HONOLULU – A former basketball player and retired professor who has touched the lives of many former UH athletes is the winner of the 2004 Kane Fernandez Community Service Award.

 

Dr. Dennis Chai, who lettered in basketball, volleyball and track while attending UH Manoa from 1962 to 1965, retired this summer after more than 30 years with the Kinesiology and Leisure Sciences department (formerly Health, Physical Education and Recreation).

 

The award is named for Kane Fernandez, the late Chairman and CEO of Fernandez Entertainment Inc., and E.K. Fernandez Shows, who was one of the charter board members of the Letterwinners Club.

 

During Dr. Chai's distinguished career, he has taught numerous athletes attending UH, and through his warm “aloha style” of teaching, made lifelong friends with these athletes.

While teaching at UH, he also coached numerous youth sports and was instrumental in promoting physical activity among our Island school children.

 

He is currently on the Kapiolani Women and Children's Medical Center Obesity Task Force and the Hawai'i Council for the Promotion of Physical Activity. He is also on the board of the Dr. Al Saake Scholarship Foundation and is on the UH Sports Circle of Honor committee.

 

Among those who nominated him were former track and field teammate Karen Mendyka Huff who called him “an outstanding person, wonderful family man and dedicated professional.” Cliff Sanchez, a former UH basketball player and LWC board member, said “Dr. Chai has great qualities and through his leadership skills and uncanny ability to relate, he insipires others to succeed.”

 

Dr. Chai will be honored during a timeout at the UH vs. Tulsa men's basketball home game on January 29, 2005 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

 

Previous Fernandez winners were Artie Wilson, Daniel Lau and Dr. Charles Araki.