Hawaii’s leader in career passing yards had less than a year to enjoy the accomplishment. On this date in 1986, former Punahou quarterback Shawn Akina died in Salt Lake City. He was 19. Akina was the first prep quarterback in Hawaii history to throw for 1,000 yards as a sophomore and closed his prep career with a state record 5,025. Saint Louis coach Cal Lee called him “the best pure passer we ever saw.” Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Advertiser […]

On this date in 1948, Punahou pulled off another upset. The Buffablu, who were expected to be bottom feeders in preseason dope after losing a large senior class, rode a stifling defense and the speed of William Heilbron to upset heavily favored Kamehameha 6-0 in front of a crowd of 18,000. It was Punahou’s third straight victory. Although the victory made the Buffanblu the team to beat, Kamehameha came back to win the league title. But for one day, the […]

On this date in 1978, John Kamana carried Punahou to a 27-21 win over Iolani. Kamana was one of the ILH’s best receivers before dotting USC’s famous I formation as a tailback against Iolani. All Kamana did from there was rush for 200 yards, return a kickoff 85 yards for a TD and and add 15 yards receiving. That performance left reporter Ferd Lewis to utter his name in the same breath as all-time greats Mosi Tatupu of Punahou and […]