On this day in 1940, legendary coach Bill “Doggy” Wise outsmarted another foe.
Wise dialed up a pass in the second quarter for the only score of the game and Punahou opened its season with a 7-0 victory over rival Kamehameha at Honolulu Stadium.
Wise set up the victory by alternating halfbacks Elia Long and Bill Hubbell to the right side of the line. When Kamehameha was set up, Punahou had quarterback Ellwood Fern roll left. He pulled up before hitting the line and heaved a pass 23 yards to Long, who took the ball the additional 26 yards for the touchdown. Long’s extra-point kick was true.
Long began the game with a pair of fumbles, but Punahou’s defense bailed him out. In addition to playing halfback, Long served as the Buffanblu’s punter and kicker.
Long was named to the ILH’s second team at the conclusion of the season, and stepped up to earn first-team honors the following year.
Long joined the Marine Corps during the war and then went to Stanford, where he was the school’s heavyweight boxing champion, before returning to Hawaii and marrying former Star-Bulletin reporter Betty Barlow in 1949.
Wise was the coach at Kamehameha for 11 years before moving over to Punahou in 1938. He took over at McKinley in 1941 until his retirement in 1953 with a 113-85-16 record.
He was Hawaii’s all-time winningest coach when he hung up the whistle. When he died of a heart attack in 1964, the former Rainbows standout was lauded as the greatest forward passer in Hawaii history, college or high school.
Aloha Stadium?