Jason Kaneshiro: Luis ends long career with son at her side

May 15—Cindy Luis took a moment to simply watch and listen.

The pioneering sports writer had decided to step away from full-time volleyball coverage at the conclusion of the collegiate men's season, so "aloha ball " in Fairfax, Va., landed with a little more impact.

Cindy Luis took a moment to simply watch and listen.

The pioneering sports writer had decided to step away from full-time volleyball coverage at the conclusion of the collegiate men's season, so "aloha ball " in Fairfax, Va., landed with a little more impact.

Fittingly, she made her farewell covering a match between a University of Hawaii men's program she had chronicled since her arrival in the islands in the early 1980s, and UCLA, her alma mater, in the final of the National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship.

Even more appropriately, she took in the matchup once again seated next to Tiff Wells, her son and the radio voice of UH volleyball since 2014.

When the Bruins closed out the four-set win over the Rainbow Warriors, "I sat there for just a little bit listening to Tiff and watching the goings-on on the court and I went, 'Well, this is really it, '" she said.

They had spent many an evening side-by-side on press rows in varied venues as a rare mother-son combination in sports media and both made sure to appreciate the moment.

"To start (my career ) with her sitting next to me and to have the final match coming full circle—regardless of what happened in the match—family-wise it was very special and something I will always remember, " Wells said.

Wells has been the voice of University of Hawaii volleyball since 2014, spending most of those women's and men's seasons next to his mother, who covered the games for the Star-Advertiser and, for the last three years her own website, cindyluis.com.

Hawaii sports media features prominent family legacies, including the broadcasting lines of Chuck, Jim and Kanoa Leahey and that of Don and Scott Robbs. On the print side, there's former Associated Press bureau chief Gordon Sakamoto and his son, Kyle, whose work appears in these pages.

But that Luis and Wells comprised the first mother-son duo speaks to Cindy's status as a trail-blazer in the field.

She recalled being denied a spot on the staff of the Daily Bruin in college, because "they didn't want any women in sports at that time." But she found an ally in Mike Sondheimer, who encouraged her to try again in the summer.

"He goes, 'This is silly, come write sports in the summer and they wont be able to kick you out in the fall, '" she said.

Luis has remained in contact with Sondheimer through a career that took her to Guam, where she was the first female sports editor in the Gannett chain of newspapers, and to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 1981.

She covered myriad sports and events upon joining the staff—including the high school beat, and the peak of NAIA District 29 basketball headlined by Merv Lopes' Chaminade teams—and touched bases with most of the programs on the University of Hawaii's Manoa campus over a career spanning four decades.

But it was perhaps foreshadowing that Tiff was born during a UH men's volleyball series with Stanford.

Cindy had spent much of her pregnancy in the wooden bleachers in steamy Klum Gym and covered UH's series opener with the Cardinal on a Wednesday. She gave birth on a Friday and let then-UH coach Alan Rosehill she wouldn't be there to cover the match that night.

"I told him, 'Boy, big hands, he'll be a setter, '" she said.

Quite naturally, sports were a constant presence in Tiff's upbringing.

"I can remember going to practices with her after school, reading all the media guides she had in the car, " said Tiff, who learned his numbers by associating the mile markers along Pali Highway with the jersey numbers of UH athletes.

He played various sports growing up in Kailua, but narrowed his focus to volleyball when he entered high school at 'Iolani, and was indeed a setter with the Raiders along with All-State performers in Sean Carney and Kawika Shoji.

He took his first steps into broadcasting as a college freshman at Pepperdine, scooping up the volleyball matches on the campus television schedule while his classmates clamored for basketball assignments.

Upon his graduation and return to Hawaii, he broke in calling UH volleyball with Scott Robbs and as an analyst for women's basketball games. Once he went solo on volleyball broadcasts, he earned a reputation for his crisp play-by-play of often chaotic action on the court and insightful analysis.

"What people have told me is what they're impressed with is there never seems to be any dead air, " his mom said. "He uses terms maybe the general public doesn't understand, but the way he explains it, people get an idea of what it is."

Although Tiff has the headset on throughout a match, they often relay information to each other through notes or hand signals they developed, and trade insights after a match.

Their recognition as the first family of volleyball media stretches from Manoa to State College, Pa., and is evident in the relationships they maintain with coaches throughout the sport.

"Every time I see a long-time coach, whether it's on the men's side or the women's side, one of the first things they ask is, 'How's your mom ? Tell her we're thinking of her, ' " Tiff said.

"It's that she's been there for so many years and has cared about them as a person, and has cared about their teams, and has cared about the sport."

Cindy says she plans to make "cameo appearances " in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center going forward, and will keep a busy schedule away from the arena.

Her affinity for Hawaiian culture predated her arrival in the islands and she now serves as a docent at 'Iolani Palace. During the trip to Virginia for the NCAA tournament, she made time to visit the portrait of Queen Lili'uokalani at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

She crossed the Molokai Channel in the Na Wahine O Ke Kai three times from 1982 to'84 and continues to paddle twice a week. She's also helping with a documentary on bluegrass music in Hawaii.

As she takes on new projects and avenues, she carries an approach that directed her efforts over a wide-ranging career and is carried forward by her son.

"You respect everybody and you respect the game."