Friday, March 6, 1998
Les Murakami
997 wins, 505 losses, 4 ties
A capsulized recount of Murakami's
By Al Chase
milestone victories on the next page.
Star-BulletinLES Murakami's long march to 1,000 collegiate coaching victories is nearly complete. The Rainbows' 17 wins this season have moved him to within three of that historic milestone.
Coach Les' trek began in 1971 when he agreed to take over the Rainbow program as a part-time coach after being asked at least three times by then-athletic director Paul Durham. He was a full-time employee of UH's Auxiliary Services Department and held both positions until becoming the 'Bows' full-time head coach in 1986.
That first season, UH played just four college opponents while competing in the Hawaii Baseball League. Despite losing those four games to college teams, the Rainbows captured their first HBL title -- much to the surprise of the local baseball community.
The first of his 997 college wins came in 1972 against Brigham Young.
But Murakami did not take the position just to coach an HBL team. He had his sights set on the college level and went about building a program that would have wide spectator appeal.
To accomplish this he needed full scholarships, an all-collegiate schedule and an on-campus stadium. He eventually obtained all
three ingredients.
The first Rainbow Stadium opened in 1975, and with it came an intercollegiate schedule and victories -- 25 that year, which more than tripled the total (eight) the 'Bows managed in his first four seasons.
In 1978, the Rainbows finished 38-14-1, but didn't get an NCAA tournament invitation.
"In 1979 we played 85 games," Murakami said. "I was so upset at not getting selected the year before. That 1978 team may have been the best team we ever had here. It just seemed to me that you had to have 41 wins. That was the magic number (to get an NCAA regional bid)."
The high point in victories came in 1979 (69) and was followed the next season with 60. The 1980 team was UH's first and last team to play in the College World Series.
The victories have continued to pile up during Murakami's 27-year tenure, but the one he wants most is the one that would come with winning a national championship.
Otherwise, he pays little attention to victory milestones.
"When you coach long enough, you're going to get there (1,000 wins)," the 61-year-old coach said. "If the NCAA didn't limit us to 56 games, I would have been there already. We would have played 80 games a year."
A capsulized recount of Murakami's
milestone victories on the next page.
Rainbow Men Baseball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
