1955 - 2003
Iolani volleyball coach pioneered girls athletics

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

Ann Kang, with her husband, Alan, was honored at Stan Sheriff Center last year. She died from Lou Gehrig's Disease. Advertiser Library Photo • Nov. 9, 2002

Kang, the former Ann Goldenson during her University of Hawai'i volleyball playing days (1976-77), had been suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis for the past 19 months. The incurable affliction, commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," attacks nerve cells and pathways in the brain and spinal cord. The result is a loss of muscle control and movement.

A fund-raiser for Kang last November generated $125,000 toward her medical expenses.

But the disease accelerates quickly, and many patients succumb within two or three years of diagnosis. Kang coached her final season last fall with the help of a custom-made cane, and she had been wheelchair-bound since early this year. Cathy Lee Chong, Iolani's director of communications, said Kang was on campus Monday but later developed breathing problems.

She died "peacefully" with her family and close friends at her side, Chong said.

"It's a huge loss to high school volleyball, and to the volleyball world in general," said UH coach Dave Shoji, who recruited Kang from a California junior college. "Anybody who knew Ann understood that with her, everything is for the kids. Iolani will get another volleyball coach, but they will never truly replace her."

Kanoe Kamana'o, the 2001 Advertiser State Player of the Year, played four years for Kang at Iolani and will enter this fall as Shoji's top recruit.

"Mrs. Kang was an inspiration for everyone on and off the court, because she repeatedly told us to have fun and 'spread the smiles,' " Kamana'o said. "She was a fighter, but even after a bad play she kept smiling. The one thing I'm happy about is winning the state championship, because nobody can ever take that away from her."

As a Rainbow Wahine player, Kang helped UH to its first 20-win season in 1977, when it finished as the national runner-up. As a coach at Iolani, she helped launch the school's girls athletic program after 115 years as an all-boys institution and guided the Raiders to their first state volleyball championship in 2001.

"When people think of Iolani volleyball, they think of Mrs. Kang," said Chris Blake, who will take over Kamehameha's volleyball program after assisting Kang for three seasons. "That's a tribute to what she's done there."

As an organizer, Kang founded and then ran the prestigious Iolani Invitational for 20 years. Featuring top high school girls teams from Hawai'i and the Mainland, it still is considered the state's premier preseason volleyball tournament and is the only tournament of its kind in any girls sport here.

"Dozens of college players have gone through that tournament, and they always were treated very well by Ann," Shoji said.

Kang's legacy, however, most likely will live in the hundreds of lives she touched as a teacher and coach at Iolani, where she spent 24 years.

In Kang's first year there, Iolani had a limited number of girls only in grades 7 and 9, and in those early times she coached volleyball, basketball, softball and swimming.

And Kang, believed to be Iolani's first female physical education teacher and coach, immediately adopted the school's "One Team" philosophy, passed down through the generations from Father Kenneth Bray in the 1930s.

The belief is that no player is more important than another, and every action should serve the team as a single unit. In practical terms, "One Team" also means if one player is given a lei or carton of juice after a game, then everybody should get one. And if one person doesn't get the lei or juice from his parents, then nobody gets one.

"I was a team captain and played on junior national and national teams, but I've also been the last sub," Kang said last October. "I know how important each player is, and I try to treat everyone the same."

From those humble beginnings, Kang aided Iolani's development into a power in almost every girls sport, as evidenced by four state championships in 2001-02.

"On the girls side, she just came aboard and took charge," said Eddie Hamada, the former athletic director who hired Kang. "She knew her stuff, and she grabbed it and didn't take one step backward. She saw the boys program and wanted the girls to be in line with it, and now we are very proud of our co-educational program. Ann was a big part of that."

Hamada, an Iolani icon who played for Father Bray, said Kang epitomized the "One Team" mantra.

"She grasped it right away and always kept that in mind," Hamada said. "That helped so much, because just saying it is not enough, and sometimes people go their own way. To know that she believed in it and was a part of it, well ... we were so happy to have her. She'll always be in our hearts and minds."

Kang is survived by husband, Alan; a son, Barry; a daughter, Marci; mother, Joyce Goldenson of Huntington Beach, Calif.; brothers Craig Goldenson and Bruce Goldenson.

Funeral arrangements, being handled by Diamond Head Mortuary, are pending.