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HONOLULU – Governor Neil Abercrombie was the featured guest speaker at Na Koa's Signing Day Reception, Wednesday night at The Willows Restaurant. The Governor gave a rousing speech praising head coach Norm Chow's inaugural football signing class.
 
The event allowed Chow to introduce his coaching staff and the 2012 signing class in an intimate dinner setting. He spoke about the recruiting process and each of the 18 signees while participating in a short question and answer session. He also showed a highlight video of the signing class.
 
Prior to that, Athletics Director Jim Donovan spoke passionately about Chow and the Warrior football program before introducing the Governor, who fired up the crowd with his 10-minute speech about the importance of the school and its football program to the state of Hawai'i.
 
“From all points of view, I understand what facilities is all about,” Governor Abercrombie said. “I understand about what you have to have (as a Division I program). That's what I told Coach Chow, that's what I told the Regents, and that's what I told President M.R.C. Greenwood. We're going to go at everything that we need to do right now, you can call it repair and maintenance, then we're going to plan for the future.
 
“We are going to be Division I, that was the dream of (former Governor) Jack Burns, that was the dream of the people that were my mentors when I came out of the University of Hawai'i and first began to work for those who had a vision for Hawai'i. If we're going to be Division I, then let's be Division I no ifs, no ands and no buts. I know the people of Hawai'i want to be Division I. We're going to have a Division I school academically and a Division I school athletically and that means across the board. People want to come here and that's what our Division I is all about.”
 
The event capped off a busy day for Chow and the coaching staff, who waited patiently throughout the morning for their recruits' letters to be faxed. In the afternoon, he held a press conference, officially announcing his first signing class, which included three of the state's top recruits.
 
“This is the only game in town,” Chow said. “We are the only Division I program in the state. Because of that, we need everyone's help. It's not nine guys trying to coach football. It's about the state of Hawai'i, the University of Hawai'i and it is about us, as a proud group of people. We feel a tremendous responsibility as coaches that we have to do things the right way to make us all proud.”
 
The event was put together by the Na Koa Football Club, the organization dedicated to supporting excellence in academics and athletics for Warrior football. Na Koa's next fundraiser is the 18^th Annual Ed Wong Memorial Golf Tournament which will be held, April 10 at the Hawai'i Prince Golf Club. The deadline to participate in this year's tournament is March 10. For more information, log on to www.nakoa.org.