Sports Appreciation Day: Always faithful to Hawaii Marines and Johnny U

I became a pro sports fan when I first watched Johnny Unitas throw a pass for the Baltimore Colts, but that was not when I first became a fan of sports. That happened several years before Johnny U, when my father was stationed in Honolulu and I was a kid.

Johnny U had guts. He was tough. And he persevered. (US Presswire)

Living in Hawaii had its benefits, like the sun, the sea, the sunsets and the Hawaii Marines basketball team. Of all of them, I liked the Marines the most. They played basketball as I'd never seen it, and they played it so well they knocked off more than one ranked collegiate opponent.

Those were the days when the military would appear on college schedules, and if you were a basketball team you didn't want the Hawaii Marines on yours. Honolulu was home to the best players in the Marine Corps, and there were plenty of them. My favorite was a former star at Notre Dame, and I would see him years later prior to a game at Quantico when he visited our family in the stands. I never forgot that.

Jeff Faine Center, Buccaneers I remember when I became a football fan as plain as day. My dad was in the service and I grew up in Hawaii. He was stationed there in the Navy. I remember watching my first football game on the couch with my dad, watching the 49ers. I grew up a 49ers fan. My dad was a huge Roger Craig fan. He loved the high knees and all that stuff. I was a huge Ronnie Lott fan. He was always my favorite player of all time. Waking up on a Sunday morning and getting to spend that time with my father was special. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with him. For those opportunities, it was special. Then we'd go out and throw the ball a little bit. I really didn't have a chance to play until I was in high school because I was too big for the Pop Warner stuff. If I can remember the late West Coast games came on at 10 in morning. That's how I became a fan. The 49ers were my team.

To me, he was what LeBron James or Kobe Bryant is to kids today. Not just good. Out-of-this-world wonderful. I adored watching him and his teammates play, but, more than that, I relished how kind they were to the kids who hung around them. My brother and I did. In fact, we'd visit the locker room after a big win and were treated to some of the oranges reserved especially for players.

I remember how lucky we felt. We not only were able to watch the Hawaii Marines, but we ... actually ... knew ... some ... of ... the ... players. It was then I decided I wanted to play basketball and wanted to play it in Hawaii.

Of course, neither happened, though I did win a game of H-O-R-S-E years later in Baltimore. Which is my segue into Unitas and the Colts, a player and a team that captivated me the first time I watched them. That would be the 1958 NFL championship game against the New York Giants, and I saw it only because my dad took my brother and me down the street to watch it on TV with friends after we moved to Norfolk, Va. I saw those friends last week in San Diego, and we still talk about what we witnessed that day.

To me, it was magic, and it was dressed in a No. 19 uniform. I loved the Colts outfits, their helmets and their wide-open play. But, mostly, I loved their quarterback with the single bar and the hunched shoulders. I had never seen anyone like Johnny U and marveled at his ability to respond to pressure, rallying the Colts to improbable heroics against a team I was told was the best in football.

I don't know what it was about that game, but I knew I had to follow Unitas and the Colts, and I did. I corresponded with Johnny U and Raymond Berry and received mail from both, and I later found an autographed "Duke" football from Unitas at my door in Woodbridge, Va. Shortly before I was married, my wife-to-be gave me an enlarged, black-and-white photo of Unitas cocked and ready to deliver in that NFL championship game at Yankee Stadium. It hangs above my desk, and I often find myself staring at it -- wishing I could return to that afternoon.

To me, Unitas was more than an accomplished pro athlete. He represented someone I wanted to be -- an individual who responded when others could not and responded at just the right time. He had guts. He was tough. And he persevered. You couldn't knock him down, and I loved that. When he died I was distraught, believing a part of my life had gone with him.

I will never forget my first glimpse of Unitas and the Colts, just as I will never forget my first exposure to the Hawaii Marines. They were two different clubs at two different levels of sports, but they hooked me and brought me into a wonderful world that would change and enrich my life. For that I am grateful.