ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 30, 1996 TAG: 9612020095
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HILO, HAWAII
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
THERE'S AT LEAST ONE PLACE in Hawaii today where everyone knows what a Hokie is. They'd better.
Ten hours before its season opener Friday, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team faced a dilemma.
Tech's problem had nothing to do with unknown first-round opponent Hawaii-Hilo, the Big Island Invitational, or, for that matter, basketball.
The Hokies' predicament concerned football, of all things.
As Tech's 17th-ranked football team teed it up against archrival Virginia in Blacksburg, Va., the Hilo Hokies were parked in a place called Shooters Bar, despondently glaring at a blank television screen.
"C'mon,'' senior forward David Jackson shouted. "We've just got to see this game. They told us last night they could get our game on satellite. So where is it?''
As a woman behind the bar frantically hit buttons in search of the UVa-Tech satellite feed, Hokies assistant coach Chris Ferguson grabbed the nearest telephone.
Ferguson had to make a call to a big man. Not a center, but a guy who had the proper satellite coordinate numbers for the UVa-Tech game.
"I called my father in North Carolina,'' Ferguson said. "I knew he'd have the Tech football game on and could tell us how to find it.''
Five minutes later, in this quaint bar on Hawaii's Big Island, there it was - the UVa-Tech football game in living color.
From the ovation, one would have thought Ferguson had just made a food run to McDonald's.
"Way to go, coach,'' the elated players yelled.
Seconds later, the television graphic read: Virginia 3, Virginia Tech 0. The Hilo Hokies booed.
Forty-five minutes later, the Hilo Hokies roared and exchanged high-fives when Tech went up 7-6.
"Way to go, Hokies,'' shouted the Hilo Hokies, as they fled the bar for an ill-timed 45-minute shootout at a nearby gym.
Tech videographer Mark Clark, who had set up the TV arrangements with the bar by bribing the pub's owner with a Hokies T-shirt and hat on Thursday night, stayed behind to watch. He would be the Hilo Hokies' Pat O'Brien, the update guy.
"Boy, I was worried we weren't going to get to see this game,'' a relieved Clark said. "It would have killed me to miss the Virginia game.''
When the Hilo Hokies returned, Tech had just taken a 13-9 lead. An hour and two touchdowns later, it was over and the Hilo Hokies cheered loudly enough to wake any sleeping souls left in the world's rainiest town.
"Now there's a bar in Hilo where everybody knows what a Hokie is,'' crowed star forward Ace Custis.
The bar scene was just one of many unique experiences the Hokies' basketball party has enjoyed on its week-long sabbatical in Hawaii.
After arriving last Sunday, the Hokies spent three days in a ritzy resort in Kona, on the opposite side of the Big Island.
"We went snorkeling, went to a luau and had a good time,'' Jackson said.
"The snorkeling was fun. I saw a few turtles. I petted one on the back a few times. I didn't try to grab a hold of it and ride it because I was afraid it would turn and snap my finger off.''
Besides assistant coach Scott Davis, who banged his right elbow on a coral reef, the snorkeling gig was great.
"Ace, Keefe [Matthews] and [Shawn] Browne wanted no part of it,'' said guard Myron Guillory, laughing at his three teammates.
"Those guys aren't real big on the water.''
The Hokies bused across the island to Hilo on Thursday. Talk about a strange Thanksgiving Day.
"It's sure strange not being with your family on Thanksgiving,'' Guillory said.
Well, if you can't be home, Hawaii is not bad for seconds. Even in Hilo, a place that got pelted by 400 inches of rain last year.
Hilo was sunny Friday, however. Outside and inside, wherever the Hilo Hokies wandered.
"Those guys sure got the job done back in cold, old Blacksburg,'' said a happy Guillory.
Wish you were there, Myron?
"I like this place pretty good,'' he said. "I told a few people on campus that I was a little sad because I couldn't go home [for Thanksgiving].
"They said, "I don't feel much for you, you're going to Hawaii so why are you complaining.
"Know what? I'm not.''
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