The Centurions: #7 Niko Noga

The Star-Bulletin's countdown of UH football's "Centurions", the 100 greatest players in the University of Hawaii's 100 years of football, continues with #7, defensive tackle Niko Noga.

Kalani Simpson reminisces about Noga, and gets a few words from Robert Kekaula.

IT'S TOUGH TO get across the FEEL of Niko Noga in those days, what he meant to us, his presence, the way he played. Maybe the best way is through a memory shared by Robert Kekaula. You should read this with Robert's voice in your head (if you have to, turn on the KITV news). Robert remembers being a kid, watching the old "Dick Tomey Show" hosted by the late Les Keiter, the opening. Included in the montage was footage of Niko Noga running, maybe timing a 40.

"He was wearing shorts and one of those old UHAD T-shirts," Robert writes in an e-mail. "It was cut-off, maybe right below his chest, and as the saying goes, he was 'ripped,' I mean muscles bulging everywhere.

"It freaked many of us out, because wearing green and looking like he did, I swear to God it was the frickin' HULK running on the field."

You can hear Robert saying it.

He closes with this: "It was both spooky and exciting."