Veteran swimming coach keeps on giving
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer
At first, Larry Oshiro decided he just wanted to "give something back."
Advertiser library photo
After all, there had been a lot to be grateful for in a swimming career that had taken him from McKinley High to a scholarship and all-conference honors at the University of Oregon.
Larry Oshiro, left, will be at this weekend's 22nd Harry M. Mamizuka Invitational.
So when his mentor, Harry Mamizuka, suggested coaching as a means of repayment, Oshiro agreed.
But going on 35 years later, the debt repaid several times over with interest, the 59-year-old Oshiro shows no signs of stepping away from the pools that have long become his second home.
The 22nd Harry M. Mamizuka Invitational opens tomorrow at the Manoa Recreation Center and Oshiro, in his trademark baseball cap and sunglasses, has been a familiar part of every one of them. He followed Mamizuka from Palama Settlement to McKinley (where he continues to coach) and, in 1979, to the founding of Manoa Aquatics.
With a low-decibel, reassuring manner, he has succeeded the late Mamizuka and moved among the ranks of the accomplished elders of the age-group circuit, men like Al Minn (Aulea), Spencer Shiraishi (Maui Swim Club) and Ken Suenaga (Pearl City Aquatics).
Along the way and while holding down a job with the Department of Transportation, Oshiro has taught a couple of generations of swimmers more than just strokes. Along with driving kids home and leading outings, he's encouraged and helped his swimmers set college dreams.
"One of his main goals is to get swimmers to go to college," said Val Pires, a Mililani High teacher who swam for Colorado State and whose sister, Sarah, competes for Northern Colorado.
"He gives the kids a long-term perspective on their lives," said Harris Nakamoto, whose daughters have come through the Manoa program.
Oshiro maintains that it is he who is still receiving benefits from coaching. "Being around these kids has kept me young and kept me going," he said.
