Report Title:

Renames Rainbow Stadium to Les Murakami Stadium

WHEREAS, the 2001 University of Hawaii baseball season takes on a special meaning; and

WHEREAS, on Nov. 2, 2000, Head Coach Les Murakami suffered a significant stroke that for all intents and purpose has taken away his opportunity to finish his thirty-first and final season donning the green, white, and orange; and

WHEREAS, the 2001 season was to be one of Coach Murakami riding off into the horizon saying Aloha and Mahalo along the way to all of his colleagues and friends; and

WHEREAS, Coach Murakami took over the reins of the program, which was only a club sport prior to his appointment, and turned a one-year contract into more than thirty years of top quality collegiate baseball; and

WHEREAS, through Coach Murakami’s efforts, the program has gone from nothing in the early years to national prominence in the late 1970s, culminating in the Rainbows trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska in 1980; and

WHEREAS, the University of Hawaii baseball program which turned into an all-collegiate schedule in 1975 under Coach Murakami's direction, enjoyed success like no other as the Rainbows posted just one losing season (1997) with fourteen seasons collecting 40 or more wins, including six 50- and two 60-win campaigns; and

WHEREAS, Coach Murakami brought the program national notoriety in 1980 when the Rainbows made their first and only trip to the College World Series, falling one win short of the national title to Arizona; and

WHEREAS, since entering the Western Athletic Conference, the University of Hawaii baseball program under Coach Murakami has captured six league titles—1980, ‘82, ‘84, '87, ‘91, and ‘92; and

WHEREAS, this early success prompted the erection of Rainbow Stadium in l984, which is one of the finest baseball facilities in the country; and

WHEREAS, Coach Murakami's winning teams helped draw record-setting crowds; and

WHEREAS, since 1984, the University of Hawaii baseball program has averaged 134,808 fans a season, including 223 sellouts; and

WHEREAS, on the average, the University of Hawaii has filled approximately 69 percent of the stadium, a figure topped by no other University of Hawaii sports program; and

WHEREAS, the 1998 season was a milestone, with the two-millionth fan gracing the turnstiles; and

WHEREAS, Coach Murakami has been quoted as saying, "The number one highlight of my career has been the building of Rainbow Stadium. It gave us an edge in recruiting and consequently made us more competitive nationally. The stadium has also given the University and the State a great deal of prestige. I got a ton of phone calls about Arkansas’ stadium (Baum Stadium at Cole Field) being rated No. 1 by a publication. Every phone call said that it was no comparison to ours; which just reiterated what we have known all along,"; and

WHEREAS, Coach Murakami is the "Dean of Coaches" at the University of Hawaii and as such, has been named the Hawaii Sportsman-of-the-Year in both 1977 and 1980; in 1981, he was selected as the recipient of the Lefty Gomez Award for his contributions to amateur baseball; in 1986, Coach Murakami was named the NCAA District Coach-of-the-Year; and in 1987 and 1991, he was chosen as the WAC Coach-of-the-Year; and

WHEREAS, last season, on January 7, 2000, Coach Murakami entered the American Baseball Coaches' Association’s Hall of Fame; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, that in light of significant contributions made by Head Coach Les Murakami over the past thirty years to the University of Hawaii baseball program and to the State, the University of Hawaii is requested to rename the Rainbow Baseball Stadium in honor of Head Coach Les Murakami; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, the President of the University of Hawaii, the Athletic Director of the University of Hawaii, and the University of Hawaii Rainbow Baseball Team.