HONOLULU – For most basketball fans, the nickname Fab Five conjures up memories of the star-studded University of Michigan men’s basketball team of the 1990s with Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson. For basketball fans in Hawaii, about two decades earlier they had their own Fabulous Five: Dwight Holiday, Bob Nash, Jerome Freeman, Al Davis and John Penebacker, who made history and broke racial barriers.
And thanks to the basketball foundation built by Holiday, his younger brother, Shawn, not only became a basketball star in his own right, but just happens to be the father of three NBA players: Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday, free agent guard Justin Holiday and Houston Rockets guard Aaron Holiday.
“Uncle Dwight was a part of the original ‘Fab Five.’ I heard about that from my pops when I was growing up,” Jrue Holiday said in a phone interview. “He was a remarkable basketball player. I never got to see him play on film. But he could hoop and it runs in the family.”
The University of Hawaii’s men’s basketball program had a dismal 6-20 record during the 1969-70 season. Coach Red Rocha turned the program around by adding a strong recruiting class with Dwight Holiday, Freeman, Nash, Penebacker and Davis. Dwight Holiday was a junior college star at Hartnell College in Salinas, California, who said he once scored 56 points.
Holiday said he received scholarship offers from La Salle University in Philadelphia and the University of Detroit, but didn’t want to leave California. While working at Dick Bruhn Family of Stores in Salinas, then-Hawaii assistant coach Bruce O’Neal called him there trying to convince him to play for the Rainbows.
“[O’Neal] kept calling the store,” Dwight Holiday, 71, recalled. “And this old white man that worked there said, ‘Who’s this man that keeps calling the store from Hawaii?’ I said, ‘They want me to play there.’ And he said, ‘If I could go to Hawaii, I would go.’ So, I went. I didn’t think about it that deeply. I didn’t know it was that far and across water.”
Holiday, Nash, Freeman, Davis and Penebacker became the starting five of the most beloved Hawaii basketball team after it put the program on the map nationally.
They also happened to be the school’s first all-Black starting five.
The high-scoring Rainbows started 5-0 during the 1970-71 and warmed up to the theme song of the popular television show Hawaii Five-0 during home games. At that time, the local newspaper took a picture with Hawaii Five-0 star actor Jack Lord with the team and coined the nickname Fabulous Five. The Rainbows went 23-5 during the 1970-71 season and advanced to the school’s first postseason appearance in the NIT.
The 1971-72 Rainbows went 24-3, averaging 91.7 points (before the implementation of the 3-point line), and made the school’s first appearance in the NCAA tournament. Before the Fabulous Five, the Rainbows had not won 20 games in a season since 1950.
“I was the leading scorer of my team. Nash was the leading scorer of his team. Everybody was the leading scorer. But what we wanted to do most of all was win,” Dwight Holiday said.
In those days, the Hawaii games were not televised but attracted a large radio audience on all the Hawaiian Islands. Little did listeners know that the starting five was all African Americans sporting Afros. Dwight Holiday also said opponents often took them lightly because they played for Hawaii and wore native flower print basketball shorts.
University of Hawaii athletics
“They loved us, the idea of us,” Dwight Holiday said of the Hawaiian fans. “We won and brought the attention to the island. No one knew there was a university in the middle of the ocean. People would come and heard about the team. It was a love at first sight with us and the people.
“[We were accepted] because it’s more of the aloha. I guess you can’t be that way on the mainland. In Hawaii, if you learn to be humble, it doesn’t mean you’re subservient. Being humble is the thing. That’s from the Hawaiian and [Asian] culture. Mixed together, it works out pretty good.”
One of biggest fans of the Fabulous Five at that time was a kid named Barack Obama, who was elected president of the United States in 2008. Obama first saw the Fabulous Five play when he was 10 years old during the 1971-72 season after his white grandfather got tickets, according to Sports Illustrated. Obama, whose father is Kenyan, wrote about the 1971-72 team in his book, Dreams of My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. He wrote in the memoir that he was enamored by their winning, confidence, afros and being connected because he looked like them.
“He used to come to our games,” Dwight Holiday said of Obama. “His grandfather was a trip. He used to say, ‘I got a Black grandson at Punahou [School].’ ”
The Fabulous Five also had an opportunity to make an imprint in the NBA.
Dwight Holiday was a defensive standout who averaged 14.6 points at Hawaii from 1970-72 and was selected in the 1972 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics (ninth round, 138th overall) of the and also the ABA Utah Stars. Nash averaged 16.8 points and 13.6 rebounds from 1970-72 at Hawaii and played in the NBA for the Detroit Pistons and Kansas City Kings as well as in the ABA for the San Diego Conquistadors. Penebacker averaged 14.3 points and 8.2 rebounds from 1970-73 at Hawaii and was selected in the 13th round (185th overall) of the 1973 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“I would have made [the Sonics], but I had strep throat and they had two-a-days,” Dwight Holiday said. “I would come home from the first workout and not even eat because I felt so bad. The doctor told me not to go, but how many chances would I have? I was taking antibiotics, but the running and strep throat turned me down.
“I played in the preseason. I had a tryout with the [Golden State] Warriors a couple years later. They had guys they wanted to keep and I was an old hack by then.”
Dwight and Shawn Holiday come from a family of nine children. Watching from Santa Rosa, California, Shawn Holiday wanted to follow in the footsteps of his older brother on the basketball court. In his eighth-grade year and during the summer of his junior year, he lived with his brother in Hawaii. He says his brother taught him defensive basketball instincts — locking into the sternum, not looking at the eyes and the key footwork.
