Fittingly, everyone called him "Pop."
David Pinkham Kaiana Eldredge, patriarch of one of Hawaii's most successful athletic coaching families and the "father of youth baseball in Manoa," died quietly in his sleep yesterday, 13 days shy of his 90th birthday.
Pop's legs were amputated in 1984 and 1985, but he never lost his smile. The man in the fedora and overalls riding the motorized wheelchair became a familiar sight to Manoa residents.
"He was a people-oriented person, very upbeat," retired Punahou teacher and coach David Eldredge II said about his father.
A native of Lahaina, Pop devoted more than 60 years of his life to coaching kids.
In 1949, he and his late wife, Leilehua Judd Eldredge, and their four children moved to Oahu. They settled in Manoa Valley, where Pop was head of maintenance for Manoa Recreation Center.
With the help of kids and their parents, Pop cleared off the meadow next to the recreation center and built the community's first baseball field.
He organized the Manoa Rangers baseball team to play in the Police Activities League.
Pop coached until 1984.
In 1969, the East Manoa Lions dubbed him the unofficial "Mayor of Manoa." In 1989, he received the Chuck Leahey Memorial Award at the annual Rainbow Easter Tournament for his outstanding contribution to baseball in Hawaii.
And in 1994, Malama O Manoa honored Pop on the occasion of his 87th birthday at its second Ohana Night celebration.
His contributions to the Manoa community are many, but Pop will be best remembered for his positive approach to life. He showed his family, friends and players how to do it everyday of his life.
Pop is survived by sons David II and Pal; daughters Bertha Lima and Hattie Phillips; sisters Elizabeth Kanoa, Feadora Miller and Harriet Teshima of Maui; 12 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.
Services are pending.