Tsai-ko Autobiography:  Dara Young (2/09: PowderPuff) Karaoke CallHawaii Cattle Call emblem
Name:   Dara Young 
High School:  Kaiser
Tsai-ko Lunch Size:  N/A
Tsai-ko caricature:  first row, 4th from left
Other:  






From the Warrior Beat blog July 3, 2008:
ST's Intro:
Know that little voice in the back of your head? For those who cover UH football, that voice belonged to Dara Young, who was a member of the stat crew. Her knowledge of football is vast, her commitment deep. She once got married in the morning, then kept stats that night. Here's Dara:

Football is like air to me – which is why I suffocate between February and August. My wonderful father, bless his heart, probably thought his eldest was going to be a boy. But, he still watched sports in my presence, and I asked him a million questions about sports. As a 4-year-old, my favorite players were Alex Kaloi and (gasp!) O.J. Simpson! I LOVED Joe Moore as the KGMB sports anchor, and even asked for Joe’s autographed photo for my 5th birthday. I got my wish, by the way.

Remember those Troll Book orders in elementary school? Well, I ordered all the sports ones: “Ten Great NFL Quarterbacks,” and the list goes on. Dan Fouts, Ken Stabler, Tony Dorsett, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris….they were all in the books I ordered. Then when I was 8, I got another gridiron thrill: my dad took me to the first NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii!

As an Eastside rat who went to Kaiser, Scott Chan was my P.E. and health teacher. I had heard he was a pretty darn good player in the 1970s; he was a great teacher too. I dragged my girlfriend (a football hater) to the Kaiser games…then when we moved on to UH-Manoa, I somehow persuaded her to buy Super Rooter tickets with me. She was a quite a trooper and even stood in the rain with me and watched Jason Elam and the Rainbows beat Iowa!!! Think the rain did her in, because after that, I was on my own with UH football.

I got lucky and ended up working part-time in the UH Athletic Department first at the business office, then at the SID Office with Eddie Inouye, Thomas Yoshida, Lois Manin and Markus Owens. Great, great people – and UH still has fabulous people in that Athletic Department. I was a shy, quiet student who tried to soak up all I could under the “seasoned” students: The Advertiser’s own Dayton Morinaga and Henry Yamamoto, who served as the Wahine Volleyball P.A. during the Klum Days. After that, I became a UH Athletic Department barnacle – they just couldn’t get rid of me.

In between my job at the best hotel in Hawaii, I get to enjoy each UH home football game in person – sitting right behind Mr. Tsai, our beloved blog host. I’m lucky to be part of a great stats team who’s seen the lows and the highs. One of the most memorable games has to be the UH double overtime win over Fresno State in 1999…what a thriller!

And then there was 2007. What a season, what a finish. I just had to be there to join the Hawaii contingent in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl because it was one of the few opportunities I had to scream my head off (can’t do that during the games in the press box) for the Warriors. Following the Sugar Bowl and the administrative changes, I decided it was time to step it up and really put my money by my mouth and support the program. On the day that Coach Mack was named head coach, I sat there watching the press conference putting down my deposit for 2 season tickets. Although I won’t be sitting in those seats, I’ll still be screaming loudly…to myself.

I will now go back to lurking…GO WARRIORS



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