“I wanted to be like him. I even wanted his name at one point,” Shawn Holiday, 61, said.
“[Dwight] always looked out for [my dad] and kept him on the straight and narrow. To have an older brother like that who sent for you out to Hawaii to live with him is pretty cool,” Jrue Holiday said.
Marc J. Spears
Shawn Holiday went on to play for the Arizona State Sun Devils from 1981-83, where his teammate was Byron Scott, who later became a Los Angeles Lakers guard. At Arizona State, he met, fell in love with and married women’s basketball star Toya DeCree. He averaged 3.1 points and 2.5 assists during two seasons with the Sun Devils.
After being frustrated with his playing time and not starting as sophomore under coach Bob Weinhauer, who was in his first year of coaching, he transferred to Division II California State University, Los Angeles to finish his college basketball career. Looking back, Scott said, Shawn Holiday deserved to remain a starter and had NBA potential.
“When I played with Shawn, he was an unbelievable defender,” Scott told Andscape in a phone interview. “He was an extremely strong lefty who could handle the ball and shoot it. We were the starting backcourt. And when the coach got fired, they brought in the new coach, who brought in his favorite guy, Chris Beasley, who was a baseball player and basketball player. He took Shawn out of the starting lineup, moved Chris in the backcourt with me and moved me to point guard. I thought it was the wrong thing to do. Shawn was a much, much better basketball player. But [Weinhauer] had his favorites and wanted to give Chris a chance.
“Shawn got ousted out. But if he stayed on the trajectory we had with me and him on the starting backcourt, he absolutely could have been an NBA player. No doubt.”
Scott is reminded of Shawn Holiday when he watches Jrue Holiday in the NBA now.
“Jrue plays just like him with his demeanor, toughness and the way he guards on the defensive end and pride in that,” Scott said. “[He] Can score when he has to or needs to but plays just like his dad.”
That was surprising to Jrue Holiday when he heard those words for the first time. He said the competitiveness and willingness to play hard on both ends that he and his brothers have “taken to heart” came from his father.
“Every time someone talked about my dad, they said, ‘Your dad was really good,’ ” Jrue Holiday said. “[Scott’s words] are just confirmation. Honestly, I couldn’t beat my dad [in one-on-one] until I was [in my] mid- to high teens. I never doubted my dad’s knowledge of the game, but just hearing that is confirmation that maybe under different circumstances he could have chosen to go to the NBA or be a professional basketball player.”
“My old high school coach taught me the defense that I taught [Shawn] and Jrue uses now,” Said Dwight Holiday said.
Indiana Pacers
When it comes to basketball, it’s hard to find families that have made a bigger imprint than the Holidays.
Jrue Holiday is a two-time NBA All-Star who has won championships with the Milwaukee Bucks and Celtics and is in his 16th season. Aaron Holiday is a reserve for the Rockets playing in his seventh season. Justin Holiday is a free agent who won the family’s first NBA title with the Warriors in 2015 and has 11 years of pro experience.
Lauren Holiday, the sister of Jrue, Aaron and Justin, played for the UCLA women’s basketball team. Toya DeCree Holiday averaged 24.6 points at U.S. International University (San Diego) during the 1984-85 season after leaving Arizona State. There are also several other family members who played college basketball, including Santa Rosa junior college men’s basketball assistant coach Maurice Thompson.
“We like [our legacy] because we don’t have to boast or talk about it,” Jrue Holiday said. “We all have the knowledge and respect. There are people before us who paved the way for me and my siblings. It’s not just my father and Dwight’s side. On my mom’s side, both of her sisters played basketball, which no one knows about. When I tell people literally everyone in my family could have been a professional athlete, they think I’m playing.
“We keep our stories to ourselves. We don’t really boast about it. It’s just a way of life for us. It’s been our life for our whole life.”
The name Jrue is Dwight Holiday’s middle name. Jrue Holiday says he is very familiar with his uncle being part of Hawaii hoops history. They talk regularly via text message, and Jrue Holiday hopes to go to Hawaii to visit his uncle soon. Dwight Holiday plans to attend NBA games his nephews are playing in this season.
“He will text me if I have a good game to say, ‘What’s up?’ ” Jrue Holiday said. “We will call and talk to each other. Honestly, it’s more about life. Seeing how he was doing. The last time I was in Hawaii was a long time ago. But I always try to see him because he is so far from family.”
“I’m very proud of [my nephews]. I see my game in them, the defense,” Dwight Holiday said.
The entire starting five from that Hawaii team is still alive and have lived in Hawaii for more than 50 years. The school honored the Fabulous Five during a game in 2019. Dwight and Shawn Holiday also attended a dinner from Kendall-Jackson Wine, a sponsor of the NBA, honoring Fabulous Five in October.
Dwight Holiday is now a semi-retired financial adviser who works with kids part-time at a local elementary school. He says he breathes the aloha spirit, a philosophy of treating everyone with respect, love, empathy, acceptance and without judgment. He has had no interest in moving back to the mainland.
“The longer he was out there, the more he started looking and talking like he was Hawaiian,” Jrue Holiday said. “He’s super-chill. He definitely seems like he lives by a beach or waterfall. He seems like he has that mental peace that people aspire to have.”
“I belong here. I stayed. I like the people. I like the lifestyle. It’s peaceful. There is a lot of stuff going on in the Mainland as I see it. And I don’t want to put up with it,” Dwight Holiday said.
