Warriors, Spartans to play for the Dick Tomey Legacay Trophy this weekend
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The late great Dick Tomey is widely regarded as one of the Hawaii greats, coaching in Manoa for a decade before stops at Arizona and San Jose State.
Now Hawaii and the Spartans play to honor his legacy — a legacy that will never be forgotten.
“I’ll always remember Coach Tomey as a soft-spoken guy.” UH head coach Timmy Chang told reporters. “Every time I seen him he had a smile on his face.”
“One of those unique people, right, that just kind of had this tremendous impact everywhere he went.” SJSU head coach Brent Brennan said. “Whether that was in Hawaii when he was coaching there or when he was at Arizona when he was coaching there or when he was at San Jose State.”
From 1977 to 1986, Dick Tomey led the Rainbow Warriors to 63 win — the third most by a UH head coach — then went on to coach Arizona before taking his last head coaching gig at San Jose, leaving his mark at every stop along the way.
“He was always giving me words of advice and words of encouragement and so we miss him, and that trophy means a lot to both programs.” Coach Chang said. “You know, the San Jose State program with Coach Brennan and myself in Hawaii and he had a special place in both our hearts and it’s a unique trophy, but it’s a great honor to bring something like that home and we’ll try to go after to that.”
The mutual respect is felt from both programs, but maybe more so by Spartans head coach Brent Brennan who worked under Tomey before taking over in San Jose.
“An incredibly impactful influence on me and how I coach and what I think is important and it’s all about the people and it’s all about the family or the Ohana or the Familia or whatever that is at your place.” Coach Brennan said. “That’s a special thing and that’s how were built here.”
Now the two teams play for the Dick Tomey Legacy trophy, debuting in 2019 after Tomey’s passing earlier that year.
“I think it’s rare in your life time when a person that you come across is someone that you think about every day, but I do think about him every day because of what I do and the job that I have here at San Jose State.” Coach Brennan said.
Kick off is set for Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Hawaii time.
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