McKinley football

It was only a few years after Roger Maris and Babe Ruth, but McKinley’s John “Cyclone” Coen never had to worry about an asterisk. On this date in 1965, Coen scored two touchdowns and McKinley beat Saint Louis 20-0 in front of a crowd of 6,371 at Honolulu Stadium. Coen’s scores gave him 108 points for the season, breaking the 101 set by Abe Dung of Saint Louis 20 years before. Dung set his mark in seven games. Coen needed […]

In the strange year of 2020, the McKinley Tigers just had one of their most important Zoom events. More than a dozen McKinley alumni, students, administrators and coaches provided testimonials at the Ala Moana/Kakaako Neighborhood Board virtual meeting on Tuesday night. McKinley is moving forward, one baby step at a time, in a quest to build a stadium on the grounds of the athletic complex. “They just wanted to get our side, to get more information,” McKinley Principal Ron Okamura […]

Roosevelt, Kaiser, Moanalua, Radford. Most city schools of Honolulu have on-campus stadiums for football, soccer and track and field. Farrington dedicated its stadium in 2017. McKinley, which began as Fort Street English Day School in 1865, hopes to be next. McKinley is one of the few high schools left in Hawaii that doesn’t have lights on its football/soccer field. There are no bleachers for Tiger fans and visiting spectators, either. That could change. The school hopes to begin moving forward […]

On this date in 1928, William Centeio of McKinley paid the price for raising a few too many eyebrows. Centeio recovered three fumbles to lead the Tigers over Saint Louis 7-6 three days before. The Crusaders were tipped off that Centeio, who had been playing for the Tigers for years and was still a student at the public school, was older than the league mandated 21. Saint Louis protested the victory and ordered it overturned but lost that plea. The […]

It took three games, but on this date in 1946 William Wise’s McKinley offense finally clicked. The Tigers struggled with Wise’s complicated scheme in the first two games of the season but had it figured out with a 27-7 win over Iolani. Wise was known for his efficient passing game, not attempting a throw until it was complete set up to succeed. It was the case against the Raiders, as the Tigers went 6-for-7 for 48 yards. Halfback Kenneth Andrade […]

On this date in 1932, Rusty Blaisdell‘s McKinley crew looked like the team to beat. The Tigers opened their season with a 13-0 victory over the University of Hawaii, completely dominating the Deans on defense, rolling up a 141-24 yardage advantage in the first half. Bill Blaisdell opened the scoring for McKinley with a 5-yard run in which he was untouched, but the extra point was waved off when the Tigers were ruled to be offside before the kick sailed […]