Stan Sheriff Center: Memories of Hawaii volleyball’s Shoji becoming the all-time winningest coach

There were so many milestones in Dave Shoji’s illustrious 42-season career that Hawaii didn’t do a big celebration for most. Except for perhaps the 1,000th victory, the climb up the coaching wins list almost was treated as a footnote, an “oh by the way” congratulatory announcement at the end a match that marked another century number.

Some of it might have been what some considered the bachi of 1992 where there was a cake for what was supposed to be Shoji’s 500th win. That ended up in the trash can inside Klum Gym after eventual NAIA champion Brigham Young-Hawaii stunned the Wahine in four sets, a loss that many point to as the reason Hawaii was not selected for the NCAA tournament, the only time the Wahine were not in the postseason.

Hawaii’s record didn’t help, neither did that the tournament was 32 teams (it expanded to 48 the following season). That injury-plagued year with its resulting 15-12 record was the closest Hawaii came to a .500 season during Shoji’s tenure.

The second weekend of the 2013 season featured the Hawaiian Airlines Classic with a stacked field of New Mexico State (UH’s former WAC rival), Santa Clara and longtime rival UCLA. The Wahine were coming off a surprising five-set loss to San Diego in the title match of the Chevron Invitational.

Our newspaper was planning a big spread for Shoji’s all-time coaching wins accomplishment but we didn’t know when it would happen … vs. Santa Clara or UCLA (which would have made for the better story since Shoji was poised to pass retired Bruins coach Andy Banachowski) — or would it have to wait until the following week.

In a lead-up article, I interviewed Banachowski about his record being broken by Shoji, his coaching friend and rival since 1975. Banachowski had a lot of memories to share but he did not share during that phone conversation that he was planning to be in the arena that weekend to personally congratulate Dave on the new record. I believe I learned it from UCLA coach Mike Sealy, Hawaii’s former associate head coach.

I think one of the things that both Shoji and Banachowski shared was humility. Banachowski wanted it to be Shoji’s night and didn’t want to take away from the focus if he became too big of a part of the story.

They shook hands at the end of the match, two gentlemen and coaching legends who had helped establish and grow the sport since the 1970s.

Shoji picked up No. 1,107 on Sept. 6, 2013, a four-set win over Santa Clara that checks in at No. 5 in the Star-Advertiser’s Stan Sheriff Center 25th-anniversary countdown of most memorable events.