April 27, 2026

Dick Tomey, trail-blazing football coach at the University of Hawaii, dies at 80

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Dick Tomey, trail-blazing football coach at the University of Hawaii, dies at 80

  • HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER

    Dick Tomey coached at Hawaii from 1977 to 1986.

San Jose State University, where Tomey also had coached, posted the announcement this morning citing a statement from the family in Tucson, Ariz., where Tomey had lived.

Tomey, who had been UH’s head coach from 1977 through 1986, had been battling lung cancer for several months.

Tomey, a native of Indiana, had a 63-46-3 record at UH and led the Rainbows into the Western Athletic Conference while playing before large crowds at Aloha Stadium.

He came to UH from UCLA, where he had been an assistant coach to help turn around a UH team that had gone 3-8 the previous season.

Tomey left UH in 1987 to become head coach at Arizona, where he coached for 14 years. He later coached at San Jose State for five seasons and was as an assistant in the NFL.

A Celebration of Life will be announced at a later date.

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