The stories about BJ Itoman differ depending on who is asked, but those who know the University of Hawaii women’s basketball all-time assists leader come to the same general description of her.

Smart with a strong work ethic — both on and off the court.

“She’s the hardest-working player we’ve ever had,” former UH coach Vince Goo said. “Not just in basketball. In academics, as a citizen of the community, just a great role model.”

Itoman has since made a transition from playmaker to pilot, flying in the Air National Guard and commercially for Hawaiian Airlines. The 45-year-old is now a lieutenant colonel in charge of a C-17 airlift squadron.

“For a long time in my career, I took for granted what we are able to do in military flying,” Itoman said in a phone interview last week. “We get paid to get the best training, and the flying that we get to do, you’d never get to do on the civilian side.”

“It’s been a pretty amazing experience to be able to do what we do and then contribute to the state and national mission while flying around the world and spending time with the people of our squadron, who we get to know pretty well over our careers.”

Playing professionally or becoming a physical therapist were other paths Itoman contemplated as her playing career at UH wound down, but flying was an option that presented itself with some help from her brother Ryan.

“My brother had come back from pilot training and he talked to me about it,” Itoman said. “He thought being a pilot would be something that I would enjoy. I hadn’t thought about it until he talked to me about it.”

Ryan convinced BJ to apply for the next undergraduate pilot training board for the Hawaii National Guard, and she was picked up off the first board. Unlike Ryan, who flew fighter jets, BJ flew large aircraft.

“That seemed like the better path and fit for me, and I have been happy with that,” she said.

Workout Warrior

There are different accounts of how many 3-pointers Itoman shot every day of the summer between her freshman and sophomore seasons at UH.

Goo says it was about 500 per day. A Honolulu Star-Bulletin article stated 800. Itoman isn’t too sure which offseason took place, let alone how many shots it was.

“I knew we counted the shots one day for an estimate.,” she said. “I remember (assistant coaches) Da (Houl) and Serenda (Valdez) always being my rebounders to help me get the reps in to work on my outside shot. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

The outside shot was perhaps the only weak point of Itoman’s game at that point. Dating back to her prep days at ‘Iolani, Itoman was regarded as a nimble defender and playmaker with a high basketball IQ, but the outside shot didn’t develop until after her freshman season at UH, in which she shot 1-for-19 from behind the 3-point line.

“I told her, ‘BJ, you made only one more 3-pointer than I did and I didn’t even play,’” Goo recalled. “That kind of got her anger up a little bit.”

Itoman’s response was not just to work on shooting 3-pointers every day, but to also continue her workouts in the weight room and on the track.

“She would be in the gym for hours and drenched with sweat,” former UH guard Nani Cockett said. “We practiced in Klum (Gym) and she’d go through two pairs of practice jerseys because she was soaking wet.”

Itoman’s hard work paid off for herself and her teammates, as she finished her career in the school’s top five for most 3-pointers made with 84.

“Once she got her outside shot, she became more of a threat offensively, and then that eased up some of the pressure for myself and for Raylene Howard and Kylie (Page) Galloway,” Cockett added. “We were able to take more shots because they couldn’t leave BJ open anymore.”

As a player, Itoman was one of the quickest and smartest players on the basketball court. Her 265 steals are second all-time in program history behind Cockett, and she was named to the Western Athletic Conference All-Defensive Team in her final three seasons.

“The thing about BJ, she was so quick and fast that even against bigs — she’d come in and get rebounds because she was so quick. If the bigs got a rebound, she’d hit it up and take it away from their hands,” Goo said. “They’d try to dribble it, she’d steal the dribble.”

“The best defensive player I ever had,” Goo added. “Kind of felt sorry for the other point guards because she’d stay after them the whole game. You’d see the point guards come out for the second half like, ‘Oh my goodness, I got to face BJ again.’ She’s really a terror.”

“I’d hate to go one-on-one with her full court because she was so scrappy — even in high school — she would dig deep and just defend the ball with the best of them,” Cockett said.

As relentless a defender as Itoman was, her reputation as a pest was the opposite of her personality.

Goo described her as humble. Cockett said she was quiet and low-key.

“We did have to get her to speak a lot more on the court because that’s not her role,” Valdez said. “Her role was more ‘play by example’. She did get out of her comfort zone and started speaking up a little bit more, but it took a few years.”

“Whenever Vince would give the kids free time on the road, once in a while, he would be like ‘Check on BJ, make sure she gets out of her room,’” Valdez added. “Because if not, she’d stay in there and study the whole time. We had to get her out once in a while to have fun.”

