×

Column: Who deserves to be in a Maui County Sports Hall of Fame?

Between the Lines

Pictured are Maui County athletes, mixed martial arts fighter Kendall Grove, shown during UFC 116 on July 3 2010 AP file photos

I’ve been talking to some close friends lately and reminiscing about some of the greatest moments I’ve had the pleasure of covering here in our little corner of the earth.

Maui County has seen some incredible athletes and sports personalities come and go — more than our fair share, I’d venture to say. Some of the discussions with those friends started me thinking about all the sports greats who have been here, at one time or another.

And watching a replay of a University of Hawaii men’s volleyball match recently, I zoomed in on a crowd shot to some of the school’s sports hall of fame plaques on the walls at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Now, there are sports hall of fames all over the place — in arenas, airports, old buildings — but there isn’t one yet for Maui County.

It’s high time we do.

Two-time MLB All-Star Shane Victorino, shown during the Philadelphia Phillies’ NLCS win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Oct. 13, 2008 AP file photos

I’ve been covering Maui County sports since 1990 and I’m well aware that while I’ve been unbelievably fortunate to have covered countless remarkable players, coaches and administrators, one thing I do know for sure: I don’t know it all.

So, I’ve taken the opportunity to check in with some of my most important, knowledgeable sources to try to ensure I’m not missing anyone worthy of consideration for a Maui County Sports Hall of Fame.

A few men who shaped my knowledge of Maui County sports in a large way have passed, legendary figures really:

• Veteran sports editor of this paper, Wayne Tanaka, who loved his job so much he kept taking Maui Interscholastic League football statistics for guys like me well past retiring, all the while with wife Helen sitting next to him at every game in the press box at War Memorial Stadium.

• Ichiro “Iron” Maehara, the county parks director who spearheaded the building of the War Memorial complex and a baseball legend, a man who played with the likes of Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams during World War II.

Olympian Lauren Spalding, shown during the Maui Paddling Hui Maui Jim Relay Race on Feb. 16, 2019 The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Maehara immediately took a 26-year-old haole and brand-new father from Oregon, via a couple years in Guam, under his immense wing when I landed this gig in August 1990 not really having any idea of the remarkable adventures that awaited.

Maehara proudly wore a 1988 World Series championship ring as a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers, signed Sid Fernandez, and the baseball stadium in War Memorial complex is now named after him.

• Kenji Kawaguchi, who stood maybe 5-foot-4 on his way to a standout football career at the University of Hawaii and then starring in the Hula Bowl, could honestly be called the father of the MIL, serving as the first Executive Secretary of the league from 1960-84.

Kawaguchi kept score at baseball games and worked tirelessly to prepare what is now Maehara Stadium’s turf for every single game day well into his retirement as well. He also paved the way for Molokai and Lanai to rightfully enter the Maui County high school league in 1984.

Those three gentlemen make my list of candidates right away; Maehara would honestly be a lock for a possible first class of inductees.

Waterman Kai Lenny, shown during the Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard World Championships on July 28, 2019 M2O photo

Two other locks for me to be in the first class would be Wally Yonamine, an international sports pioneer from Olowalu who was close friends with Kawaguchi, and Jesse Kuhaulua, a sumo trailblazer who grew up in Happy Valley to become the first foreigner to win a top division championship tournament in 1972 when he was known as Takamiyama Daigoro.

Kuhaulua later became the first foreigner to take charge of a training stable, founding Azumazeki stable in 1986 and later guiding the career of the first foreign yokozuna, fellow Hawaii native Akebono.

I had the profound opportunity to meet Yonamine at a couple of state high school baseball tournaments held at Maehara Stadium — his foundation is the title sponsor of the event and it is at his lasting insistence that Maui be in the rotation to host the event every three years.

Yonamine signed a $14,000 contract to play running back for the San Francisco 49ers in their second season (1947), becoming the first of Japanese American ancestry to play professional football.

A broken wrist ended his pro football career and started his unprecedented pro baseball career in Japan — he was a four-time champion as a player with the Yomiuiri Giants and Chunichi Dragons, a three-time batting champion, and 11-time All-Star.

16-year MLB veteran and 2014 All-Star Kurt Suzuki, shown during the Washington Nationals’ NLCS victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Oct. 15, 2019 AP file photos

After retiring as a player, Yonamine became the first foreigner to be a manager in Japan (Dragons, 1972-77) and the first American inducted to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.

