Some people will go to incredible lengths to get tickets to the Sugar Bowl. Some will even write an essay.

Kent Untermann, former University of Hawai'i tight end and chief executive of Pictures Plus, a local frame and art company, set up an essay contest for three pairs of tickets to the big UH game in New Orleans on Jan. 1. The theme of the essay was "Why I deserve to go to the Sugar Bowl." Frightening flashbacks to fifth grade's "Why I should be class secretary" be damned, people wrote their hearts out.

Jake Fernandez, one of the winners and a veteran Hawaiian Electric Co. lineman turned switching coordinator, dug deep and wrote about his love for UH and his love for his dad.

"My father bought season tickets to UH football when the stadium first opened in 1975. I was just a little kolohe kid back then, but going to the games every year as I grew up gave me a drive to be part of the college experience, and in particular to be part of the University of Hawai'i. I attended UH and have the benefit of a higher education due to the fact that my father encouraged me and UH football inspired me. ...

"My father is 80 years old now, and we have both waited a lifetime for this to happen. I have never seen him more excited. ... My dream was to give back to my father what he first gave to me back in 1975."

Fernandez said his father, Jacob, took the news of those two golden tickets in stride. He hasn't read the essay and hasn't made a big deal about the upcoming trip. He is instead busying himself with making sure someone will take care of the house and other matters while they're on the Mainland.

"He's hard to read sometimes, but I know he's excited," Fernandez says.

As for sweating out a winning essay, Fernandez let slip a dark secret. It was easy.

"I love to write," he confesses. "I don't tell any of da boys, but I have my poetry collection going."

His other big secret was securing roundtrip airfare, hotel and car for the Sugar Bowl trip all for around $1,200. The trick was going online and flying into Houston. It's a 5 1/2-hour drive to New Orleans, but big deal.

"To be with my father, at the biggest game in the history of Hawai'i, is something I would never be able to forget."

All three winners of the Pictures Plus essay contest had their entries posted on the company's Web site, www.picturesplus.com.

Since then, Fernandez has been a popular guy. "I have about 50 friends who have been calling me up ever since saying, 'HEY!!!' and I say, 'No, I'm taking my dad.' "

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Make a difference. Donate to The Advertiser Christmas Fund.