University of Hawaii swimming coach Victor Wales can vividly recount the moment he awarded walk-on Peter Chi a prized athletic scholarship.

“He shook my hand and told me, ‘Thanks, Coach, I won’t let you down,’ ” Wales said.

It was worth a smile then and deserving of warm, knowing remembrance now because, in two-plus years with the UH swim team, Chi, far from ever letting down his coach and team, helped hoist it to new heights as Conference USA champions.

The Waiakea High graduate was an inspirational figure in ways that make his sudden death Saturday of an apparent cardiac arrest just two weeks short of his 20th birthday even more tragic. UH said Chi, who had taken part in the first meet of the season Friday, was discovered unresponsive in his dorm room early Saturday and admitted to Straub Hospital, where he was eventually pronounced dead.

“He was a guy who was brought up with a great work ethic and determined to be successful in everything he did — school, swimming … ,” Wales said.

From a chance introduction at the state high school swim meet, Chi talked Wales into letting him try out for the UH swim team in 2010 as a walk-on. Then, through perseverance and long hours of toil, Chi not only made the team but earned a scholarship while also achieving scholar athlete status.

Men’s swimming awards just 81⁄2 scholarships, making each piece of one a valued acquisition. For a skinny 5-foot-11, 160-pound walk-on, it was badge of honor.

But Chi didn’t merely walk on as much as he moved into the hearts of those around the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex. His drive and the personality rubbing off not only on teammates, who twice voted him the team’s most inspirational athlete, but also the athletic department, which honored him as a representative of all its 19 teams.

“He was a happy guy with a mischievous side to him,” Wales said. “He could make you laugh so hard you’d be in tears.”

People around UH will tell you Chi had a quick mind and a remarkable ability to say the right thing at the right time. He could fire off a quip that perked up the tired or defused stressful moments. And he could also put slackers on notice with a piercing barb.

Mostly, though, he inspired by deed.

Like the time in January 2011, when UH was preparing for the C-USA championship and Wales found him in a hospital emergency room after Chi’s heart had stopped. He was being tested for what would eventually be diagnosed as Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (an abnormal extra electrical pathway of the heart that can lead to episodes of rapid heart rate) but told Wales, “Hey, don’t tell the guys, ’cause I wouldn’t want to do anything to distract them from winning the championship.”

At the time, Wales said, “he had no idea what had happened to him. All he knew was that his heart had stopped and he had almost died and here he is laying in a bed thinking about the team. That’s the kind of guy he was.”

A few weeks later in Houston, the ’Bows won the title, rallying around their stricken teammate.
Remarkably, several months later, Chi returned after rounds of tests, determined to be back in the pool when UH won its next title.

“He overcame a fear of getting back in the pool and working with a heart rate of 180-200 for hours a week because he loved it,” Wales said. “He loved swimming and he loved being part of the team.”

One he vowed never to let down, but one he was also determined to lift in performance and spirit.

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.