Another lock, for me, perhaps should be No. 1 on this list — swim coach Soichi Sakamoto, who founded the Three-Year Swim Club in 1937 for children of plantation workers in Puunene.

Lacking a pool, he was the first to use interval training in the sport when he had his students work out in irrigation ditches, swimming against the current, a form of resistance training. He guided numerous national champions at several levels and in 1948, his pupil Bill Smith won a pair of gold medals at the Olympics in London.

With the help I mentioned above, I’ve generated a preliminary list. To keep it organized, I’ve listed them in categories.

Please remember, this is just a preliminary wish list, honestly a labor of love for me. I simply can’t fit everyone in, so if there’s someone that comes to mind that I might have missed, please email me at rcollias@mauinews.com.

14-year NFL veteran Kimo von Oelhoffen, shown tackling the Seattle Seahawks’ Shaun Alexander during the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Super Bowl win on Feb. 5, 2006. AP file photos

Watermen

• Archie Kalepa, longtime head of ocean safety for Maui County, instrumental in starting the use of Jet Skis as rescue craft at big wave places like Peahi (Jaws). Oh yeah, also a Hokule’a captain.

• Robby Naish, multiple windsurfing world champion, started Naish Hawaii, manufactures windsurfing boards and sails, kiteboards and kites, foilboards, stand-up boards, surfboards and accessories.

• David Kalama, an all-around waterman, one of the pioneers of riding the waves at Peahi, owns a board manufacturing company, specializing in foilboards and SUPs.

• Dusty Payne, the first Maui surfer to qualify for World Surf League Championship Tour.

• Billy Kemper, a big wave world champion.

• Paige Alms, big wave women’s pioneer and world champion.

• Kai Lenny, an ocean sports human highlight reel, does everything imaginable on the water and owns multiple world titles in just about all of them. A candidate for that first Mount Rushmore class type of guy and still in the prime of his career.

• Kimi Werner, world-renowned free diver.

Football

• Curtis Lee, Kansas State star in the 1970s, legendary coach at Maui High who was winningest active coach in the state when he retired in 2004.

• Kaluka Maiava, a Baldwin and USC linebacker, 2009 Rose Bowl Defensive MVP and first NFL player from Maui when he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fourth round in 2009. He played six seasons in the league for the Browns and Oakland Raiders and is now the head coach at Hawaii Prep on Hawaii island.

Molokai

• Ken Nakayama, a better man I’ve never met, led the Farmers to the 1999 and 2000 state high school baseball titles before Division II existed. Eight of his players on those teams went on to professional or NCAA D-I baseball.

From an island of 7,000 or so residents, simply an amazing coach and I will say it again, one of the best human beings I have ever had the pleasure to be around.

• Kimo von Oelhoffen, walked on at Boise State for football when Molokai did not have a team, enjoyed a 14-year NFL career as a defensive lineman and was a Super Bowl champ with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

• Kalei (Adolpho) Parker, now the Molokai boys basketball coach, was a standout basketball and All-American volleyball player at Hawaii. In high school, she led the Farmers to the school’s only basketball and volleyball state titles and also won the state high jump title in 2011.

• Keith Luuloa, made it to Major League Baseball with the San Diego Padres for two weeks, including a memorable debut on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” with part-time Maui resident Chris Berman on the call. Has a lifetime MLB batting average of .333 (6 for 18).

• Jarinn Akana, the high school state player of the year in 1988 for the Farmers before playing at BYU-Hawaii in 1989, and UH from 1991-94. Worked as an NBA assistant coach with Milwaukee and Denver, was later an agent for NBA clients, and now helps run Akana Athletic LLC, a sports development cooperative, with his brothers.

Combat sports

• Kendall Grove, won Ultimate Fighter 3 in 2006, earning a contract with UFC. He has also competed in Bellator MMA, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship and KSW. He is now 40 years old and has a professional record of 25-21.

• Dat Nguyen, became a world champ in bare knuckle boxing at the age of 38 in 2021 and has a pro record of 23-4.

Volleyball

• Vernon Podlewski, Dio Dante, Colton Cowell (all UH, Podlewski and Cowell own NCAA championship rings).

• Sheryl (Hoopii) Paschoal, Maui High standout and two-time NAIA champion at BYUH. Now, a coach with her husband Al for Baldwin girls and Hawaiian Style Volleyball Club.

