Alumni are The number of Hawaii Rainbow baseball alumni grows each season and is close to 400 since former head coach Les Murakami took over the program in 1971.
everywhere
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comYesterday afternoon 27 of them put on the cleats again, limbered up the arms, tested the legs, sucked it up and played the 2003 Rainbows.
Here is what a number of former 'Bows are doing now.
Paul Ah Yat (1994-96) is working as a legislative session staff aide for Rep. Galen Fox. Ah Yat says he might consider running for public office sometime in the future.
Bill Blanchette (1990-92) is an air-traffic controller working out of Los Angeles. The left-handed pitcher/first baseman controls the air space east of Las Vegas.
Trey Garman (1993-94) is the marketing manager for Team Unlimited which owns and produces Xterra off-road triathlons, including the world championship on Maui.
Moku Paiva (1990-93) is with the Honolulu Police Department assigned to the crime reduction unit in Waikiki. He was primarily a relief pitcher during his Rainbow days.
Howard Dashefsky (1979-82), the first baseman on the 1980 College World Series team, is a news anchor with KHNL.
Ron Nomura (1976-79), an iron-man catcher during his playing days, is the vice principal at Pohakea Elementary School in Ewa Beach.
Darin Baker (1999-2000), an outfielder, is a drug counselor for a private, non-profit organization in Reno, Nev.
Danny Kimura (2000-01), who handled the hot corner, graduated from UH in December and is now taking courses in fire science at Honolulu Community College.
Kawika Aganos (1989, 1993) is a sales representative for Business Equipment.
Matt Apana (1991-93), a right-hander who reached the Triple A level in the Seattle farm system, teaches travel and tour business courses at Waipahu High School and is working on his masters in education.
Another right-hander, Maui's Brady Perreira (1989-92), has been with the Honolulu Fire Department for almost four years and is assigned to the Kaneohe station.
Kelsey Isa (1983-86), a shortstop who played half a summer in the Chicago White Sox farm system, is an installer for Oceanic Cable.
Steve Otani (1988-91), who played second base and has a well-manicured yard at his Hawaii Kai home, is a sixth grade teacher at Kailua Elementary School. He has been teaching for 10 years.
Tyler Cheff (1991-94) teaches physics and biology at Leilehua High School. The former catcher who played briefly in the Cleveland system is an assistant baseball coach with the Mules.
Todd Koishigawa (1997) is involved with the family business which operates a Long John Silver's/A&W franchise.
Lars Hansen (1996-99) is working toward becoming a branch manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
John Matias (1986-89) is president of Island Shoppers, which operates airport gift shops at the Honolulu and Maui airports.
Kenny Harrison (1990-93) is a manager/sales executive in advertising with Oahu Publications.
Three members of the Rainbows' 1980 College World Series team, now in their 40s, are married with families and doing well on the mainland.
Chuck Crim (1980-82) moved his family back to Southern California from Missouri and is in the process of establishing Chuck Crim's Big League Baseball Camps. This will be a two-fold operation. He has torn up his in-laws' tennis court, put turf down, built a pitchers mound and once the facility is completely screened in, that will be for private tutoring.
Crim also plans to get a big trailer, fill it with equipment and instructional machines, and conduct two-day clinics throughout the area.
"We (Chuck and wife Deanne) laugh about our new life as baseball gypsies," said Crim, a freshman right-hander who was 15-0 in that magical CWS season.
Bryan Duquette (1980-82), who beat the Texas Longhorns in Austin to send the Rainbows to Omaha, has operated his own business, Bryan's Automotive, in a 4,000 square foot building in Lubbock, Texas, the past seven years.
"Every year in January I think about the alumni game and the times I had playing for the Rainbows. I still have my glove," said Duquette. "Those were the best three years of my life before I had a family. The people there were always so gracious and supportive. I have very fond memories of Hawaii."
Thad Reece (1978-81) is the youth pastor for the Porterville (Calif.) Believers Church and has been serving in that capacity for 12 years. The Rainbows second baseman in 1980, Reece starts his sixth season as head baseball coach at Porterville High School soon.
There is more news about former Rainbows on the mainland.
Corey Miller (1999) is working for a new company started by former major-league player Jim Lefebvre that evaluates high school baseball players in an attempt to enhance their chances of receiving a college athletic scholarship. Each player's personal, academic, athletic and physical information along with results of several physical performance tests are entered into a data base. These profiles are then made available to college coaches.
"We have about 550 coaches signed up. Most are with NCAA Division II and NAIA schools because they don't have big recruiting budgets," said Miller. "Right now we focus on California but hope to expand to other states in the future."
Rob Amble (1981-82) has been the head baseball coach at Liberty H.S. in Bakersfield, Calif., for four years. Prior to that he was head coach at Bakersfield H.S. for seven years. His teams have qualified for the California Interscholastic Federation Central Section Valley playoffs all 11 years and reached the final once.
He teaches special education/adaptive physical education.
Amble was the starting right fielder for the 'Bows in 1982 when he was spiked in the face in a collision with the second baseman chasing a short fly ball. A freshman from Seattle named Chuck Jackson filled in so well, Amble never regained the starting job. He transferred to Azusa Pacific and was named NAIA Player of the Year as a senior in 1984. He still holds four APU single-season records.
Jason Ross (1994-96), out of professional baseball for a year, is planning to move his family in May from Virginia to California where he intends to complete his degree requirements according to his sister-in-law, UH volleyball player Nohea Tano.
Dan Penner (1982-84) is the athletic director and head baseball coach at Frazier Mountain High School in Frazier, Calif.
Dusty Bergman (1997-99), a left-handed pitcher, has been invited to spring training with the Anaheim Angels as a nonroster player.
Todd Takayoshi (1988-91) will head to spring training to start his second season as hitting coach for Cedar Rapids in the Midwest League.
Left-hander Aaron Pribble is working out here and reports to the San Angelo (Texas) Colts in the independent Central League.
