Interesting....
Hawaii High School Basketball Forum
Hawaii Hoops - Forum » High School Boys
best-ever native born Hawai`i hoopsters
(136 posts)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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Thank you, Ed. St. Joseph High 1958 was territorial titlist, with 6'6" Ed Bento its star. Ed went on to be a 2-time NCAAI All-American at Loyola. Today's premier senior golfer Al Souza, 6'2", was Ed's teammate. Al went on to be a USF baseball HoF ensrhinee, & also starred on USF's hoops frosh squad, but focused on one sport in his soph year. Buzzy Capellas 6'1" sharpshooter gave St. Joseph High tremendous in-out clout. Of course, George Peewee Kai went on to legendary hoops coaching credentials, just as Buzzy Capellas became a baseball coach mythic. After noting these highlights above, St. Joseph High 1958 would get beaten by Hilo High 1967, our best-ever prep hoops squad from the island of Hawai'i, with Hilo High's vaunted Celtic chemistry/teamwork, despite not fielding a starter over 6'0" tall. Hilo High gave St. Louis High 1967 all St. Louis could handle in the State title tiff. St. Louis High coach Walter Wong 1912-2002 had St. Louis run thru extra drills/practices to deal with Hilo High's full court press, a new-fangled defense paradigm which convulsed foes. St. Louis playmaker Frankie Gonzales practiced with extra ankle weights to deal with Hilo High's flit-quick pressure defensive attack, and Frankie even was chastised by coach Wong for overpracticing, risking fatigue on the big day/title game, so to speak. Of course, St. Louis High 1967 happened to be the best-ever hoop prep squad from the Hawaiian Islands, utterly loaded at each position, along with subs who could've starred for any other team. Subs included later NCAA D-1 football stars Glenn Hookano & gunner Mahi. Of course, St. Louis High 1967 was the 1st prep squad to play out of State, losing to national powerhouse Bishop O'Dowd of Oakland, California [NBA legend Bill Russell is from Oakland]. O'Dowd was a bigger version of Hilo High 1967, a la Russell's Celtic symbiosis/synergy.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Big Al Souza was also drafted by the San Francisco Giants out of college!
Posted 2 years ago # -
You know who else was from Oakland, Too Short and Mc Hammer. I'll bet they probably played against Goo back in the day. Someone call Frankie and see if Hammer was the quickest guard that he has ever seen? I'll bet those extra ankle weights didn't help him in guarding Hammer's side-slide dribble, with the cross your legs hop. I heard that that he got his name in that game. You see, he took Frankie to the hole for the 15th time and coach Wong yelled, "This guy is hammering us." And from then on, everytime he took the court, it was HAMMERTIME!
Just a little fact that you probably didn't know about Oakland.
Aloha,
69Posted 2 years ago # -
69! How you my brother?! Hope all is well...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Short Dawg is from the bay! And don't forget Oaktown's 357, "Juicy gotcha Krazy"
Posted 2 years ago # -
Oakland California is a hotbed of great athletes because of its blue collar mode.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hilo Hawaii is the hotbed of convicted dirtbags and transfer students because of its Crystal Meth production.
Posted 2 years ago # -
this is such a hard topic... Everybody who posted early on (for those on pages 3-5) i'm sorry, but there wasn't much basketball talk there so I just skipped it. All I have to say is that the earlier pages had great names on there, BUT... Those days are so hard to gauge anything... What we consider fundamentals now days would've made you the best palyer by leaps and bounds now.. So for me, my votes go to Alika Smith or Derrick Lowe.. Take what they do, span across time, and I would have to say that they'd be able to produce no matter then time or evolution of the game...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Derrick Low is Hawaii's most accomplished guard, and it will be a while before someone as good as Derrick comes along.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Curt is Hawaii's most accomplished fudgpaker.
Posted 2 years ago #
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