Hawaii fans send thanks to Colfax coach

The Colfax athletic director’s office has been awash in gifts and thank-you notes from the island of Hawaii for allowing the University of Hawaii football team to practice on the Schmuck Park field Oct. 15.

A story Oct. 16 in the Honolulu Advertiser noted the college football team had been out of options for a field to practice on when Colfax took them in. The Warriors were in the area for their Oct. 17 game against the University of Idaho at the Kibbie Dome.

Hawaiians who read the story wasted no time thanking athletic director Mike Morgan.

Since Oct. 16 Morgan has received a handful of e-mails, two or three cards of thanks and two boxes of macadamia nuts.

“The two boxes were from a 76-year-old grandmother who is a die-hard Rainbow Warrior fan,” Morgan said. Her boxes contained three or four smaller boxes of nuts, along with a thank you letter.

“The other two [letters] are people from the city of Honolulu, basically thanking us for our kindness in taking in the Warrior football team,” Morgan said.

The boxes of nuts will be shared with Colfax football players and other coaches, Morgan said.

Morgan said the grandmother mentioned in her letter the Warriors are having a tough year and they have already lost several major players partway into the season.

The Warriors, who are now 3-6 this season, lost to the Idaho, 23-35.

The team had been staying in Pullman for their time here and had planned to use the Pullman High School field.

UH media relations director Derek Inouchi said the Pullman field ended up being too wet from rain the night before their practice. This left their coaches scrambling to find a good field.

Morgan said lending the Colfax field wasn’t a big deal - sharing your field with another team is a common favor.

“I don’t think that Colfax did anything out of the ordinary,” Morgan said. “As an athletic department, we all take turns, whether it’s college or high school, we all take turns taking care of each other.”

The column in the Advertiser was written by Ferd Lewis, one of the island sports reporters traveling with the team.