How is greatness defined?
Not by the awards, the trophies that will rust over time, the certificates that will yellow with age, the records that will be broken as all ultimately are.
Greatness is in the intangibles that cannot be measured, statistics that never show up on any box score. It is the ability to lead by mere presence, the confidence that never crosses the line to conceit.
That is the greatness that was Kanani Danielson this year. The senior outside hitter for the Hawaii volleyball team is one of the Star-Advertiser’s 10 Who Made a Difference in 2011.
THEY MADE A DIFFERENCE
Every day through year’s end, the Star-Advertiser will recognize people who changed Hawaii in 2011. Some are familiar names; others shunned the spotlight. But all made a difference. The winners were chosen by Star-Advertiser editors from recommendations submitted by staff members and readers. |
Danielson led the Rainbow Wahine to a 31-2 record while pacing the team in kills (475), digs (359) and double-doubles (double figures in kills and digs in a single match) with 21.
The Kamehameha Schools graduate finished her career fifth on Hawaii’s all-time list in both kills (1,760) and digs (1,233), and was the seventh Wahine with at least 1,000 in both categories. She also was the sixth UH player to be named first-team All-America — with a third-team selection as a freshman — and the third three-time Western Athletic Conference player of the year.
But ask Wahine coach Dave Shoji what he’ll miss the most about Danielson and he says he isn’t anxious to find out.
"We won’t appreciate what she has meant until we don’t have her in the gym and on the court next year," said Shoji, the Wahine coach the past 37 years. "She is not replaceable. There’s not a player in the nation like her.
"She may be the best all-around player the program has ever had. You take the six volleyball skills and she is probably in the top five in all of them among all the players we’ve had. All athletes of this caliber have a quality about them. Very few people achieve what she has been able to achieve."
Danielson’s well-roundedness was not limited to the court. During the NCAA final four in San Antonio, she received the Lowes Senior CLASS (Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School) award for collegiate volleyball, an award determined by a selection process that included voting by coaches, media and fans.
Her classroom resume includes academic All-WAC and CoSIDA All-America. Among her numerous community service projects were the beach cleanups that including taking limu off reefs "so the reefs can keep growing," she said.
Her quiet leadership on the court spoke volumes to those on either side of the net.
"Her kind of leadership and dynamic is pretty special," Utah State coach Grayson DuBose said. "You don’t get to be an All-American because you’re lucky."
Tita Ahuna, captain of UH’s last title team in 1987, watched Danielson during the NCAA tournament’s first-round win over Northern Colorado. It was one All-American appreciating another.
"I would have loved to have played with her," Ahuna said. "She is outstanding."
