Hawaii

Louise Haifley says her life has been filled with adventure and excitement as she has traveled throughout the United States. There was the time in 1933 when she went to the Chicago World's Fair and saw performances by Duke Ellington and Sally Rand. And she was stranded in Hawaii for 105 days in 1979 during an airline strike. In July, at age 89, Haifley visited Alaska, where she saw glaciers and had a run-in with a bear. With her Alaskan adventure, Haifley boasts that she has now traveled to all 50 states.

A year has made a major difference for Navy's Steve Holley.The starting quarterback at the onset of 1998, Holley no longer plays the team's most glamorous position after injuring his shoulder midway through last season and yielding the snaps to Brian Broadwater.Last spring, Holley was moved to slotback, where there was a shortage of personnel. He has adapted well."It's been such a change to go out there and hit people instead of taking it all the time," said the senior from Dallas. "I really like the difference."

The Naval Academy football team has a three-fold assignment this weekend.Not only do the Midshipmen have to beat a rejuvenated Hawaii team that has recovered from a winless season to go 7-3 and earn a bowl bid, they have to beat the heat and a five-hour time change.It is a rigorous task for Navy, which has endured five narrow defeats, won its last two games and is shooting for a .500 record.This is Navy's first trip to the islands since December 1996, when it rallied to master California, 42-38, in an exciting Aloha Bowl game.

HONOLULU -- The script was there. Sophomore quarterback Brian Madden looked every inch a potential hero to Navy fans as he emerged from the runway at Aloha Stadium with 10 minutes to go Saturday night.He'd come back, armed and ready, and there was plenty of turnaround time left. Dehydrated from running 39 plays in 73-degree heat, the 6-foot-1, 210-pounder had succumbed to cramps as he began the second half of Navy's 48-41 loss to Hawaii."I try to drink a lot of fluids, but I guess it caught up with me tonight," he said after the 3-hour, 47-minute ordeal that left Navy 4-7.While he was hooked to an IV in the bowels of the stadium, being rocked by a crowd of 39,554, Hawaii had boosted its 27-24 halftime lead to 41-27.

HONOLULU -- There was a time when Japanese moguls would cruise through affluent districts here, real-estate agents in tow. When one saw a home he liked, the agent was told to buy it. Price wasn't a concern.Those times are gone. The Japanese economy has tanked and Hawaii has been dragged down in the undertow.In the past six years, Hawaii ranked dead last among the 50 states in its pace of growth. Last year, personal incomes here rose by a paltry 1.7 percent, the poorest record of any state.

There is trouble in paradise, at least in getting people to visit.As a state, Hawaii is not yet 38 years old, but as a tourist magnet it is into a "mature-product phase." That assessment comes not from jealous travel officials of other Pacific Rim destinations but from the research department of the state's very own Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau.The phenomenal popularity Hawaii once took for granted -- until the 1980s, the number of tourist visits was doubling every five years -- has cooled.

The Rev. Abraham Akaka, 80, who was pastor of the large Kawaiahao Church for 28 years and one of Hawaii's best known religious leaders, died Wednesday in Honolulu.Edward Nakamura, 74, a retired Hawaii state Supreme Court associate justice, died Thursday in Honolulu.Milton Rubincam, 88, called "the dean of American genealogists" by the Smithsonian Institution, died Tuesday in Washington of complications related to diabetes.George Louis Schaefer, 76, a five-time Emmy winner who produced or directed nearly 100 TV productions over six decades, died Wednesday in Los Angeles.

HONOLULU -- In previous years, several high-profile college basketball coaches have not adhered to Hawaii's creed of "hang loose" while participating in the annual Rainbow Classic.In 1981, then-Bradley coach Dick Versace grabbed referee Larry Yamashita's whistle after a disputed call and tossed it into the stands. The next day, Bradley fans all wore T-shirts bearing a printed obscenity with Yamashita's name.A year earlier, Indiana's Bob Knight threw one of his classic tantrums. A tournament sponsor had given all the Hoosiers pineapples to sample back in their hotel.

HONOLULU -- Before leaving his home in Philadelphia to begin his new role as Maryland's starting point guard, Terrell Stokes told his parents that he expected the Terps to get off to a great start this season."

Dr. Luther Clagett Beck, 87, gastroenterologistDr. Luther Clagett Beck, a retired gastroenterologist who was a partner in Hawaii's Straub Clinic and Hospital, died Sept. 10 of an aneurysm at Anne Arundel Medical Center. The Gibson Island resident was 87.Dr. Beck moved to Hawaii in 1939 as a replacement physician on sugar and pineapple plantations.In 1942, he became affiliated with Straub Clinic in Honolulu, where he practiced internal medicine until he retired in 1976. He then was a physician at Kwajalein Missile Base in the Marshall Islands, until he retired a second time in 1980.

