Before he let go the arching 25-foot buzzer-beater to upset Oral Roberts in the 2004 Rainbow Classic, a lot of thoughts flashed through sophomore Bobby Nash’s mind.

One of them, on a night when he was struggling mightily to find a shooting touch, was the sight of a supportive glance from the seats by the mauka tunnel at the Stan Sheriff Center.

“I saw my mom,” he would say later.

For 32 years, spread across parts of five decades, Domelynne Nash was a fixture around University of Hawaii basketball from Blaisdell Center to the Sheriff Center and beyond as a wife, mother and so much more.

The wife of former player and coach Bob Nash and mother of player Bobby III died Thursday night in San Diego, where she was visiting with family, friends said. She was 65.

“She was a special lady, someone whose heart was in Rainbow basketball over the years,” said the program’s winningest coach, Riley Wallace. “This is a big loss.”

Domelynne Lum was a UH cheerleader when she first met Bob, a member of the celebrated “Fabulous Five” team in the early 1970s, and later worked for United Airlines.

Her husband, who became known for the animated towel-waving on the bench as an assistant coach, once joked that he was picking up where his wife left off.

Fact was she never stopped. “She was always smiling, the most encouraging person you could meet,” said Derek Inouchi, UH sports information director. “She always had a good word for you.”

For her family that meant the steadfast encouragement to succeed in academics as well as athletics. She was a prime motivator in Bob’s returning to school after eight seasons in the pros, including three in the NBA, and his attaining a degree in education in 1984. Both of her children — Erika, who played volleyball at Bradley, and Bobby — earned graduate degrees at UH.

And she brooked no slacking in any arena. As Bobby liked to say, “My Dad’s not the one I worry about after we lose. It’s my mom.”

From her years around basketball she could tell when somebody was taking a play or two off or getting sloppy on fundamentals.

In a 2008 interview, she said, “I can see when (Bobby) rushes his shots. I can tell when he’s frustrated and doesn’t play his game. I can see when he’s lazy on defense,” she said. “When those things happen, I let him know.”

When Bob ascended to the head coaching job in 2007 Domelynne left no stone — or cushion, rug or piece of furniture — unturned to make sure Rainbow Warrior basketball presented itself in the best light.

The day Nash moved into the head coach’s office she was there bright and early to bring in plants to brighten up the place. At times, staffers said, she was not above vacuuming the offices when she thought it was needed.

With Bobby she would supply steadying encouragement through an exchange of little personal gestures over much of his career. And they were reciprocated.

In a 2008 Midweek interview Bobby said, “Every time I score or have a good play I give her a little wink and I tap my heart because that’s where my mom lives, so I want to let her know that.”

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