Waipahu High School has enjoyed its fair share of sports glory over the years, from legendary yesteryear heroes such as baseball standout Ken Kimura, the boxing Yasui brothers and one-time NFL player Ben Apuna, to stars of more recent vintage, including boxer Brian Viloria and baseball players Curt Watanabe and Jerome Williams.

And while it has a trophy case in the Masa Yonamine Athletic Complex Gym that offers a hodgepodge of trophies and banners going back through the decades, the school has not had a place that specifically recognizes the top individuals who have contributed to the athletic prowess of the Marauders.

That's about to change thanks to a $6,000 gift by the Sukamto Foundation that allows the school to establish a wall of honor.

Waipahu Athletic Director Stacie Nii said the wall will give today's students something to think about each time they walk in and out of the gym.

"It's something for the kids to aspire to, to strive for," Nii said. "This will let them see that there have been many who have come from Waipahu, gone through the system, and not only made it, but excelled."

Takao Sato would be a prime candidate.

The Sukamto Foundation, which contributes money to worthy youth endeavors, is headed by Sato. As foundation president and himself a Waipahu High School basketball legend, he made the contribution in honor of the 60th anniversary of his Class of 1948.

Befitting the humble nature of the school steeped in plantation roots, the wall of honor is unassuming, basically two long, glass-encased bulletin boards on either side of the hallway. It will be the names and photos inside that will matter.

"I thought it was appropriate for us to do something small," said Sato, who led the 1946-48 Waipahu basketball teams to three consecutive O'ahu Interscholastic Association championships. The soft-spoken Sato also is one of the school's biggest success stories in the nonathletic world, going on to become the president of three different O'ahu banks.

"I saw all this hardware out here (in the trophy case) and thought let's not try to do something similar to that, so maybe like a hall of fame."

Nii said she and school administrators are floating around different ideas on what criteria to use to determine who will be placed on the wall of honor, given the Marauders' storied athletics program. The hope is to have the first set of "wall-of-famers" in place by the time school starts again in the fall.

Nii said one former athlete got wind of the wall and called her up seeking an application to be considered.

"I don't even know how he found out," Nii said, thinking an application process might be a good idea. "I know we can't put everyone's 8-by-10 photo and a plaque there."

Nii said she and Waipahu Principal Pat Pedersen agreed they don't want an extension of the trophy case, which was put in by the wood shop class in the 1990s. "We don't want to be the keeper of all these trophies," she said.

Keith Morioka, who was Waipahu athletic director from 1987 to 2001 and a fixture at the school since 1969, said there will be no shortage of candidates.

"In the earlier years of the Rural O'ahu Interscholastic Association, Waipahu was one of the dominating schools," Morioka said, noting that the Marauders excelled especially on the baseball and football fields.

And it wasn't just the boys. Morioka noted that his wife, the former Angeline "Angie" Andrade, was part of the team that won the state's first women's volleyball championship in the 1970s.