StarBulletin.com

Kailua's Victor steps down


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POSTED: Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Bernard Victor, 82, has seen a few victories and defeats in his career.

After 32 years with Kailua's softball program, including four state crowns as a head coach and six more as an assistant, Victor retired recently. That doesn't mean he won't be coaching, though.

“;My grandson is 5. He's going to start playing,”; Victor said of Kaimi. “;My son signed him up for soccer.”;

Victor has coached youth soccer and baseball and high school softball. A common thread exists.

“;Discipline. That's the key: discipline, or else they're not going to listen to you anyway,”; he said. “;If you have discipline, you can go a long way.”;

Victor's teams won six Oahu Interscholastic Association championships, the most recent in 2006. He started with the Surfriders as assistant to Howard Okita, who guided Kailua to six titles before Victor took over. Okita went on to Hawaii Pacific College, now called HPU.

“;Before, you could coach Bobby Sox and high school. Now they don't like,”; Victor said. “;Howard and I coached in high school and college at the same time, two or three years.”;

Victor played fast-pitch, as many as four games per week. He also coached five sons in Little League.

Now, he has Kaimi to coach. Mae, his wife, will keep him busy, too. “;She's always been good about my coaching,”; he said.

National baseball power in town

Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, the No. 4-ranked high school baseball team in the nation, opens a four-day swing on Oahu today with a doubleheader against state champion Punahou at Les Murakami Stadium starting at 4:30 p.m.

The Gaels play 'Iolani tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Hans L'Orange Park. On Friday, the visitors meet Kamehameha at 4:30 p.m. and Kailua at 7 p.m., again at Hans L'Orange.

They'll finish up against Kamehameha (9 a.m.) and Saint Louis (noon) on Saturday at Hans L'Orange.

AD conference comes to Oahu

The Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association (HIADA) usually has its annual meeting on a neighbor island. This year the roughly 100 ADs are here, with meetings at the Ala Moana Hotel beginning tomorrow and running through Saturday.

As usual, classification is expected to be a hot topic.