Champs
bring honor, joy
to Molokai
The entire island
By Rod Ohira
shares in the state high school
baseball title captured by
Molokai High
Star-BulletinKAUNAKAKAI -- To appreciate what a state high school baseball championship means to this community is to know how to share.
"They had to overcome a lot more than winning on the field," Maui Mayor Kimo Apana said about Molokai High's first-ever state title. "For them, it's finding a way to get on the field.
"Of all the Hawaiian islands, Molokai is one of the most economically depressed, and these people have to fund-raise more than any other community to support their teams. But they always find a way to make it happen.
'On Molokai, you have
the true essence of aloha, which
is when you give until
you cannot give.'
Kimo Apana
MAUI MAYOR"On Molokai, you have the true essence of aloha, which is when you give until you cannot give."
When Molokai won the Maui Interscholastic League championship to qualify as the second seed in the state tournament on Oahu, the team had to raise money to make the trip.
"The athletic director told me we had zero dollars," said Coach Ken Nakayama, who just completed his 25th season as Molokai High's baseball coach. "The league gave us round-trip airfare for 18 but we had 16 players, five coaches and a manager.
"We had raised between $800 and $1,000 for ground transportation, $1,400 for hotel and the additional airfares, which meant hitting the same people again. You can sell only so much Huli-Huli chicken, especially when other sports are doing the same thing all year. It takes its toll on the community, but they always find a way."
With the support of the community and booster club donations that paid for at least one meal a day for the players, Molokai High was able to accomplish in baseball what Hickory High did in the 1985 basketball movie "Hoosiers" by defeating top-seeded Mid-Pacific Institute for the state title."The community has always been supportive, and we've been taking from them for a long time so they deserved to get something back," said junior outfielder Xavier Bicoy, whose father, Dart, also played for Coach Nakayama at Molokai High.
Several hundred people, including the Maui mayor and other politicians, honored the championship team last night at Molokai Yacht Club.
"Molokai has been waiting for such a long time for a state high school team sports champion," said John "Longie" Dudoit, whose son Johnny was a member of the 1999 team.
Eddie Misaki, who played in four state tournaments for Nakayama from 1974 to 1978 and whose sons, Jason and Lucas, were on this year's team, added, "Somehow and some way, everybody on this island is tied to baseball or to the kids.
"Now is the time for the community to sit back and reflect and be proud. We've always been proud of this island, but now we can express it."Molokai has an unemployment rate of about 13 percent and its average income is around $20,000, said Apana.
"Winning this championship is the sparkplug this community was looking for," he added. "I think it's going to encourage shooting for higher goals."
Molokai is a community that believes in teamwork, dedication and commitment, said Apana. Those were also three characteristics of Nakayama's championship team.
"Last year, I think we had a better team but we had no harmony," Xavier Bicoy said. "This year, the boys got along better."
'You can sell only so much
Huli-Huli chicken, especially when
other sports are doing the same
thing all year. It takes its toll
on the community, but they
always find a way.'
Ken Nakayama
MOLOKAI COACHNakayama was concerned about how his young team would fare on the artificial turf at Rainbow Stadium and playing before larger crowds than they're used to.
He prepared for the artificial turf in a unique way.
"The ball is quicker on the turf, so it was going to be a big challenge for us," Nakayama said. To get his players ready, "we hit ground balls to them in the parking lot at our field."
Molokai High, located in Hoolehua Homestead, uses a community field in town with a skinned or no-grass infield. Nakayama says he also hit pitching-machine balls that were livelier on the skinned infield to prepare for the synthetic turf.
"Once we got to Oahu, I tried to motivate them, but the team would only look at me and say: "Let's go and play' and went out and did it," Nakayama said. "Not much fazed them."
What makes Molokai's championship even more remarkable is that there's only limited Little League play on the island. Eight championship team members, for example, are on the island's only two Senior Little League teams, which play each other until Hawaii's summer tournament begins. "I lose a lot of good players because there's so many distractions, like surfing, fishing and hunting, on this island," Nakayama said.
Catcher Apana Nakayama, the youngest of the coach's four sons, came to Oahu on weekends last summer to play for former University of Hawaii star and Kailua High Coach Cory Ishigo. It's a luxury not all Molokai players can afford. Nakayama said he applies much of what he learned from his Kahuku High football coach, Harold Silva, in his coaching philosophy."The way I teach respect, discipline and hard work I learned from Harold Silva," he said.
Eddie Misaki credits Nakayama with the success of baseball on Molokai. "When Coach Nakayama came, he brought baseball here up a notch," Misaki said.
Paul Elia, whose son Jared was one of eight Molokai High volleyball players killed in an October 1989 plane crash here, was among those attending last night's championship celebration.
Ten years ago, this tight-knit community bonded in mourning, just as it did last night in celebration.
"That's Molokai, people always helping each other," Elia said. "It's terrific to see the community together like this, so happy."
May has been a super month for Molokai. On the same weekend Molokai High was winning the baseball championship, Molokai native and Kamehameha Schools junior Kealani Kimball was leading her team to a state girls basketball title.
Also, Pure Heart, which includes Molokai native Lopaka Colon, won four Hoku music awards. Both Kimball and Colon were on hand to help the baseball team celebrate.
"This is beyond 'Hoosiers,' " Eddie Misaki said. 'Hoosiers' was just a community. This is about a whole island."
'Now is the time for the
community to sit back and reflect
and be proud. We've always been
proud of this island, but now
we can express it.'
Eddie Misaki
FATHER OF TWO TEAM MEMBERS,
FORMER PLAYER
