Rainbows impressed
with new facilities

The locker room for the football tea
is part of a $7 million UH face-lift

By Paul Arnett
Star-Bulletin

University of Hawaii assistant coach Tom Williams was so embarrassed by the football players' locker room, he refused to show any of the visiting recruits last spring what it looked like.

"I asked to see it three or four times and they never showed me," tight end Armando Morlos said after getting a special preview from head coach Fred vonAppen yesterday afternoon. "This is really nice, but since I never saw the old one, I have nothing to compare it to."

The junior college transfer is in the minority. Plenty of the players seeing the remodeled locker room and meeting area for the first time hours later were impressed with the new digs.

"It beats the heck out of the old one," fifth-year senior Johnny Macon said. "I'm so glad I was around to get to see it. I just wish some of the other fellows, who've graduated could have been here with us."

Fellow senior Gary Ellison agreed.

"I won't miss the smell of that old place," Ellison said. "Sometimes, I had to go outside just to get away from it. It was bad."

VonAppen was like a proud papa, showing off the facility that he fought hard for last off-season. He had a big smile spreading across his face most of the afternoon.

"There were a lot of people involved in getting this done, not just me," vonAppen said while inspecting the facility hours before the players were due. "This is something the players can be proud of, and something we want them to treat with respect.

"The proximity of the meeting areas to the locker room is really nice. We used to hold our meetings up in our office, and the players were always running here and there. This is much better."

The improvements of the UH football locker room are part of a $7 million appropriation for capital improvement approved by Gov. Ben Cayetano last session.

The money is not only for the locker room, but for the improvement to the football coaches' reception area and the completion of the seven football meeting rooms. The money is also to build an academic center, a student weight room, a medical training room and five locker rooms in the Special Events Arena.

"There are a lot of people to thank and we're very appreciative," vonAppen said. "This is a big first step in the right direction. By the same token, we need to keep going because there are a lot of areas that still need improvement."