StarBulletin.com

Coach Shoji's 1,000th victory was great volleyball milestone


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POSTED: Saturday, October 24, 2009

What a tremendous night it was last Saturday for UH Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji, getting his 1,000th victory as his girls beat New Mexico State in four sets. The Wahine gave him 1,001 wins by beating Louisiana Tech Monday. But last Saturday was the big night. The humble coach was showered with tributes by his past and present players, the UH brass, a huge crowd and, via video, by opposing coaches and his three children in the Stanford volleyball program. He had his wife, Mary, stand beside him during it all and said how lucky he was to have her because being a coach's wife was not a smooth ride. He stressed that it took much more than a coach to reach such a milestone and thanked many people, including his players, assistants, everyone connected to the program and the fans, who have set national attendance records. A big mahalo to KFVE for bringing it into the living rooms of those of us who were not at the Stan Sheriff Center. The coach received more tributes Wednesday during his “;Call the Coach”; radio broadcast at Outrigger Reef's Kani Ka Pila Grill ...

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Anita Hall sings the national anthem in tonight's UH-Boise State game at Aloha Stadium, and she is part of the halftime show with the UH Marching Band. Anita is also singing at the Nov. 14 Opera Ball at the Sheraton Waikiki. Hall studied classical music before turning to jazz and pops. I'm glad she made the switch, because her vocals are both hot and cool ...

I don't know anything about cosmetics, but I do know something about wine. So when I learned Lydia Mondavi was at Neiman Marcus last Saturday with her 29 Cosmetics line and wines for tasting, I felt I must attend the event in the interest of good journalism. I met the stylish and personable Lydia, 37. She applied makeup on guests and occasionally poured wine, along with Neiman's wine expert Cynthia Fenner. With the name Mondavi, “;it's a good thing I drink and love wine,”; Lydia said. A video of Lydia going through the process of extracting red wine grapes' byproducts was shown. The extract, used in her cosmetics, is an antioxidant and is billed as providing age protection. Tasty Cookies with the number 29 as part of the frosting were part of the program. Why the 29? Because that's the number of the highway that runs through Napa Valley, where the Mondavi wine family is royalty ...

Emi Espinda, special events manager of Ruth's Chris, had a busy night at the restaurant chain's 20-year celebration in Hawaii this month. The birthday was marked with a wine dinner at all five R.C. Hawaii locations, with two of them located on Oahu, at Waikiki Beach Walk and Restaurant Row. Besides her other chores, Emi had to speed Langtry Estate and Vineyards winemaker Maria Navarro from one Oahu Ruth's Chris to the other during the dinner to meet as many guests as possible. Mission accomplished ...

“;A Hard Act to Follow,”; a celebration of life for publicist Lisa Josephsohn, who died of cancer Aug. 20, will be held tomorrow at Hawaii Theatre, 2 p.m. The free celebration will feature many of the entertainers and people Lisa was involved with over the years ...

Ben Wood, who sold the Star-Bulletin on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things Saturdays. E-mail him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).