Outside of Hawaii, the ukulele was once most associated with things like college kids strumming fox trots in the 1920s. Or radio/TV personality Arthur Godfrey doing his folksy thing in the 1940s and 1950s. And then, of course, Tiny Tim in the 1960s, accompanying himself on that diminutive instrument while warbling stratospherically to "Tiptoe Through the Tulips." Today, the ukulele means something much cooler and infinitely more versatile, thanks to the startling virtuosity, musical inquisitiveness and sheer charm of Jake Shimabukuro.

Ken Niumatalolo was a redshirt freshman quarterback at the University of Hawaii in 1983 when he crossed paths with June Jones, then in his first year coaching quarterbacks after his five-year NFL career had ended. The relationship was brief, as Jones left after that season on a well-traveled road that led to head coaching stints in the NFL and a return to Hawaii as its head coach in 1999. But the impression Jones made on Niumatalolo was lasting. "I don't remember much from my freshman year back in '83, but I do remember he's a very smart man," Niumatalolo said of Jones.

My spouse and I are planning a trip to Maui, Hawaii. We have heard that food prices in markets and restaurants have soared recently in Hawaii because of the increased costs of fuel. What can we expect to pay? A small fortune. Hawaii's food prices have always been higher because of shipping costs, and with gas prices in the stratosphere - well, owie, Maui. Or, for a more eloquent answer, read what Lynn Nakamura-Tengan, an extension educator for the University of Hawaii, said in a recent e-mail: "Maui does have the highest fuel prices in the state.

So Congress has gotten worked up about steroids in baseball. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania became involved in the NFL's Spygate. And legislators from the state of Washington are trying to stop the possible move of the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City. So why should anyone be surprised that three members of the U.S. House of Representatives want to pass a resolution to have the Justice Department look into college football's Bowl Championship Series system to see whether it violates federal laws.

June Jones spent last night trying to decide whether to accept an offer to coach Southern Methodist or return to Hawaii, where the governor is among those trying to keep him. "It's been a wild day," agent Leigh Steinberg said. "I haven't seen anything like this before. It's emotionally wrenching for June." Jones was in Dallas meeting with SMU officials and the search committee that has been working since late October to hire a replacement for Phil Bennett. Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle called to see what she could do, and the president who oversees the entire University of Hawaii system called with an updated contract proposal.

KAPALUA, Hawaii -- Opening day for the PGA Tour was filled with oddities, starting with Nick Watney leading the Mercedes-Benz Championship yesterday with a 5-under-par 68 that featured no bogeys. Newcomers are supposed to be at a disadvantage on the Plantation Course at Kapalua with its mammoth greens and severe grain, but Watney kept it simple and sank enough putts to take a one-shot lead over Daniel Chopra and get his 2008 season off to a good start. Brandt Snedeker was in the lead most of the round until he hit what he must have thought was the perfect tee shot on No. 17. But the ball ended up in waist-high grass, some 100 yards behind Steve Stricker.

The Hawaii football team's feel-good story is close to having a very unhappy ending - and I'm not talking about the 41-10 blowout loss to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day. That was simply a matter of Cinderella Hawaii (12-1) slamming face-first into the reality of a vastly superior opponent. Even more disappointing will be if the Warriors lose coach June Jones. His contract is running out; Jones' agent, Leigh Steinberg, said the university hadn't made a renewal offer yet, and at least one other major college program reportedly is working up a million-dollar offer.

If you wanted to instigate even more heated debate on the need for a college football playoff system, you couldn't have ordered up a better set of circumstances than the current one. Any team that found itself perched at No. 1 or No. 2 and on its way to the national championship game acted as if that rarefied air was too difficult to breathe. As a result, Ohio State backed into the No. 1 Bowl Championship Series ranking without having played in the two weeks since it beat Michigan, 14-3, on Nov. 17. The Buckeyes climbed from No. 5 to No. 1 in the BCS without even putting on their helmets.

In 1989, Ken Niumatalolo's college football career, a frustrating four-year ride at Hawaii, was coming to a close. It had not been the stuff that fairy tales and highlight reels are often made from. A third-string quarterback for much of his tenure, Niumatalolo was ready to move on. Already married with a newborn daughter, he was dreaming of a career in broadcasting as a sports anchor. He figured he'd spend the rest of his days in his native Hawaii and let football fade into memory. Paul Johnson, then Hawaii's offensive coordinator, had a different idea.

Louise Haifley says her life has been filled with adventure and excitement as she has traveled throughout the United States. There was the time in 1933 when she went to the Chicago World's Fair and saw performances by Duke Ellington and Sally Rand. And she was stranded in Hawaii for 105 days in 1979 during an airline strike. In July, at age 89, Haifley visited Alaska, where she saw glaciers and had a run-in with a bear. With her Alaskan adventure, Haifley boasts that she has now traveled to all 50 states.