After returning as an assistant coach in 2007, John Nakamura is still helping the program he has helped build for the past 24 years. He is entering his third season as a volunteer coach.
Perhaps more than any other individual, Nakamura has helped guide the program to be the successful one it is today. During his tenure on the Manoa campus, Nakamura was instrumental in seeing the program from a fledgling collegiate softball program into one of the premier teams in NCAA Division I softball.
When he arrived in 1987, Hawai'i was a third-year program just off an 8-23 season. And 22 seasons later, Nakamura has helped guide Hawai'i to seven NCAA post-season appearances and three conference crowns.
Nakamura is a former pitcher and outfielder on the University of Hawai'i baseball squad (1954-58). He has more years of service with the program than any other individual. Nakamura has become a fixture at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium, working under former coaches Alika Thompson, Rayla Allison, and current skipper Bob Coolen.
Assigned to the development of Hawai'i's outfielders and hitters, Nakamura has helped turn 18 Rainbow Wahine outfielders into all-conference performers and has also helped develop one All-American and five Academic All-Americans.
Besides playing for the Rainbow baseball squad, Nakamura also starred in the old Hawai'i Baseball League for the Hawai'i Giants and Asahi teams. Eternally youthful, the retired teacher remains active in the local softball circuit and travels annually to the continental U.S. to participate in national softball tournaments.
Nakamura graduated from UH with a degree in education in 1958. He returned to the Manoa campus a year later to obtain his teaching certificate with an emphasis in social studies. A teacher for 28 years in the Hawai'i state school system, Nakamura taught and coached at several local high schools. Nakamura also won a state prep championship as head coach of the 1969 Kailua High School baseball squad.
John and wife, Grace, reside in Kailua, Oahu, and have three children: Jan, Dean, and Lynn.
