HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i Athletics Department has established the Spirit of the Rainbow Award to recognize individuals who demonstrated exceptional service and unwavering dedication to the department over their careers. Former longtime employees Margie Okimoto and Ed Inouye have been selected as the inaugural recipients of the award.
 
Okimoto and Inouye will receive their awards during the annual Green & White Celebration, May 18 at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. The award, which will be presented annually, was created to honor staff members who spent at least 25 years in the Athletics Department and retired from the university.
 
"Margie and Ed literally devoted decades to UH Athletics and we're honored to celebrate their lifetime of loyalty to the department as the first recipients of the Spirit of the Rainbow Award," said Acting UH Athletics Director Lois Manin.
 
"Although they largely worked behind the scenes, their day-to-day dedication made them invaluable members of the UH Athletics 'ohana and their efforts were widely respected and appreciated throughout the department."
 
Okimoto retired in 2009 after serving as secretary for six full-time Athletics Directors and two acting ADs over her 40-plus years in the department. At the time of her retirement, she was the longest tenured employee in UH Athletics Department history, having started her employment in 1969 under then-AD Paul Durham.
 
She started out working in a corner of a portable building and occupied her desk in the department offices from the opening of the current athletics complex in 1981 through her retirement. She was a constant presence as more than 500 employees and coaches passed through the department.
 
Over her four decades at UH, Okimoto witnessed a transformative era for the department, which gained NCAA Division I status in 1974. She saw the department's first NCAA team championships when the women's volleyball program claimed back-to-back titles in 1982 and '83. She was there for the football team's first Western Athletic Conference championship season and mainland bowl victory in 1992 and the unforgettable 2007 undefeated regular season and Sugar Bowl appearance.
 
Inouye joined UH Athletics as Sports Information Director in 1973 and remained in that role for 22 years, marking the longest stint for an SID in the department's history. Overall, he worked in the Athletics Department for 27 years before leaving UH in 2000.
 
Inouye had previously worked at Hawaii Hochi and United Press International before taking on the SID role in September 1973. One of his first duties was to accompany the football team to Seattle for a matchup with heavily favored Washington and was on hand to document the Rainbows' 10-7 victory, which remains a landmark upset in program history.
 
Inouye spent his first six years as the department's lone full-time employee in sports information and helped chronicle the achievements of UH's men's and women's programs throughout a career that saw UH athletics become the focal point for Hawai'i sports media coverage. He worked with media on the local and national levels to promote teams and student-athletes, including All-America campaigns, and his painstaking work in recording and distributing results and statistics remains a foundation for the department's sports record books.
 
Highlights of his tenure included the baseball team's run to the 1980 College World Series and the football team's breakthrough wins over BYU in 1989 and '90 as well as the 1992 Holiday Bowl season. He also documented UH's first conference affiliations when the school joined the Western Athletic Conference in 1980 in men's sports and the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (later renamed the Big West) in women's sports in 1984.