Ah Chew Goo

Who is Ah Chew Goo?

Ah Chew Goo is an American former basketball player and former coach of the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team, who is known primarily for his basketball dribbling and passing abilities.

Goo, who stands only 5-foot-4 ½ inches, is known for his remarkable ability to dribble the ball and keep it away from defenders and for his no-look and seemingly gravity-defying passes.

He started working on his basketball skills at age 7, practicing his passing off of telephone poles as he walked down the street. As a result, he became one of Hawaii’s most famous basketball players, leading Hilo High School to three straight Territorial championships between 1934-36. After high school, Goo played with a traveling team of Hawaiian all-stars in the United States. He retired from competitive basketball in 1940, due to ill health, and never played in college or professionally.

In his mid-1940s, Goo coached a local team in a game against the Harlem Globetrotters. Before the game, he asked Abe Saperstein, coach of the Globetrotters, if he could pull two stunts: one where he would replace a basketball with a deflated ball after a timeout so when a player tried to dribble it, it wouldn't bounce, and the other to tie fishing line around a ball so he could pull it back after faking shooting a free throw. Saperstein said no; but the next year when the Globetrotters returned to Hawaii, they used those both tricks as part of their showtime repertoire. "I originated that, I take credit for that," Goo said.