Sports Update
Season-ticket sales for the University of Hawaii football team are still falling. UH football season ticket
sales down 2,000Hawaii associate athletic director Jim Donovan said ticket sales through yesterday were about 23,000, down nearly 2,000 from a year ago, and down about 9,500 from the 1992 Holiday Bowl championship season.
That's a drop of about 8 percent from last year and a whopping 30 percent since Hugh Yoshida became the athletic director in 1993.
"We had hoped we would be able to hang on to last year's numbers, but unfortunately, we didn't," Donovan said Friday. "It's somewhat disappointing with Notre Dame on the schedule that it dropped a couple of thousand.
"The economy is probably a factor. But I think people are waiting to see how we start. I think if we have a decent start in the first four games, then the season average could possibly go up."
Season-ticket sales also fell in UH women's volleyball. Last year, the Wahine sold 5,174 tickets and went on to enjoy a remarkable season, reaching the national championship game before losing to Stanford. Despite that, season ticket sales have dropped to 4,686, down about 9 percent.
Donovan believes Hawaii's slumping economy is the reason for the drop in volleyball ticket sales, because there were no ticket price increases.
Such is not the case in football, where prices have increased the last two years. In 1995, UH fans paid $105 for sideline seats and $91 for end zone. This year, prices were $133 for sideline and $117 for end zone.
Jason Gesser seems to have a knack for doing things cold turkey. Gesser leads Crusaders
to 34-20 win over WaianaeOn Aug. 29, 1996, the night he graduated from third-stringer to starting quarterback for St. Louis, Gesser beat a case of nerves and completed 10 of 18 passes for 321 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-7 whomping of Waianae.
Friday night, without a single scrimmage under his belt this summer, he went out and completed 14 of 18 for 252 yards and three more touchdowns in a 34-20 preseason victory over Waianae at Aloha Stadium .
Once again, he had no interceptions.
The 6-foot-3, 195-pound senior has been picked off only once in his 14-game career as a starter.
"After seeing him first-hand, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him, that's for sure," said Doug Huff, who compiles the National Prep Poll out of West Virginia.
Huff, the first national prep pollster to personally observe St. Louis, sat in the press box last night and took notes on the game. His 1997 poll begins Monday and will be carried by the Associated Press and ESPN.
USA Today's first Super 25 ranking of the year listed St. Louis No. 21.
Huff's poll had St. Louis No. 9 at the end of last season.
