Aloha Notes : Officials Hoping for Crowd of 35,000 for Today’s Game

HONOLULU —  Aloha Bowl staffers are hoping for a crowd of about 35,000 today at 10-year-old, 49,883-seat Aloha Stadium. If the gate falls short of that, attendance might fall into the category of a big Honolulu high school.

The Oahu prep championship (28 Oahu high schools play football) draws regularly in the mid-20,000s, and has gone as high as 32,812.

The Aloha Bowl, in its fourth year, has never sold out. Record crowd: 41,777, for Notre Dame-Southern Methodist last season. Fewer than 30,000 tickets had been sold for today’s game by Thursday afternoon.

More Hawaii crowd count statistics: The University of Hawaii Rainbows averaged 43,000 for home games this past season.

The Hula Bowl college all star game drew only 28,767 last January and officials expect this season’s Jan. 11 game may not draw that many. The Feb. 2 Pro Bowl, normally a near-sellout here, is expected to be a sellout.

Alabama’s most decorated player is junior outside linebacker Cornelius Bennett, called this season “The Lawrence Taylor of college football,” by Alabama Coach Ray Perkins, who has coached both. Bennett, three years ago, was the most highly sought high school prospect in Alabama as a Birmingham prep. Alabama’s coaching staff doesn’t reveal 40-yard dash times, but one defensive coach this year said he believed Bennett, 6-4 and 235, was the “fastest linebacker in America.”

Bennett’s father worked in steel mill in Birmingham, Ala., but Bennett said he has never been inside a steel mill and wants to keep it that way.

“My father worked there for 25 years,” Bennett said. “He spent all those years working in that heat with all that red-hot steel. That’s something I never wanted anything to do with. I looked at football as a way out of that and it seems that’s the way it’s going right now.”

The lightning in Alabama’s offense is 5-9, 165-pound split end Greg Richardson, the team’s fastest player. On drives where Richardson, a junior, caught at least one pass this season, Alabama scored six touchdowns and two field goals. His 13 catches this year averaged 25 yards.

In the Auburn game, he returned a punt 62 yards and later set up the winning field goal by catching a 19-yard pass from Mike Shula with 15 seconds left.

Apparently, the pros believe Alabama’s best senior is 6-7, 280-pound defensive tackle Jon Hand. The Alabama coaching staff believes he’ll be chosen on the first round of the NFL draft. Perkins rates him in a class with Dallas’ Ed (Too Tall) Jones.

In Alabama’s 14-14 tie with LSU at Baton Rouge, LSU had a first and goal at Alabama’s six in the fourth quarter. On first down, Hand sacked the quarterback for a six-yard loss. On second down, he assisted in the tackle of a four-yard loss. On third down, he made an unassisted tackle for another loss. LSU wound up missing a long field goal attempt on fourth down. Hand also blocked another LSU field-goal try in the game.