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Bulldogs ruled football in '50s

Learn about Hawai'i sports history and those who figured prominently in it in this feature. We'll ask a question Wednesday and present the answer in an in-depth profile on Thursday
	Q: The upcoming 2002 high school football season will mark the 50th anniversary of this school's first league championship. It would win four in a row, but would not win another after that. What school was it and who was its coach?

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

A: Waialua High School won four consecutive football titles from 1952-55. The team was coached by Toshi Nakasone.

Toshi Nakasone, who coached Waialua to four straight titles, is flanked by quarterback Richard Kuwabara, left, and center James Shizuru. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

The 2002 O'ahu Interscholastic Association football season marks the 50th anniversary of the first of Waialua's four consecutive football championship seasons in what was then known as the Rural O'ahu Interscholastic Association. Wai'anae is the only other O'ahu public school to earn four straight outright league titles, accomplishing the feat from 1985-88.

Kailua High School shared the O'ahu Interscholastic Association football championship last season with Kahuku High.

No school on this island, however, has been more dominant in its league than St. Louis, which has won 16 straight private-school Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships.

Nakasone's football coaching career spanned 10 years, all at Waialua, and seven of his teams from 1949-1958 posted winning records.

The irony is that Waialua has not won a football title since.

A change in playing rules for college and high school football that eliminated free substitution keyed the Bulldogs' success in the '50s.

Before the "iron-man rule" replaced free substitution, Waipahu was a dominant football power because it could draw students from Wai'anae to Pearl City, Nakasone said. The late Mits Fujishige, Waipahu's coach, employed a platoon system that simply wore down opponents who had players going both ways.

"Waipahu had two or three offensive and defensive teams," Nakasone recalled. "I remember one of my players telling me that he faced four or five different players in the game. We could give Waipahu a good first half, be behind 7-0 at halftime, and lose 51-0."

But that all changed in 1952.

"The iron-man rule was the only way we could win," said James "Jimmy" Shizuru, a center and linebacker who earned ROIA all-star honors in 1952 as a junior. "If you were in the game, you could not come out and re-enter in the same quarter. All our starters played two ways so teams like Waipahu, which had the numbers to platoon, could wear us out (under the free-substitution system)."

Shizuru, a member of the 1955 University of Hawai'i team that beat Nebraska in Lincoln, was one of seven Waialua players named to the 11-man 1952 ROIA all-star team. The others were quarterback Richard Kuwabara, fullback Mitchell Kanekoa, end Richard "Spike" Spillner, tackle George Nakahira, guard Fred Bisco and the late Gerald Welch, a running back and grandfather of the UH and former St. Louis slotback with the same name.

The other starters on the 1952 team were running back Kaunamano "Mano" Aiau, guard Clarence Hironaka, tackle Tomio Hirayama, and the late Joe Kuewa and James Yamada, ends who shared playing time.

"When I was in the eighth grade, Toshi would takes us out during PE class and train us," Kuwabara said. "He was already molding the team. We knew what positions we were going to play."

The late Mike Shizuru, who played and coached for Palama Settlement's famed barefoot football teams, and Harry Char were Nakasone's assistant coaches in 1952.

"I attribute a lot of our success to preparation and my father, who coached the lineman, played a big part," said end Thomas "Tom" Shizuru, James' younger brother and a member of all four championship teams though he did not start until his sophomore year. "He was an inspirational speaker and Coach (Nakasone) would always save my dad's pep talk before games for last."

Playing a home-and-away schedule against each league member, Waialua split 13-7 decisions with Waipahu in 1952. Waipahu, however, was upset by Leilehua that season and Waialua clinched the championship by closing its season with a 53-0 romp of Kahuku to finish 7-1.

"(The championship season) pulled the whole community together," James Shizuru said. "There were big crowds at games and you could feel the sense of pride by having a winner in the area."

The 1953 season, however, was the most surprising of the four. "We never expected to win that year," Nakasone said. "We had four sophomores starting and only two (starting) seniors back."

"That was the hump," James Shizuru said of the 1953 season. "We beat Farrington, 7-0, in preseason at Honolulu Stadium and things came together."

Besides, Thomas Shizuru, tackle Stanley Takenaka was also a member of all four championship teams.

Nakasone's coaching tenure at Waialua marked the most successful period of football competition in the school's history, which began in 1940 as one of five founding members of the Rural O'ahu Secondary School League. Other ROSSL members were Waipahu, Leilehua, Kahuku and Benjamin Parker, which was replaced when Castle became the Kane'ohe-area high school.

Nakasone quit coaching in 1959 to become a school administrator. He was principal at Moloka'i and Lana'i high schools before coming to 'Aiea High in the spring of 1964. He retired as 'Aiea's principal in 1979.

Nakasone was ROIA president in the 1969-70 school year when the league accepted former ILH members Farrington, Roosevelt, McKinley, Kaimuki and Kalani as new members for the 1970-71 sports year. The league also dropped "rural" from its name with the addition of the Honolulu schools.

NOTE: The school will honor the 1952 Waialua football team during its homecoming game against Kalani Sept. 14 at Waialua. For information, call Gwen Lavarias, student activities coordinator, at 637-8249.

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Correction: Kailua High School shared the O'ahu Interscholastic Association football championship last season with Kahuku High. A previous version of this story was incorrect.