Punahou Class of 1984

Story: Honolulu ranked best U.S. city in emitting the least carbon dioxide, Survey ranks Honolulu as greenest city

Original source: Brookings Institute

Obama discusses his hoops memories at Punahou High

SI: As a senior you played behind John Kamana, who went to USC on a football scholarship. In Punahou’s Hall of Champions, there’s a picture of Kamana going up for lay-up against Iolani. He looks like he’s about 28. Did you ever take a charge from that guy?

Obama: [Laughing] No. John ended up playing tight end in the NFL. Another NFL player, Mark Tuinei, was two years ahead of me on the basketball team. He played a long time for the Dallas Cowboys. [In 15 NFL seasons, "Tui" won three Super Bowls and was twice All Pro.] When those guys set a pick on you, you stayed picked.

Hmmm… I thought he was intimidated by his peers.  More below the fold

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From Sports Illustrated

Fast Times at Punahou

Before it gave rise to the nation’s No. 1 high school athletic program, this fertile patch on the island of Oahu endured a prolonged dry spell. A lack of rain, legend has it, made life a struggle for an old couple living at the base of Rocky Hill in Manoa Valley. But on successive nights, one and then the other had the same dream: If they pulled up the hala tree near their home, they would find water to fill their gourds.

The tree was uprooted, revealing ka punahou — the new spring — whose waters pour forth to this day at the center of the Punahou School campus, a palm-lined, 76-acre citadel of academic and athletic excellence where Aristotle meets Duke Kahanamoku. Founded in 1841 by Congregationalist missionaries who could no longer bear the thought of shipping their children to New England to be educated, the school’s first class consisted of 15 students.

Today, with a K-12 enrollment of 3,760, Punahou is the largest single independent school in the U.S. It is also the oldest in the country west of the Mississippi, and seemingly the most overachieving. Since 1958 the Buff ‘n Blue have racked up 368 Hawaii championships — a state-record 16 this school year alone, including eight in the past two weeks.

Of the twelve inducted, 5 are Punahou students.  Story here.

Lahainaluna football and wrestling standout Lake Casco will join older brothers Kawika and Kainoa to become the first three siblings to be inducted into the Hawai’i High School Athletic Association Foundation Hall of Honor.

Casco and 11 other senior athletes were chosen to be inducted into the Hall of Honor Class of 2008 by a 15-member committee, which concluded its two-day selection process yesterday. Each inductee will receive a $2,000 college scholarship and will be honored at the HHSAA Awards Recognition Dinner at 5:30 p.m., June 8 at the Sheraton Waikiki.

The other inductees are:

Tani Ader, Farrington (wrestling, judo);

Daniel Chow, Punahou (wrestling, judo)

Kanani Herring, Kamehameha (volleyball, track and field);

Tiffany Ikeda-Simao, Kaua’i (soccer, track and field);

Jeeter Ishida, Punahou (baseball, water polo);

Shawna-Lei Kuehu, Punahou (basketball, volleyball);

Dara Pagaduan, Kamehameha (softball, soccer, track and field, cross country);

Erik Shoji, Punahou (volleyball, tennis);

Jamie Smith, ‘Iolani (basketball);

Kolten Wong, Kamehameha-Hawai’i (football, baseball);

Michelle Yoshida, Punahou (swimming).

Punahou athletics ranked best in U.S.

Punahou’s recent athletic prowess will make a national splash tomorrow, when Sports Illustrated’s latest issue hits newsstands with an article featuring the Buffanblu program as the best out of more than 38,000 high schools across the nation.

Punahou president: State ’shares in this achievement’

“We are honored to receive this recognition from Sports Illustrated and believe that the state of Hawai’i shares in this achievement,” said Jim Scott, president of Punahou School, in a release that followed the SI posting.

“Island athletes continue to break new ground — in high school and college sports, on national sports teams and at the Olympics,” Scott said.

Punahou does more than just win

For me, that was reinforced by something I witnessed an hour before Saturday’s track and field finals got started.

Lucas Lam [of Punahou], on crutches, and Garrett Prinslow of Kealakehe approached the officials’ tent together. What could this be about? Weren’t both of them out of the meet, Lam getting hurt by either falling on his own or after being jostled by Prinslow during the 800-meter trials the day before? Prinslow had been disqualified and Lam was clearly in no condition to run.

Lam spoke first, to meet director Jeff Meister.

“I can’t run. Can he take my place?”

Jaws dropped. Prinslow was supposedly the guy who injured Lam, literally kicking him to the curb. That’s what the officials said happened.

But not Lam.

“There was no contact,” he said, as he had the day before.

Quite a gesture, but Meister could do nothing. The field was already set.

Mr. Lam, I think you have a lot to teach the rest of us.  Honesty, integrity, and just doing the right thing seems to be such a rare event.  Thanks.

The news on the actual event here. 

The Punahou track and field team gave coach Mike Pavich quite a going-away present last night at Mililani.

The Buffanblu came back from trials adversity on Friday and a painfully lingering injury to its top performer to edge Radford and its superb sprinters. Punahou successfully defended its state championship by less than four points, scoring 55 3/4 to the second-place Rams’ 52.

and here

On Thursday ,the week kicks off on Thursday June 12 at 5 PM with the Reunion Class Gift Presentations, PAA Awards for the Samuel Chapman Armstrong Award (Sam Van Culin ‘48 ) and the Old School Award (John Hara ‘57).

Also on Thursday, from 5 PM to 6:45 PM, there will be an Art Exhibit, along with archival displays and DVDs, a literary arts fair, a photo identification workshop, and a vintage costume exhibit “Fashion as Art”.  Adding to the festivities will be musical performances by Rachel Akaka ‘09, Leokane Pryor ‘82 and friends, Kona Gold: Byron Bader ‘58 and Friends. 

For those of you who want to see what’s new, there’s a campus tour that starts at 4 PM.

Food stations, wine and beverages will be provided, with beer brewed and generously donated by David Campbell ‘85.

And in the evening, HTY’s “Rap’s Hawaii” featuring the comedy of Rap Reiplinger ‘68 will be showing at Dillingham Hall, 8 PM.  Tickets are $20.  Contact HTY at 808.457.4254 or htymail@htyweb.org.

Teddy’s bigger business expands cautiously

The partners have spent 10 years perfecting a burger for their chain of three Teddy’s Bigger Burgers restaurants — hand-pattied and 100 percent ground chuck — that sets the local business apart from its national competitors.

This fall, Teddy’s is about to become bigger with the addition of a fourth store, at the new Kapolei Crossroads shopping center in Oahu’s second city.

And the chain will get even bigger by the end of the year, when the first franchised Teddy’s Bigger Burgers opens in a Seattle suburb.

13 isle students earn national awards

Christopher Burniske of Punahou School and Ciera Cummings of Kamehameha Schools were named 2008 Presidential Scholars. They will join 137 other scholars from across the country who will be recognized in June in Washington, D.C., for their academic achievement, artistic excellence, leadership, citizenship, and service to their schools and communities.

Obama mulling visit to Hawaii

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama is contemplating a stop in Hawai’i sometime this summer, according to two local campaign spokesmen.

A Hawai’i visit could include a major address at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl, where Obama’s maternal grandfather, who fought in World War II, is buried, The New York Times reported yesterday.