Doi set foundation for Waimea football

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

WAIMEA, Kaua'i — In this quiet plantation town some 20 miles west of Lihu'e, history and tradition run as deep as the "Little Grand Canyon" nearby.

Capt. James Cook first set foot in the Hawaiian Islands here. You can still see remnants of the Old Russian Fort built in the early 19th century.

And though Waimea High School's hugely successful football coach, Jon Kobayashi, is only in his mid-30s, his coaching philosophy and style trace back half a century.

"Richard Doi — he's the Godfather of Waimea athletics," Kobayashi said of the former Menehune coach and athletic director. "He started all of this."

Doi, a 1945 graduate of Waimea, returned to the school in 1951 as a PE teacher and assistant football coach. He took over the program soon after and instilled a strong work ethic through heavy conditioning and repetition.

"His legacy is that when anybody puts on that Waimea helmet, they play with all their heart," said offensive line coach Tom Rita, who played for Doi in the early 1960s. "He was a builder of character, and he set the foundation at Waimea."

Rita, who became the Menehune's head coach in 1979, built upon that foundation. In 1984, Waimea scored one of its biggest upsets when it defeated O'ahu powerhouse Wai'anae.

Rita later stepped down from the head coaching position but has stayed on as an assistant. One of his players was Kobayashi, who graduated in 1986. Kobayashi became Waimea's head coach in 1993.

The Menehune have since become one of Hawai'i's most dominant programs, winning their 11th consecutive Kaua'i Interscholastic Federation championship earlier this month.

"I think Jon and Tom and the other coaches are doing a bang-up job," said Doi, who still lives close by. "It's amazing what they've done."

Doi said Waimea, Kaua'i's smallest school with an enrollment of about 800, has always had to overcome obstacles.

"Being small, we had to make fewer mistakes," Doi said. "And with small kids, we had to work extra hard. Conditioning was most important."

Those traits, and others, are evident in today's Menehune.

"We stressed pride, discipline, excellence and honor," Doi said. "That's what we tried to instill in the student-athletes. We wanted that to be synonymous with Waimea football."

Fifty years later, it still is.