For most of his adult life, Mike Giddings served as a football coach, from high school to the pros, with long stints at USC and with the San Francisco 49ers and head coaching assignments at the University of Utah and The Hawaiians in the World Football League, one of his most memorable stops.
If paradise is the Hawaiian Islands, what could be better for a big-wave surfer and football coach?
Giddings, a popular former Newport Harbor High coach in the 1980s, accepted a dream job, head coach of The Hawaiians in the WFL, but never had time to surf Pipeline, Maui or nearby Waikiki Beach, or any other Hawaiian break.
Thrust into the position of general manager, giving him a duo role, along with his field duties, Giddings learned about upper management and how to deal with football team owners and executives.
The 49ers, Giddings’ longtime employer, were prepared to make him the first pro player personnel director in NFL history. But Hawaii was too good to pass up.
“It’s funny, but I never surfed once when I was there in Hawaii coaching,” said Giddings, busy as a coach and GM, while building a successful system of identifying talent and working as The Hawaiians’ television and radio fundraising pitchman in the offseason.
Prior to The Hawaiians’ first home game in 1974, the team hosted training camp at UC Riverside and played its first two games on the road, one in Orlando to play the Florida Blazers, another against the Southern California Sun at Anaheim Stadium.
With The Hawaiians ready to open at home, Giddings arrived in Honolulu for the first time during the season as head coach, but somehow the season tickets were not delivered on time and the general manager at the time was let go. Next in line, Giddings was handed the GM keys.
“We were playing our first home game on a Sunday night and (team officials) were running around in taxi cabs delivering season tickets,” Giddings said.
Pushed into the world of pro football team management, Giddings…
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