Wednesday, November 3, 1999
Talented Mitchell
made right choice
She gave up track and field
By Cindy Luis
for volleyball and ended up
winning a national title
Star-Bulletin
This is the 11th in a weekly series featuring the 1979 University of Hawaii women's volleyball team, the Wahine's first national championship.IN another time, another era, Waynette Mitchell might well have become known as one of Hawaii's greatest athletes.
She loved softball, but it wasn't offered at the high school or collegiate level. She was national-caliber in track and field, but it didn't hold the same fascination as volleyball did.
But while other athletes might have regrets about what could have been had there been greater opportunities for women in the 1970s, Mitchell is comfortable with her spot in island sports history. She helped bring the University of Hawaii's first national title home 20 years ago.
"If I have any regrets when I look back on it now, I wish I had enjoyed winning it the way I should have,'' said Mitchell, a longtime teacher and coach at her alma mater, Radford High. "But mentally and physically, I was so tired after the match. I didn't even go to the party after. I had a final in psychology the next week, so I was in my room, studying.
"But I feel good about the legacy we've left. Our team gets ragged on (at the alumnae match) because it was the AIAW title and not an NCAA title. (The NCAA did not sponsor women's sports until 1981). It doesn't matter because we were still the first and they can't take that away from us.''
Utah State also tried to deny Hawaii its inaugural championship. The top-ranked and defending national champion Aggies were in control in the beginning of that Dec. 8, 1979 final at Carbondale, Ill.
The second-seeded Wahine fell behind, 0-2, when coach Dave Shoji made some lineup changes. Hawaii rallied to win the next three games to pull out the 8-15, 7-15, 15-8, 16-14, 15-12 victory after 2 hours..
Mitchell served for match point "but I don't even remember it,'' she said. "I do remember being in the backcourt when the last ball went down (on a spike by Bonnie Gouveia).
"Dave was the first one on the court and I hugged him. Then I went to the side and, while everyone else was jumping around, I just took off my shoes, put on my slippers and sweats and sat down. My feet hurt so much, I couldn't jump up and down. I was exhausted.''
Mitchell was named to the all-tournament team and an all-American. It culminated a two-sport career that began with high hopes in track and field and ended with meeting the highest expectations in volleyball.
It didn't surprise anyone who knew Mitchell, the four-time state high school champion in shot put, two-time winner in discus and a junior on the Rams' volleyball team that won the 1971 state title.
"She's the type of player who is going to do whatever it takes to win,'' said Alan Kang, the Wahine head coach in 1974 and Shoji's assistant in 1979. "She's a bulldog. When things were going badly, she just refused to give up, refused to think about losing.
"What exemplifies the type of player she was is this - she was a middle blocker but knew (her junior year) that Diane Sebastian would be playing there. If Waynette wanted to stay on the court, she would have to learn to play right-side, which meant learning how to set. She did not have that dexterity to be a setter but she worked at it and worked at it because she was not going to sit. She was going to do whatever it took to win and do whatever it took for her to be on the court.''
Mitchell even gave up her track scholarship to do it. A member of the U.S. junior track and field team that toured Europe, Mitchell went to UH in the fall of 1973 to compete in field events.
"In the spring of 1975, I was supposed to go to the track and field nationals but it was the same time as the (USVBA) volleyball nationals,'' said Mitchell. "I was told if I chose to go play volleyball that I'd lose my track scholarship. I went to the volleyball nationals with Lokahi and (coach) Pete Velasco.
"So I lost my scholarship and sat out a year, working to save up the money to go back (in the fall of 1976). I tried out for Dave's team, made the final cut but he said he didn't have a scholarship for me.''
Dr. Donnis Thompson, the women's athletic director, found scholarship money to keep Mitchell in school. Five months later, Mitchell was named the Honolulu Quarterback Club's Female Athlete of the Year.
"Track was very good to me, but volleyball gave me something different,'' she said. "It was a team game and I enjoyed that.
"It was a hard year, 1979. People were going in different directions, but whenever we were on the court, we just did what we had to do to get the job done. There was tension because no one wanted to back down, we all wanted to win. For the seniors, we knew if we screwed up, we didn't have another chance.''
Following the title campaign, Mitchell was drafted by the women's professional volleyball league. She ended up instead with three degrees and is considering getting her doctorate.
After 18 years of teaching in Hawaii schools, this is the first time she isn't staying after school to coach some sport, whether it be volleyball, softball, basketball or track and field. It's different, Mitchell said, a good kind of different.
"I couldn't ask for a better life,'' she said. "I'm golfing more and spending more time with my nieces and nephews. We went out trick-or-treating the other night and I had a great time with them.''
Mitchell lives with her parents, Earl and Annette, who finally received a Hawaiian homestead in Waimanalo. In May, she will receive Holy Communion and be confirmed in the Catholic Church.
"I'm probably a rare breed in that I don't mind getting old,'' said the 44-year-old Mitchell. "And I don't mind living in the time that I did.
"I'm happy for girls now and the opportunities they have that we didn't. I just hope they understand how to use it and not abuse it."
