By BILL O’REAR
Tribune-Herald sports editor
Keaau High School athletic director Iris McGuire said the recent passing of veteran basketball coach Wayne Kawaha is a big loss for the Cougars’ program but that his positive contributions will long be remembered by the people he helped.
“Wayne started with the Keaau High program when I started as the AD eight years ago,” McGuire said. “He was everybody’s basketball coach and will really be missed. He was our junior varsity head coach and helped all around. Wayne was like a second dad for all the players, he was so easy-going.”
Kawaha, 64, died of a heart attack on April 2, leaving the Big Island basketball community without one of its hardest working youth coaches. He not only played a key role in the Keaau High athletic program, but he also led the highly regarded Showtime girls basketball program that helped sharpen the skills of many young rising prep stars around the island.
“Wayne was all about basketball and his family,” McGuire said. “Both Wayne and his wife, Alice, were always there for us in whatever we needed. He was always positive with the kids and really strong-minded. He taught me how to not let the little things bother us.”
McGuire also said Kawaha brought in one of his three sons, Mark, to coach the Keaau varsity girls and develop a solid program.
“Wayne helped him and allowed him to make some mistakes and grow,” McGuire said. “Wayne was a perfect mentor for our program and for the kids he worked with in the community.
“He also had a great sense of humor and always went out of his way to help others. He was a great guy, we’re going to miss him but we’ll take what he taught a lot of us and build on it.”
McGuire said a memorial service for “Coach Wayne” will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at the Keaau High gym. A service will start at 5:30 p.m. Friends may also call at 11 a.m. Monday at Homelani Memorial Park for graveside committal services.
Kawaha is survived by his wife and three sons and three daughters; five brothers; three sisters; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. His obituary was published in Thursday’s Tribune-Herald.
