A good guy

We never met him but Riley Wallace sure sounds like the type of person we would like to share a pint with -- or two.

Wallace embraced UH basketball with passion
Stephen Tsai
HawaiiWarriorBeat.com Editor
July 30, 2009

Imagine if the "Life of Riley" were "It's a Wonderful Life," if basketball coach Riley Wallace never existed in Hawai'i's sports world.
Advertisement

There would be no tossed jackets, no foot-stomping protests of blown calls, no nervous coughs.

News conferences to announce the firing of football coaches would be peaceful. The construction of the Stan Sheriff Center would have been delayed by a few more years. "AC" would refer to a cooling system. And the University of Hawai'i basketball program would have remained on a proverbial island.

"I wouldn't say Riley has an open mind," said Larry Little, Wallace's close friend and predecessor as UH head coach, "but he has an open heart. Everything he does, he does for others, and because he believes in it. He loves Hawai'i."

Wallace said: "I guess that means he thinks I'm stubborn."

For 20 years, through the 2006-2007 season, Wallace merged style and substance. For all of the uniform changes — and the memory of the fluorescent-lime ones still burns the retina — each jersey was fitted with a blue collar.

"The one thing you knew was Riley's teams worked hard," Little said...

Go here for the remainder.