[ JIM DOOLE / FORMER PUNAHOU COACH ]
Star pitcher passed
expertise to students
Jim Doole, a longtime teacher, coach and administrator at Punahou School, died Monday at his home in Las Vegas. He was 80.
Doole was also known locally as an outstanding pitcher in the 1950s and is associated with two perfect games.
In 1952, pitching for the Rural Red Sox of the Hawaii League, Doole outdueled Don Larsen of the Fort Shafter Commandos, 2-0. Four years later, Larsen pitched a perfect game for the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series.
Doole was connected more closely to one of the greatest achievements in Hawaii baseball history. In 1972 he was the Punahou pitching coach when Glenn Goya threw a perfect game against Saint Louis in the Hawaii high school state championship game.
Retired Buffanblu athletic director Doug Bennett was head coach of that Buffanblu team.
"He taught pitchers to move your fastball, nibble here and there and have an off-speed pitch, and batters will always be off on their timing. That's what guys like Goya learned from him," Bennett said. "Even in the '70s we'd get him to throw some batting practice. He'd get on the mound and make you look stupid. His style was like that of Greg Maddux. Great control. He only had one pitch. It was a strike."
Doole played baseball with Ted Williams and other major-leaguers and was a fighter pilot in the Marines in World War II. After the war he graduated from Dartmouth and moved to Hawaii, where he took a job as a Spanish teacher at Punahou in 1947. He later taught English and was longtime dean at the school. Doole, who was from Chelmsford, Mass., also earned a master's degree from Harvard.
"He was an old-school straight shooter," Bennett said. "Tell it like it is, tell the truth. But he loved kids. Once they understood him, they had a good rapport."
Doole also had stints as head basketball and baseball coach at Punahou.
"Those of us who played for him recall that everything had to be done correctly -- dress, warm-up, thinking, anticipating," said Paul Wysard, retired Punahou vice president and treasurer. "It was a superb learning experience."
Doole is survived by wife Patricia, son Kimo and daughters Wendy and Pam.
A memorial gathering is scheduled for March 25, 9 a.m. at the Elks Club in Waikiki. The family asks for no flowers. Friends may make donations to charities of their choice instead.
