One more time … with feeling.
Over a storied 42-year career, Dave Shoji built a fledgling University of Hawaii women’s volleyball program into one renowned for sustained excellence, celebrating 25 conference championships and four national titles along the way.
Among the few elements missing from his legacy: a sendoff befitting one of collegiate volleyball’s iconic figures.
Until Sunday, that is.
The timing and circumstances of Shoji’s retirement precluded an on-court farewell last season, so Sunday’s “Aloha Ball” celebration at the Stan Sheriff Center provided an opportunity for a mutually fond farewell between the longtime coach, former players and staff, and the program’s devoted fan base.
“It’s pretty overwhelming right now,” a lei-covered Shoji said amid well-wishers in a reception prior to the formal program.
“I’ve got so much to be thankful for, I don’t know if I can actually put it into words tonight. I can’t actually thank all the people I need to thank and hug. I’ll do my best, but I know I’m not going to do it justice tonight.”
Shoji had annually watched his players savor only-in-Hawaii senior night ceremonies and was the honoree in cake and silly-string celebrations commemorating landmark victories while amassing the second-most wins in NCAA women’s volleyball history.
He was the focus again Sunday with a carpet and tables covering the Stan Sheriff Center court where the Rainbow Wahine recorded 404 of Shoji’s 1,202 career victories.
The gathering included close to 60 former players spanning four decades, with others sending in video tributes, and members of the current team.
“The turnout, the alumni coming back, shows the impact this program and Dave has had on so many players’ lives,” said former UH All-American and newly hired assistant coach Angelica Ljungqvist. “He has been important to so many of us.”
Robyn Ah Mow-Santos attested to that impact as an All-American setter, a UH assistant coach and as Shoji’s successor as head coach.
“This is his legacy. He’s built volleyball in Hawaii, and it’s great we can actually send him off,” said Ah Mow-Santos, who joined with Ljungqvist and other alumnae in bouncing Shoji through the “cookie machine” one more time. “He’s been a crucial pivot point in my life period. I didn’t know if I wanted to go to college, and he took a chance on me … and coming back, him taking a chance on me being on his coaching staff is huge, also.”
After former Rainbow Wahine player Ashley Watanabe kicked off the festivities by singing the national anthem and “Hawaii Pono‘i,” former local and ESPN anchor Larry Beil emceed a program featuring testimonials from former players and media members and video messages from some of his fiercest rivals in coaching, including UCLA’s Andy Banachowski, Long Beach State’s Brian Gimmillaro and John Dunning, who coached against Shoji at Pacific and Stanford. The “aunties” attended in their customary seats in a corner of the arena, lei, laminated signs and all.
The night of memories, laughs and some tears came close to six months after the Rainbow Wahine celebrated the program’s 14th straight senior night win — a four-set victory over UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 19 — with Shoji leaving the Sheriff Center court not yet sure it would be his last on the UH bench.
Nine days after ending the season with a loss to Minnesota in the second round of the NCAA tournament, Shoji revealed he would take a leave of absence to undergo treatment for prostate cancer.
“I’ve had great doctors. I feel great. People tell me I look great,” Shoji told the crowd. “I’ve got a lot of energy, I’m exercising, I’m eating well. So everything is really, really good right now.”
Shoji announced his retirement Feb. 20 while UH simultaneously introduced Ah Mow-Santos as the program’s third head coach.
“Once it happened I was the happiest guy in the world,” Shoji said. “I thought we had a great coach, I thought it was the right time for me to leave and I’m just going to enjoy retirement and be a big fan now.”
Proceeds from Sunday’s event benefit the Rainbow Wahine volleyball program and the Dave and Mary Shoji Scholarship Endowment Fund.
“That was the only way I was going to agree to do something this big: It had to benefit the program,” Shoji said. “That is really why we’re doing this celebration.”
While Shoji may have been a reluctant honoree, the festivities also marked a bridge between the program’s history and its future.
“He’s so humble, he doesn’t really want the fanfare or notoriety, farewell tour,” said Kawika Shoji, Dave’s son and an Olympian along with his brother, Erik. “But I think it is important, and I think he is grateful for this night because it allows everyone to kind of have some closure.”