Olympians

• Vernon Patao, Maui’s first Olympian since Sakamoto’s swimmers, in weightlifting in 1992 and 1996, now owns HI Performance Athletics gym in Wailuku where he trains many of the Valley Isle’s young athletes from all sports.

• Lauren Spalding, a U.S. Olympic kayaker in 2004 who also owns 12 Molokai OC-1 world titles and three Molokai world titles in the surf ski category.

• Bill Smith, double gold medalist in 1948 swimming and one of Sakamoto’s prodigies.

Administrators

• Satoki Yamamoto, the legendary track official whose name is on the War Memorial Stadium track facility.

• Marilyn Moniz-Kahoohanohano, the longtime UH senior women’s administrator after being one of the school’s first volleyball players in the 1970s.

Broadcasters

• Mark Rolfing, a veteran of The Golf Channel and NBC Sports who started the Kapalua International tournament that was an unofficial event from 1982-97 — it led directly to the PGA Tour’s Sentry Tournament of Champions starting at the Kapalua Plantation Course in 1999.

• Neil Everett, ESPN SportsCenter anchor in Los Angeles who worked at KMVI radio station in the 1980s.

Baseball

• Shane Victorino, certainly another Mount Rushmore candidate out of St. Anthony High School in 1999. Enjoyed an unbelievable 12-year Major League Baseball career that included two All-Star selections, four Gold Gloves and two world championships.

• Kurt Suzuki, 2001 Baldwin graduate who was an NCAA champion at Cal State Fullerton, 16-year Major League Baseball veteran, 2019 world champion with the Washington Nationals, 25th all-time in MLB innings caught, 32nd all-time in MLB games caught and now a consultant for the Los Angeles Angels.

That those two guys who played largely simultaneously in the big leagues after being born in Wailuku, well, the odds are simply unfathomable.

• Antone du Rego, Maui’s first big leaguer who played for the 1921 St. Louis Browns.

• Kanekoa Texeira, Maui’s fourth MLB player and first pitcher. Played two MLB seasons (2010-11) and now a manager in the Atlanta Braves organization who lives on Molokai in the offseason with his wife and two young daughters.

Swimming

• Spencer Shiraishi, 2012 Hawaii Swimming Hall of Fame inductee, founded Maui Swim Club, learned from Sakamoto.

Auto racing

• Danny Ongais, the first Native Hawaiian to race in the Indy 500. Competed in motorcycle, sports car, IndyCar, CART, Formula One and drag racing. Born in Kahului in 1942, died last year at 79.

Rodeo

• Ikua Purdy, inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1999. Lived a lot of his life (1873-1945) on Maui, worked 30 years here, mostly as foreman at Ulupalakua Ranch.

• Myron Duarte, made eight appearances in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and was still riding bulls on the pro circuit at the age of 54 last year.

Soccer

• Nicole (Garbin) Toeaina, Baldwin class of 2001 (an unbelievable single high school class of athletes that also includes Suzuki, Grove and Nguyen), Oregon women’s soccer and basketball, 2006 Pac-10 women’s soccer player of the year and a school hall of famer for the Ducks.

• Zach Scott, Maui High and Gonzaga graduate, 15-year standout for the Seattle Sounders of Major League Soccer, known as “Mr. Sounder” before retirement, MLS champion in 2016.

Tennis

• Shigeto “Shigesh” Wakida, the courts on Front Street in Lahaina are named after him, coached Jean Okada (UCSB), Kula Oda (UH), Ryan Ideta (LSU), all high school state champions, as well as dozens of other standouts.

• Jean Okada, Lahainaluna state champ, advanced to NCAA round of 16 for UCSB, U.S. Open qualifier. Best tennis player I’ve ever covered, bar none.

Golf

• I will keep this one to ladies that have helped make my career great, all of them awesome for their own reasons: Dot Tam Ho, Brenda Rego, Cassy Isagawa, Lori Castillo.

I’m well over 2,000 words, so I have to wrap it here, but this sure was a fun start to what is a big, hopeful project. Let me know who I missed.

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com

Sumo wrestler Jesse Kuhaulua, known as Takamiyama, takes a tour of Rockefeller Center on Feb. 26, 1985. Kuhaulua was the first foreigner to win a top division championship tournament in 1972. AP file photo

Only $99/year

Subscribe Today