Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 6, 1 June 1988 — Hawaiian-Speaking Molokaʻi Basketball Coach [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian-Speaking Molokaʻi Basketball Coach

Moses Kim Savs Plavers Stuck to Total Commitment

By Kenny Haina, Editor Ka Wai Ola O OHA As far as coaches go, Moses Kim Jr. is a very shy and unassuming person who prefers to give credit where it is due — the Maui Interscholastic League ehampion Moloka'i High School basketball team. Ka Wai Ola O OHA tried to take a photo of him but he would have none of it, saying, "Go photograph the kids. They deserve it and they did the work." But the Ka Wai Ola O OHA camera managed to get a shot of him while he was making a little presentation. Kim is the son of Moses Kim Sr., a 1944 graduate of Farrington High School where he was an outstanding football and basketball star. The Moloka'i eoaeh, who also matriculated at Farrington but graduated from high school in France, attended Brigham Young University, Frovo, from where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in education in 1967 and the following year earned his Master's. He returned to Hawai'i in 1981 after 13 years teaching and coaching everything at a high school in Idaho. In Honolulu, he worked in special education at Dole Intermediate and Campbell High School. Kim said he didn't plan on coaching but did help out at Kalani and Kaiser. Kim moved to Moloka'i in 1984 still in special education. "I didn't plan on coaching when I eame home. I was tired," he explained. But Moloka'i Principal Clifford Horita said he had an opening on his staff and wanted him as a fulltime teacher and to take over the basketball program. Kim relented and took over for the 1985-86

season with modest success and then broke even at 5-5 in the MIL for the 1986-87 year. He reached the top in the just concluded season by guiding Moloka'i to its first league title in 40 years with a 10-2 record. He says he feels good about the program because "we all made a total commitment and we stuck by it. The boys were just fantastic. They played together, kept together and finally adapted

themselves to a new system." Kim said he moved to Moloka'i because he liked the rural lifestyle. He explained it was very similar to the rural area where he taught and coached in Idaho. One little facet about Kim's life perhaps is that he is one-half Hawaiian and speaks the language fluently. He says he oftentimes speaks Hawaiian to his players. He teaches Hawaiian Monarchy to four seventh grade classes at Moloka'i Intermediate and two Hawaiian Studies classes in the high school. Kim said he learned his Hawaiian from family and kupuna and "I studied up on it." Moloka'i's fourth plaee finish in the 1988 state basketball tournament was its highest ever. Moloka'i was the only public school in the top four. "It was really something to see the kids go this far. Again, it was a case of total commitment on their part." He likened Moloka'i's success to the movie, "Hoosier," where a rural Indiana team went on to reach similar heights. Kim is married to the former Lisa Kuwasaki of Honolulu who teaches languages at Moloka'i. An interesting aspect about Horita, who has been principal for 22 years at Moloka'i, is that he played on the same Honokaa High School basketball team as Radford High School eoaeh James Alegre. Both ended up as roommates in college. They were coached at Honokaa by Louis (Koko) Santos, who also coached at Kailua High School and currently is at Hawaii Loa College.

Coach Moses Kim