Academic excellence

Twenty years ago, it was rare for student-athletes to enter college with more than 10 credits earned during high school. Itoman earned 21 while she was at ‘Iolani, and already had sophomore standing by her second semester of college.

That meant a decision had to be made about what to major in. Itoman wasn’t sure, so she consulted Valdez, the assistant coach who managed the team’s academics.

“She said she was confused and worried because she wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to major in,” said Valdez, who now works in UH’s student-athlete services department. “I kind of laughed because I looked at her and said, ‘BJ, you’re so academically driven and intelligent.’

“Sometimes you have people that maybe aren’t as smart or brilliant or dedicated as you, and there are only a few areas that they can major in because they can’t handle it academically,” Valdez continued. “I told her, ‘You can handle any major you want academically, so stop worrying and stop being so concerned. Turn it into a positive.’”

Itoman ended up majoring in kinesiology and health exercise science. She did a summer internship in physical therapy but questioned whether she wanted to do that for the remainder of her life.

“What interested me about (flying) was that it didn’t seem like it would be a desk job, and it was more of a performance job, which is similar to sports and kind of what I’ve done my whole life,” Itoman said. “I think that kind of intrigued me. Now, I do a lot of office and admin stuff on the military side — which I find very rewarding — but that’s what made it sound interesting to me. It was like a performance-based type of occupation that would be different every day. You kind of go out there and do something versus sit behind a desk.”

On the court, Itoman’s basketball IQ meant she found her teammates at the right time.

“She’d know how to dish the ball and when to take her shots when she was open,” Cockett said. “She’s always in the right place at the right time, she knew when and who was open.”

Career taking flight

Itoman has been in the National Guard since 2000 — she had her first training course in 2002 — flying C-17s (and its predecessor, C-130).

“It’s a very tactical and fun aircraft to fly, and the mission is dynamic,” she said about the C-130. “That was something my brother recommended, that it would be a fun mission for me that would still be challenging and keep my interest for the long haul.”

Missions for larger aircraft like the C-17s and C-130s focus on delivering troops and cargo to places across the world, but the ones Itoman described as the most rewarding were humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

“I was able to fly out to Samoa when they had the big tsunami (in 2009) and we were some of the first aircraft to go out and respond and take water and supplies that they needed,” she said. “That was very rewarding.”

Itoman works in the National Guard, but she left full-time status in 2017 and joined Hawaiian Airlines, flying interisland commercial flights, which provides her the flexibility to spend time with her two sons.

“I really just wanted a way to be able to balance my life a little more and be able to be there for them more than I was,” Itoman said. “That’s kind of the big factor that helped me decide to leave full-time with the Guard and go to Hawaiian.”

The difference with a part-time status is that she has the option to take a break if she needs it.

“I’m hoping that after this command assignment that maybe I can take a bit of a breather,” she said. “But knowing me, I’ll struggle with throttling back.”

“I’ve been very fortunate to have so many opportunities available to me throughout my life. Because of things like Title IX, I was able to go to college on a full scholarship,” Itoman said. “It’s just one example of the opportunities that I’ve been able to take advantage of, because of others who have put in the groundwork ahead of me. I entered a career that is more male dominant — and still more male dominant today — but the numbers of females are growing each year, which is nice to see.”

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BlytheJeanne “BJ” Itoman

University of Hawaii women’s basketball player (1995–1999)

Education

‘Iolani School

University of Hawaii, Bachelor of Science in kinesiology and health exercise science

Highlights

>> Pilot in the Hawaii Air National Guard (2000–present)

>> Holds the rank of lieutenant colonel, serving part-time since 2017

>> First female flying squadron commander for the Hawaii Air National Guard

>> Pilot for Hawaiian Airlines (2017–present)

>> First-team All-Western Athletic Conference Pacific Division (1999)

>> Two-time second-team All-Western Athletic Conference Pacific Division (1997, 1998)

>> Three-time Western Athletic Conference All-Defensive Team – Pacific (1997–99)

>> Big West All-Freshman (1996)

>> Two-time Honolulu Advertiser All-State Player of the Year (1994, 1995)

June 23, 2022, marked the 50th anniversary of Title IX. To commemorate this watershed event, the Star-Advertiser will publish a series of stories celebrating the achievements of female pioneers and leaders with Hawaii ties.

Click here to view the Title IX series.