GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Pearl City High School assistant basketball coach Michael Pang worked with his players in the high school's gym, above. In a photo from his private collection, bottom right, Pang, then age 11, posed with UCLA's Reggie Miller and California's Kevin Johnson during the 1987 Rainbow Classic.
Mike tries Although Michael Pang considers himself "a product of the Michael Jordan Era," when it came time to choose a role model, former Phoenix Suns guard Kevin Johnson was an easy choice.
to be like KJ
Pearl City assistant coach
Michael Pang was inspired
by a famous NBA pen palBy Jack Danilewicz
Special to the Star-Bulletin"He was a very good player and he was also very humble," said Pang. "He made himself available to people."
Among the individuals Johnson was accessible to was Pang, who today serves as a girls junior varsity assistant coach to Susan Amaral at Pearl City. He also just completed his seventh season on Lionel Villarmia's staff with the boys varsity program.
Johnson's influence can be seen at every level Pang coaches.
"Hopefully, I can have the same impact on others that he had on me," said Pang.
The Pang-Johnson friendship dates back to a spring day in the late 1980s. Johnson, who was then a senior at the University of California, had just competed in the Aloha Classic at the Blaisdell Arena, and Pang was a wide-eyed sixth-grader who had taken an interest in basketball by way of television.
"Michael Jordan was exciting to watch, and just seeing him on television got me interested in basketball," said Pang. "He changed everything. At the Aloha Classic, when Kevin Johnson came out from the locker room and sat down by me, I asked him for his autograph and we started talking. It was a thrill to meet him, and he gave me his address at college, and we were pen pals for a while.
COURTESY PANG FAMILY / 1987 "Then I read that he had been drafted (by the Cleveland Cavaliers), and we kept in touch while he was playing," he continued. "I didn't tell people about it. It was something that was personal to me. I would write to him and tell him what I was up to, and he would write back and do the same. We wrote each other several times, but eventually he got busier and busier and his letters got a little shorter. But he still found time to write back."
Often Johnson's advice had as much to do with good shot selection on a basketball court as with good selections in everyday life.
"He would encourage me to do the best in school and in playing basketball," recalled Pang, who teaches at Ilima Intermediate in Ewa Beach. "He played the same position as me -- point guard -- and I tried to do the same things he did as far as his style of play. But what he was really into was the school part. He told me to keep up with the books. If you don't get a scholarship, academics will be the thing that will open doors for you."
Fueled in part by his famous friend, Pang became a regular fixture at Hoaeae Park in Waipahu, playing pick-up basketball games.
"I used to get out of school, go play basketball, and I wouldn't get home until around 7 p.m.," said Pang. "In high school, I'd do the same thing, and I wouldn't come home sometimes until around 9:30. My life revolved around basketball. I'd been playing since the seventh grade, but I really got into it in my freshman year. I didn't play on a team until my sophomore year."
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Michael Chang has a still life composition of letters, photos and memorabilia of former college and NBA star Kevin Johnson.
Eventually, Pang became the starting point guard for Pearl City.
"I don't know if I was coachable. ... I was still learning to play with a team, but I tried to do everything that the coaches asked of me," he laughed, down-playing his career. "I was OK."
After graduation, Pang enrolled at the University of Hawaii. He also began coaching at Pearl City under Villarmia, who had been his own varsity coach.
"I wanted to coach, so I got a bachelor's in P.E. I also knew I couldn't play forever," Pang said.
By the time Johnson's career was complete, he was the Suns' all-time leader in assists (6,518) and third in scoring (12,747 points). His career assist average (minimum 400 games) of 9.5 ranks fourth in the NBA behind only Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson and John Stockton. He still holds a pair of NBA playoff records for most consecutive free throws made (21) and minutes played (62 in a triple-overtime game against the Chicago Bulls in 1993.
Today, Johnson oversees St. Hope Academy, an after-school program that he founded for kids in Sacramento, Calif.
Like Johnson, Pang is interested in utilizing basketball to make a difference in the lives of others. His advice to kids at Pearl City often echoes the same sentiments he received from Johnson while a kid himself.
"I try to push it (academics) as much as possible," said Pang. "I tell them, 'you have to manage your time and hit the books and study.' I like the process of helping kids to become better basketball players and better people. A lot of my own coaches gave of their spare time to work with me, so coaching was a way for me to give back."
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