The colpo di fulmine — the love-at-first-sight lightning bolt made famous in “The Godfather” — struck at the corner of Kapiolani Boulevard and University Avenue in 1980.

It was there that two transfers into the Hawaii men’s volleyball program had a random meeting with four members of the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team.

“You see that girl? That’s Diane Sebastian,” Tom Pestolesi told his Huntington Beach (Calif.) High classmate Dan Moorhouse. “I’m going to marry her someday.”

The “question” was popped that day — the marriage proposal came several years later — but Pestolesi did get what was then the more pressing answer. The easiest way to the beach was over the McCully Street bridge and down to the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Pestolesi joked that he chased his future wife from that day — literally — because the Wahine players were on bikes and he and Moorhouse were on foot. It’s a story that was shared at the wedding in 1985, where Moorhouse was the best man.

Nearly 36 years, a combined four All-American awards and three children later, the Pestolesis were back in Hawaii with a dual purpose. On Thursday, Dr. Diane Sebastian Pestolesi — dean of the school of nursing at Saddleback (Calif.) College — was honored as one of 60 outstanding alumni at the UH School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene’s 60th Anniversary Gala; husband Tom was finishing up paperwork that would allow him to realize one of his professional dreams: that of being on staff with his former coach and mentor Dave Shoji.

Tom Pestolesi will be back in a few weeks as an unpaid volunteer assistant while on sabbatical from his teaching and coaching job at Irvine Valley (Calif.) College. It’s part of the 56-year-old’s continuing education plan where he believes that teaching and coaching are one and the same.

“Being able to be back here is an awesome opportunity,” Pestolesi said. “Things happen here that don’t happen anywhere else.

“You’re on the mainland with big-time programs and they think 1,500 is a big crowd. Here, 1,500 is like no one showing up. The atmosphere in the arena is so cool. Who else has a blimp flying around and dropping coupons? It’s a special place.”

Pestolesi has enjoyed much success at Irvine Valley, founding the men’s program in 1991, leading the Lasers to three state titles. Hired full-time at IVC in 1998 to coach both the men’s and women’s indoor teams, he spearheaded the movement to add women’s beach volleyball at the California junior college level with collegiate status coming in 2014, a year after IVC won the state club title.

IVC’s women broke through with their first indoor title in 2014 behind two-time AVCA national two-year college player of the year Annie Mitchem, an incoming senior at Hawaii, finishing 27-0. The Lasers then doubled up in the calendar school year winning both team and individual pairs state championships.

Pestolesi, IVC’s director of volleyball and assistant men’s coach, said it was a tough decision to leave his wife and IVC job for five months. He sought guidance from Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy, who had taken similar leaves of absence to coach the U.S. men’s national and Olympic teams.

“Marv asked, ‘Will you ever get this opportunity again?,” Pestolesi recalls. “When I said ‘no’ he said then you tell your players what you’re doing, hug it out and move on.

“I’m very appreciative and grateful that Diane has agreed to this.”

In their nearly 31 years of marriage, Diane Pestolesi estimates that the couple has never been apart longer than 10 days. That her husband would be in Hawaii without her wasn’t part of the original plan.

“We had talked about how cool would it be if we both took sabbaticals and were working at UH,” said Diane Pestolesi, a member of the 1979 AIAW national championship team and UH Sports Circle of Honor inductee. “Him with volleyball, me doing something with UH nursing. Then this new job happened for me and there was no sabbatical.

“It’s something he’s always wanted to do and he kept on that path.”

Tom Pestolesi’s career road also has included working with the men’s and women’s national volleyball teams. His relationship with Shoji — who coached the UH men’s team from 1979-85 — has become even closer with both of Shoji’s sons on the U.S. national team.

“He will bring a vast amount of experience and knowledge to our practice gym,” Shoji said.

There’s quite a bit of trust that is accompanied by that respect. Shoji will leave the week before the Wahine open fall camp on Aug. 8, going to Rio de Janeiro where sons Kawika and Erik are expected to be on the U.S. Olympic roster.

Pool play is Aug. 7-15 with the medal round Aug. 17-21. The Wahine open the season on Aug. 26 when hosting Wisconsin.