Aloha Stadium
December 4, 1982: The University of Nebraska plays a football game. The weather was perfect. Some 16,000 people from Nebraska attended.
Doesn't sound like much, does it? Especially by Nebraska standards.
The game was in Hawaii.
And the recession that the nation was in had hit farm communities especially hard. But 16,000 Nebraskans were among the 46,876 fans inside Aloha Stadium in Halawa, a suburb of Honolulu, that day. Nebraska, ranked Number 3 in the country, beat the University of Hawaii, 37-16.
The Cornhuskers had already won the Big Eight Conference title. On New Year's Day, they beat Louisiana State University (LSU) in the Orange Bowl. But a loss to Penn State earlier in the season decided the National Championship: Had Nebraska won that game, they, rather than Penn State, would have been awarded it.
In 1982 and 1983 combined, Nebraska went 24-2, losing 2 games by a total of 4 points, but didn't win a National Championship between 1971 and 1994.
Built in 1975, the 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium hosted UH's Rainbow Warriors from then until 2020; "The Hawaiians" of the World Football League in 1975; the Aloha Bowl, usually on Christmas Day, from 1982 to 2000; the Oahu Bowl from 1998 to 2000; the Hawai'i Bowl from 2002 to 2019; the Hula Bowl, a postseason East-West All-Star game, from 1976 to 2020; and the Pro Bowl, the NFL's postseason All-Star game, from 1980 to 2009, again from 2011 to 2014, and once more in 2016.
It also hosted Team Hawaii in the North American Soccer League in 1977. And from 1976 to 1987, it hosted the Hawaii Islanders of baseball's Pacific Coast League. The stands rotated to set up something resembling a baseball configuration. In 1997, the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Diego Padres played 3 regular-season games there.
Rutgers had gone to Hawaii in 1974, losing to the Rainbow Warriors at Honolulu Stadium. Built as a baseball park in 1926, by the 1960s, it was in such bad shape that it was nicknamed the Termite Palace. Aloha Stadium replaced it, and, inspired by Nebraska's trip, other schools wanted to play there for their last regular-season game, to avoid cold weather, and have the equivalent of a bowl game, even if they were already expecting to go to one. Oklahoma attracted 45,143 in 1983, Iowa a sellout of 50,000 in 1984, Michigan 50,000 in 1986, Arkansas 42,712 in 1987, Notre Dame 50,000 in 1991, the University of Pittsburgh 46,281 in 1992, Tulane 36,576 in 1993, Missouri 33,979 in 1994, Wisconsin 34,727 in 1996, Notre Dame again with 41,509 in 1997, Michigan again with 34,193 in 1998, Wisconsin again with 41,313 in 2000, Miami University of Ohio with 33,148 in 2001, the University of Cincinnati (Miami's arch-rivals) with 36,851 in 2002, Army with 41,668 and Alabama with 43,477 in 2003, Northwestern with 33,846 and Michigan State with 41,654 in 2004, Wisconsin again with 34,031 in 2005, Purdue with 47,825 and Oregon State with 50,000 in 2006, Cincinnati again with 40,549 in 2008, Navy with 40,643 and Wisconsin again with 40,069 in 2009.
The stadium was not built with Hawaii's climate in mind, and deteriorated much sooner than expected. By 2011, sections had to be closed off, and crowds topped out at 37,000. The University moved out after the 2019 season, to a much smaller on-campus stadium. As of 2022, the plan is to demolish the old stadium in 2024, and build the new one, seating 35,000, on the site.
UPDATE: Demolition began in 2025, and the new stadium is expected to open in time for the 2029 season.
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December 4, 1982 was a Saturday. These other college football games were played that day:
* Number 12 Texas beat Number 6 Arkansas, 33-7 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, to clinch the Southwest Conference title.
* Florida upset Number 15 Florida State, 13-10 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.
* And Navy beat Army, 24-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
Baseball was out of season. There were 7 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 80-79 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Indiana Pacers, 109-89 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 119-112 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Dallas Mavericks, 115-105 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* The Houston Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 94-93 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")
* The Utah Jazz beat the Chicago Bulls, 131-124 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. Adrian Dantley scored 57 points.
* And the San Diego Clippers beat the Phoenix Suns, 113-103 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
And there were 10 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Hartford Whalers, 5-2 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).
* The New York Islanders lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 6-2 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at Le Colisée de Québec.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 6-4 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins, arch-rivals, played to a 0-0 tie at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-1 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The Edmonton Oilers beat their arch-rivals, the Calgary Flames, 7-5 at the Northlands, Coliseum.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* And the Vancouver Canucks were the only team not scheduled to play.
