Those who have followed Hawai‘i high school sports over the years know of many recognizable names in coaching like Larry Ginoza, Jim Alegre, Dunn Muramaru.
But behind the scenes of these great coaches are many great assistants, whose names may not be so recognizable.
We lost one of these great ones last Tuesday when Clem Hew passed away after reportedly suffering a massive stroke. He was 77, but it was shocking to me because he appeared to be in good health and was helping coach varsity baseball at ‘Iolani even this past season.
In fact, I just saw and talked to him at the doctor’s office three weeks ago, and he looked and sounded fine.
To call Coach Hew simply “an assistant coach” does not do the man justice. He coached football, baseball and softball at ‘Iolani since 1963. Forty-five years.
And he didn’t just coach; he also was a tireless volunteer who helped the school in many ways, especially through the annual carnival and Family Fair (including last month’s) and through fund-raisers like the old huli-huli chicken sales. He dug imus, built booths, huli’d the chicken.
And he went into the community to sell tickets and solicit help.
Even as a coach, he did more than just show up for practices and games. I used to exercise at Ala Wai Park, and I would see Coach Hew there hours before game time, helping line the field and get it ready for play. He also helped with American Legion and other summer programs.
High school head coaches don’t make much money at all, and assistants make even less. No doubt, Coach Hew donated thousands of hours of free labor to hundreds of kids over the past 45 years, despite not even being on the faculty.
And he did it all behind the scenes and out of the limelight, without any public recognition.
This is an excerpt from the ‘Iolani School Web site, to give you a better idea of Coach Hew’s efforts:
At the annual ‘Iolani athletic awards assembly last May, Coach Hew was recognized for his lifetime contributions to ‘Iolani’s One Team spirit. He received a standing ovation.
At the awards assembly, students shared this: “With a coaching career that spans five decades, Coach Hew has coached both boys and girls, fathers and their sons, fathers and their daughters, ILH and state champions, over-achievers, players who are current coaches, professional baseball players, collegiate softball players, and he has done it all with a firm hand and a soft heart.
“Coach Hew is an old school coach who has withstood the test of time. He has adapted to coaching the athlete of this generation, without compromising his core values. ‘Iolani is lucky and owes a great debt of gratitude to Coach Hew.”
Services will be held Saturday in St. Alban’s Chapel at ‘Iolani School. Visitation from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Memorial service from 11 a.m. to noon. Parking available in the Kamoku Street structure.
I’m really glad ‘Iolani was able to honor Coach Hew last May, while he was still with us.
Hopefully, other schools will have the opportunity to honor their unsung heroes like him as well, because every school would be blessed to have someone like Coach Hew on their staff.
Aloha and mahalo, Coach Hew. We appreciate all you did for Hawai‘i’s youth.
There are many impressive facets to Punahou’s record streak of five straight state championships — great players, great pitching, great hitting, great defense. But when all is said and done, I think the most impressive is the Buffanblu’s uncanny ability to get the job done no matter what it takes.
Whether it was Saturday night’s sharp 4-0 championship performance against Saint Louis, or Thursday’s 9-8 scramble over Roosevelt, Punahou somehow found a way to take care of business when it mattered most. I think that is the mark of a great team: It’s one thing to win when you’re having a good game and playing well, but it’s another to find a way to win anyway when you’re not playing your best or when things aren’t going your way.
“Our kids are competitive, and they’ll fight through adversity,” coach Eric Kadooka said. “This (season) was a challenge, but they showed perseverance and stuck with it. They showed their will as players.”
I blogged a few weeks ago about the concept of “confidence,” and this team, this program is a good example. Even entering the ILH tournament as the No. 3 seed, even down 5-0, 7-6 and then 8-7 with one out in the bottom of the seventh in the state quarterfinals, you could see through the body language in the players that they really believed they would win. And I think that confidence came from having done it before.
