David "Dave" Pinkham Kaiana Eldredge III, whose insistence on conditioning made it a regular feature.

But as the victories piled up and, more important, as the players came to know more about their own ability to persevere and strive for excellence, that changed.

"He was very tough, very demanding," said Norm Chow, who played football, basketball and baseball under Eldredge at Punahou in the early 1960s. "But he made you better and you learned that he cared about you, too."

Many of the first lessons in football and coaching that would eventually help see Chow through to jobs in the NFL and college, where he is currently the associate head coach and offensive coordinator at UCLA, were learned from Eldredge, who died Monday at age 77.

Chow, Duane Akina at Texas and Keith Uperesa at Nevada-Las Vegas are three of many Eldredge inspired to follow him into coaching.

"He taught me how exacting you have to be, how demanding you have to be and, yet, that you need to be very caring, too," Chow said.

"He was a great role model and we were fortunate to have learned from him," said Akina, one of four brothers to play for Eldredge.

Over two stints and 13 years as head coach, Eldredge, a former Punahou and Stanford quarterback, led the Buffanblu to five ILH football titles. He was the school's most successful football coach, 103-41-4, and left his mark in several sports, the school's Hawaiian Studies program and Babe Ruth League baseball, which he headed.

Yet for some players, Eldredge is most fondly remembered for the lifetime of opportunities he opened way for and decades of encouragement he supplied. "He was a major influence in my life — in a lot of our lives," Chow said.

Chow was a young baseball player in Pälolo with few thoughts of private school or college when Eldredge and his father David "Pop" Eldredge Jr., a long-time youth league coach, suggested he apply to Punahou.

"Going to Punahou was a tremendous opportunity for me," Chow said. "It opened up a lot of doors for the future." Chow earned a football scholarship to Utah and went on to coach at some premier schools. But from each stop he said he would often talk to his former coach. "He kept up with me and we talked right up to the end," Chow said.

"He was a tremendous influence on me and a lot of people, whose lives he touched," Chow said. "What else can you ask of a man?"