Wednesday, February 13, 2002

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Governor Benjamin Cayetano, left, looked on as legendary former Hawaii baseball coach Les Murakami spoke to the crowd after being inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Hawaii Hall of
Fame adds 5

Les Murakami and Akebono are
among those inducted into
the state's shrine

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By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.com

Last night was especially gratifying for Nolan Ramirez. He was closely tied to two new inductees at the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame's annual banquet.

In addition to representing his nephew, sumo champ Chad Rowan, he got to see Les Murakami accept the honors for himself at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"That was very special for me," Ramirez said. "Les gave me my first job as a baseball coach.

"As for Chad (known in Japan as Akebono), I couldn't be happier for him. Growing up, I thought he'd be a great football player with his height and size, but everything worked out great for him."

The other inductees were martial arts pioneer Ed Kealoha Parker, world champion surfer Margo Oberg and two-time NFL Super Bowl champion Kurt Gouveia.

Until two years ago Murakami was the only head baseball coach in the University of Hawaii at Manoa's history. He built the program from the ground up and took it to within one game of a national championship in 1980.

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Former Hawaii baseball coach Les Murakami, right, enjoyed a few moments with new coach Mike Trapasso at last night's Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Although his son, Rob, pushed him in a wheelchair to accept his induction award last night, Murakami appeared to be recovering from the stroke he suffered Nov. 2, 2000.

He paused twice during his acceptance speech, but completed it without a problem.

"With all the great coaches and athletes Hawaii has had," Murakami told the gathering, "I feel fortunate to have been selected."

Murakami said his therapy is helping him.

"One year from now, I'll be up and walking around," he said afterward.

Gouveia, who recently completed a 13-year NFL career that included Super Bowl wins in 1988 and 1992, said he hopes to continue as a coach.

"I'm working on my resume," said the Waianae graduate who lives in San Diego. "I'm being selective right now, applying to the teams I know, the Chargers and the Redskins, but I might have to be less selective."

One of Gouveia's sweetest memories is also a painful one -- when the Redskins won the 1988 Super Bowl, Gouveia, then a special teams player, was suffering from appendicitis without even knowing it.

"It got really bad on the plane the next day," he said. "That's when we realized what it was."

The 1992 Super Bowl didn't hurt as much, and Gouveia played a bigger role. He was a starting linebacker and returned an interception for a touchdown to seal the Redskins' victory over the Buffalo Bills.

Parker, who was represented by his widow, Leilani, was a huge force in martial arts in the 1970s. He is considered the father of American kenpo karate. The Kamehameha graduate was a consultant and actor in many martial arts movies.

Oberg, a resident of Kauai, was one of the top female surfers in the 1970s. She was a world champion at age 15.

Rowan was sumo's first yokozuna, or grand champion, born outside of Japan. He is now helping another Hawaii-born sumo legend, Jesse Kuhaulua, train sumotori in Japan.