When we packed up and moved from Kaaawa to Kahala almost six years ago, I found my old University High School yearbooks (it’s now known as University Laboratory School, and is a charter school). Before boxing them up for storage, I stopped long enough to take a quick picture of the basketball team photo from my senior year. I ran into the photo yesterday while scrolling through images previously archived on Amazon Photos.

In a sign of the times, I was the tallest member of the team (and often the tallest on the court) at just under 6′-3″. But I was far from the best basketball player, and would have admitted it even back then. I just didn’t take it seriously enough to do all the extra work that was necessary to reach the next level. And, I suppose, I just wasn’t competitive enough. But I did okay, and was co-captain that year along with Steve Hirata, who was our go-to guy on the court.

It was a good year. Our team won the “Class B” state championship, defeating Molokai in the final match-up 67-53. It was the first year that smaller schools competed for a separate state title, and as I recall, that “Class B” system didn’t last for long. We received a little medallion for our win, which I’m sure is buried in a box of miscellaneous “stuff” somewhere or other.