After eight years, Ed Torrison recently decided quitting is not an option. ADVERTISING After eight years, Ed Torrison recently decided quitting is not an option. A leader of the University of Hawaii at Hilo athletic boosters, Torrison has been doing
After eight years, Ed Torrison recently decided quitting is not an option.
A leader of the University of Hawaii at Hilo athletic boosters, Torrison has been doing the legwork necessary to bring together local interests for a much-needed complex that would serve as a home facility for Vulcans’ soccer and for the Hilo High School football team.
A month ago, he thought he had sold the concept to the parks and recreation department. Instead, at a meeting in July, the decision was announced that the site in question — nine acres on state land bordered by Kamehameha Avenue and Manono and Kuawa streets — will instead be designed to include a variety of fields for youth activities, leaving the lack of a comprehensive site for UH-Hilo soccer and Hilo High football remaining as a comment on the community.
“The thing that is so frustrating about this,” Torrison said last week in his office at Hilo Bay Realty, “is that when you simply explain the concept, everyone is in favor of it. I’m not aware of a group actively working to prevent what we’re trying to do.
“I’m not ready to quit,” he said. “I’m not the type of person to ruffle feathers and stir the pot, but on this issue? That’s exactly what needs to be done.”
It doesn’t take a visionary to grasp what such a facility could mean to the university athletic department, high school sports and the attendant businesses that would benefit on a weekly basis from such a complex.
In its simplest terms, it’s a troubling statement on the community that at this stage of their existence, neither the UH-Hilo men’s and women’s soccer teams nor the Hilo High football team have minimally suitable places to play. The soccer fields planned for the Vulcans are not even adequate for practice most days because of a water runoff system that leaves the fields mushy wet and unplayable.
We have two NCAA soccer teams playing games on the outfield of their baseball practice field. It almost feels as though somebody doesn’t want them to succeed.
The high school, Hilo’s oldest, is bereft of adequate space to stage a football game and draw a crowd. It plays on the outfield grass at Wong Stadium, a dreadful place to watch football.
Pono is in short supply and nobody believes the present situation fairly reflects Big Island values.
Torrison, a soccer referee away from work, has been looking into possibilities for adequate fields for eight years now, since his son was a ninth grader at Hilo High.
Architectural firm IPR came up with a proposal, originally intended for the vacant land across from Civic Auditorium — appropriately referenced as Ho’olulu Stadium on the land adjacent to Ho’olulu Park — that included an all-weather track around the field.
“To me, you could put this on the current site in the parking lot next to (Civic Auditorium),” Torrison said. “I think we could raise the money or do a bond issue to purchase the land (across from Civic), but when the state gave the county that nine acres of land, I thought we could save the trouble of all that and put it on the new parks land.”
The decision to put open fields for random use over the potential for a facility that would be capable of attracting crowds, impacting businesses and creating new jobs was never fully explained.
Calls to the parks department last week were transferred from one to another. Director Clayton Honma wasn’t the person to discuss the issue, a caller was told, and that was also the case with deputy director Ken Van Bergen.
Park planner James Komata was the one to discuss the details, according to the department, but phone calls asking for an interview weren’t returned.
One presumes there must be a demand for these proposed open space fields, but driving around you wonder when you see so many open, empty fields.
What we don’t have here is a suitable complex for staging and attracting football and soccer events. This isn’t intended to be some sporting palace, just a proper field with enough covered seating to host the growing NCAA soccer program at UH Hilo, while also being the one site that could potentially host state championship high school games.
The possibilities leap out at the concept. You could start the high school football season with three or four games on opening day; the UH-Hilo soccer program could stage a weekend tournament involving island schools; high school soccer and youth soccer tournaments could be regulars on the schedule.
First, though, a consensus is needed. Once more people understand the issue, surely a surge of interest will follow.
Ed Torrison is waiting, patiently.
Contact Bart at barttribunegherald@gmail.com