Reece Kiriu was the ultimate example. He could have been bummed out about giving up five runs on four hits and four walks in the first two innings vs. Roosevelt, but he ended up playing a great game at second base and at the plate, ultimately driving in the winning run with a huge 360-foot double to the wall at left-center.
Then Saturday night, he showed the mental toughness he showed all season, coming back from 3-0, 2-0 counts to get the strikeout or groundout.
Just like the rest of the team, he bent but did not break.
Another thing: Like other great teams and great players, the Buffanblu will find different ways to win. How about Zach Kometani — the big cleanup hitter — bunting and head-first sliding his way on to get the tying run aboard in the bottom of the seventh against Roosevelt?
Then Jeeter Ishida — the reigining State Player of the Year — laying down the sacrifice to move courtesy runner Shane Yoshiyama into scoring position.
“They don’t like to bunt,” Kadooka said, “but we tell them to bunt.”
The bunt was a key weapon again in Saturday’s title game, with two of them resulting in advancing the runner with everybody safe.
Kadooka said playing in the ultra-competitive ILH has forced he and his staff to find different ways to win.
“In a league like ours, it forces you to think and play at a high level every game,” Kadooka said. “We get tested every time out. So that’s how we’ve been playing for years; it’s how the old coaches in Hawai‘i high school baseball played.”
Others may have played that way, but nobody else won five state championships in a row.
These guys know how to win, better than anybody else. And that’s the bottom line.
Watching the Division II baseball state championship game between Kaua‘i and St. Anthony right now, and as expected, it’s pretty high-quality competition. No surprise, because these two teams were impressive in the Division I state tournament last year, with many of the same players back.
Which kind of presents a dilemma of sorts: On the one hand, this is the ideal DII final matchup, with two schools of smaller enrollments from smaller backgrounds, yet playing great baseball.
There’s no “paper mismatch” with tiny St. Anthony playing giant Punahou, for example.
On the other hand, because Kaua‘i and St. Anthony are so good, out of curiosity it makes you wonder how they would have fared in the Division I tournament. After all, Kaua‘i reportedly beat several DI teams in nonleague action and St. Anthony went 11-2 against mixed competition in the MIL, including a victory over league champion Maui High.
Today’s two pitchers — Michael Jahns of St. Anthony and Kaua‘i’s David Jordan-Buster — each were named Player of the Year in their respective leagues last season and I could see either of them winning a DI state tournament game.
And don’t forget, twice in the past 10 years, we had a small DII-type school (Moloka‘i) win the whole shebang.
I don’t know how the coaches and players think, but I would understand their feelings either way. Playing for a state title, against a school of relatively similar makeup and resources, has to be a thrill and satisfying. But there’s also a thrill in being the giant-killer, the small Neighbor Island underdog who knocks off the big-city juggernaut.
When you have a talented, veteran team like Kaua‘i or St. Anthony, the desire might be there to play the best of the best, and see how far you can take it.
Anyway, this year, it is what it is and what we have is a great Division II title game between two great smaller programs. Can’t ask for much better in the inaugural year of DII.
As usual, I was really looking forward to the first day of the baseball state tournament. And as usual, it did not disappoint.
Great action all day, in all four games.
Here are some thoughts on each one:
• Kamehameha-Hawai‘i 4, Kailua 2: Good job by Blake Amaral limiting a usually explosive Surfriders team to six hits, including only one for extra bases. No Kailua player had more than one. Pretty good job by Surfriders freshman Ryan McMonigle, also; definitely an experience he will draw upon in the future. Good patience shown by a young Warriors team, which did not give up and capitalized on Kailua mistakes when it counted.
And a final note — some of the called strikes in the top of the seventh for the Surfriders did look a tad outside (I was sitting about five rows up behind the batter’s box). But at the same time, when you’re down to the final three outs, I guess you have to protect the plate with tw strikes and not leave it in the umpires hands.
