UH football: Walk-on kickers and the Spelman legend

With Rigo Sanchez’s graduation, the Warriors appear to be set on finding his replacement through the walk-on program.

Stephen Yaffe, a walk-on, redshirted this past season. The Warriors will audition kickers when spring training opens on Feb. 20. This past Friday’s workouts, by NCAA rules, did not permit the use of a football. The Warriors also can add kickers this summer.

It will be a familiar strategy. Sanchez, Dan Kelly and Eric Hannum initially joined the Warriors as walk-ons before earning scholarships during their first UH season.

Hannum, who was from Temecula, Calif., said he only had enough money to cover a semester’s tuition and school expenses. He said he was placed on scholarship “three or four weeks” after joining the Warriors. He had a successful UH career, remained in Hawaii, and now runs a successful MRI/PET imaging business. He also consults local kickers.

Kenton Chun, a walk-on kicker and part-time magician, had a magical moment when he kicked the winning field goal to beat Idaho in 2011.

Then there was Richard Spelman, whose 37-yard field goal with 30 seconds left helped UH defeat Utah, 10-7, in 1982.

Dick Tomey recalled that he held a kicking contest between Spelman and Lee Larsen before the game.

“I believe in kicking contests,” Tomey said this morning. “The person who wins the kicking contest at least has confidence that night that he can do it. We did it at Arizona a bunch and we did it here some.”

By winning the contest, Spelman would get the call on FG attempts.

“As it turns out, we go the whole game and we don’t kick a field, and the score is 7-7. We’re making the last drive and we’re getting ready for the field goal. Basically, we get into position, and I say, ‘Field goal! Field goal!’ And nobody is there.”

To Tomey’s recollection, the conversation then went like this:

Tomey: “Spelman, what the hell are you doing?”
Spelman: ‘Is it still me?’
Tomey: “Get your ass in there.”

“So he runs in there,” Tomey recalled. “He doesn’t even have time to set up. We snap the ball, and he makes it. He said,
‘I’m so glad it happened so fast because I didn’t have time to think about it at all.'”

Tomey added: “He won the contest, but the contest happened three hours ago in his mind. He didn’t know he still was the kicker.”

Spelman, who had a good UH career, was awarded a scholarship that year.

It was Spelman’s only field goal that season.