• Roosevelt 3, Castle 2: I like the spirit of the Rough Riders, especially after watching them get blanked by Pearl City, 10-0 in five innings, just two weeks ago in the OIA quarterfinals. That made every game since a “do-or-die” situation, and Roosevelt is 3-0 under that pressure. I’m also even more impressed with Kelton Okimoto than I was the first time against Castle, although he gave up only three hits and one that time as opposed to eight hits and two runs on Wednesday. He hides the ball well in his delivery, so his otherwise average fastball sneaks up on batters who can’t pick it up as earl as they would like. Okimoto also showed some fortitude in the seventh, when he admitted his arm “was hanging.”
Another hard-luck loss for Pulama Silva, who got his sharp-breaking curve under control after a rocky start and also pitched a good game.
And a final note — I like the Rough Riders’ attitude heading into Thursday’s quarterfinal against four-time defending champ Punahou: “We’re just gonna try our best and have fun,” Okimoto said.
Nothing to lose, so go for broke …
• Saint Louis 7, Baldwin 0: Josh Saio pitched a hell of a game, but the Crusaders also solved its recent defensive problems, at least for one day — zero errors. “Defense wins championships,” Saio said. “We had to learn that the hard way.”
Saint Louis also appears to have flushed out all the other mistakes made last week, executing well. They still had some curious base running, but that’s part of what makes them dangerous and unpredictable. “We knew we had to come out and be hungry again,” Saio said. “It started with this first game. We wanted to get this out of the way.”
Baldwin is young, and I expect to see them back in this tournament the next couple years. Sophomore pitcher Brock Shishido — Kahai’s son — got some battle scars but overall did a decent job against a terrific offensive team. Holding Saint Louis to eight hits is not bad. I also was impressed with sophomore shortstop Jordan Negrini, offensively and defensively.
And a final note — With none of the Crusaders having an state tournament experience, that was one question mark going in. Consider it answered, emphatically.
• Mid-Pacific 3, ‘Aiea 1: Ditto regarding state tourney experience for the Owls; they looked very confident from the beginning against a tough pitcher. But Coach Dunn Muramaru has been in enough of these tournaments to know how to prepare his team.
Dane Kinoshita was outstanding; he might be one of the state’s most underrated pitchers. Randy Castillo again struggled with command, but the kid definitely has a lot of guts and can pull through in tough situations. That’s what must make him intriguing to scouts: He obviously has great stuff, but he will sometimes labor, labor, labor, and then just when you think he’s done he’ll come up with three great pitches in a row for a strikeout with men on base.
Fantastic catches in the Na Ali‘i outfield by Keenan Naeole in right and Ricky Itagaki in center, otherwise MPI might have blown the game open.
But as always, Coach Ryan Kato has built a culture of hustle and making plays at ‘Aiea. This will keep Na Ali‘i a perennial contender, in my opinion.
And a final note — The Owls have another big challenge in the quarterfinals against Pearl City, but are still in good shape with Matthew McDaniel rested and ready.
Props to fellow Advertiser staff writer Stacy Kaneshiro, who compiled and wrote the baseball state tournament feature on memorable moments in today’s edition. The byline says, “Advertiser Staff,” but I believe it was Stacy — whose primary spring beat is UH baseball — who did most of the work.
Props also to page designer Paul Carvalho, who designed the prep page (as he does every prep page).
Obviously, there are many more state tourney memories and space does not allow us to run all of them. But just for fun, I’ll throw out a few more here and see if others want to add their own:
• 1987 (championship): Kamehameha rallies for two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning to beat defending champ ‘Iolani.
• 1992 (championship): Down to its final out, MPI rallies to tie the game after a shocking error that would have ended it and the Owls eventually win the game on an RBI single.
• 1993 (semifinals): After a long rain delay, Kaiser rallies from a big (10-3?) deficit to beat Kailua en route to winning the state title the next night.
• 1994 (first round): Kalaheo’s Jesse Brown outduels Waiakea’s Onan Masaoka in a midday battle of two pitchers who would become major league draft picks.
• 2001 (championship): Kailua takes advantage of a rare MPI error and rallies past the Owls in the bottom of the seventh.
• 2004 (first round): Kaiser trails Punahou 3-2 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Landon Ka‘aua chops a tricky infield grounder and the throw to first is high, forcing Kelsey Ko to jump, catch it and make a sweeping tag on Ka‘aua just before he stepped on the bag. Tying run might have even been at third.
Anyway, that close play advanced the Buffanblu into the quarterfinals, and they haven’t lost a tournament game since.
• 2007 (quarterfinals and finals): Five minutes before the first pitch, Punahou ace Jeeter Ishida slips on the cement dugout floor and twists his ankle. His status is momentarily in doubt, but he ends up pitching a complete game to beat Hilo. Two nights later, he pitches six strong innings and cools off Pearl City’s hot bats to lead the Buffanblu to their four-peat.
With three ILH teams in the mix, this tournament no doubt will have its interesting matchups and tight, well-played games.
And probably more memories for us to share in future stories and blogs.
As predicted by many, what a wild and heated ILH baseball season this has been. And really, quite a fitting end with four-time defending state champ Punahou vs. upstart Saint Louis in a one-game, winner-take-all playoff tomorrow.
Talk about high drama.
Just three or four weeks ago, Punahou appeared to be a team in disarray, fighting for position just to make sure they got one of the ILH’s three state tournament berths. Actually, they never did secure that berth until Tuesday, when Saint Louis finally eliminated pesky Kamehameha. Now, the Buffanblu are just seven innings away from their third league championship in four years.
Amazing.
While theories and rumors abound about why Punahou struggled through an 8-5-1 regular season, maybe not enough credit was going to the improved ILH competition. Saint Louis, Mid-Pacific and ‘Iolani each had several returning starters, and obviously Kamehameha got better as the season went along.
“The other teams are better (than before), they’re solid, and we had a hard time competing with them,” Buffanblu coach Eric Kadooka said. “But these guys (Punahou) have been here before, and now they’re confident, they’re executing and guys have stepped pitching-wise. I think overall the team feeds off playing well.”
Starting pitcher Reece Kiriu, who won Thursday vs. Saint Louis and also last week vs, Mid-Pac, said the team has discussed issues among themselves and found new focus.
“We’ve put in a little extra effort, coming in (to practice) earlier and staying later …,” Kiriu said. “We discussed what we need to work on, and we’re kind of getting the monkey off our back.”
Securing the state tournament berth was huge, and so was winning the ILH tournament title on their first crack.
Now, it’s come down to one game for all the league marbles.
Pardon me for one day here as I put on my hat as an HHSAA Foundation Hall of Honor selection committee member.
Tomorrow (May 2) is the original deadline to submit nomination forms for the 2008 Hall of Honor class, and as of Wednesday evening only a few have trickled in. The deadline may be extended a few days especially to account for late-arriving forms from the Neighbor Islands due to the air cargo crisis.
Still, we are far short of our usual numbers by this time, so there is concern that maybe people forgot or did not know about the deadline.
I have been on the committee for five years now, and every year so far it was a struggle to whittle down the 80 or so applicants down to the select 12. And that’s a good thing, because it means every year there are so many outstanding candidates to choose from.
I don’t think this year should be any different, as we are coming to the close of yet another incredible year of Hawai‘i high school sports. There are a ton of exceptional senior student-athletes out there, and we would like to examine the credentials of every legitimate candidate for this prestigious honor.
So, especially all you coaches out there, if you know of an outstanding senior student-athlete who has made their mark in Hawai‘i high school sports history, deserving of being permanently enshrined in local sports lore for their achievements on and off the field/court, then by all means please contact them and make sure they have filled out a nomination form.
As a reminder, each of the 12 honorees will be inducted at an awards banquet June 8 at the Sheraton Waikiki. The induction also comes with a $2,000 college scholarship.
The nomination forms are accessible at the HHSAA Web site, www.sportshigh.com
For more information, call the HHSAA office at 587-4495.
We want to learn about and select the best senior student-athletes tha state has to offer, so please help us get those nomination forms in!
