Les Murakami

Les Murakami (born June 1, 1936)^[1] is an American former college baseball coach who served as the head baseball coach for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors baseball team. He played college baseball at Santa Clara and during his coaching years for Hawaii, he won 1,079 games. The Les Murakami Stadium, home ballpark of the Rainbow Warriors, was named in his honor in 2002.^[2][3]

Les Murakami

Biographical details
Born	(1936-06-01) June 1, 1936 (age 88) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Playing career
1955–1958	Santa Clara
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1971–2000	Hawaii
Head coaching record
Overall	1079–648–4

Awards

• Hawaii Sportsman of the Year (1977, 1980)
• Lefty Gomez Award (1981)
• District Coach of the Year (1986)
• WAC Coach of the Year (1987, 1991)
• American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer

Head coaching record

The following is a record of Murakami's record as a head coach.^[4]

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Hawaii (Independent) (1971–1979)
1971	Hawaii	0–4
1972	Hawaii	1–3
1973	Hawaii	1–7
1974	Hawaii	6–11
1975	Hawaii	25–13
1976	Hawaii	29–12
1977	Hawaii	43–13			NCAA Regionals
1978	Hawaii	38–14–1
1979	Hawaii	69–15			NCAA Regionals
Hawaii:		212–92–1
Hawaii (Western Athletic Conference) (1980–2000)
1980	Hawaii	60–18	19–5	T–1st	College World Series
1981	Hawaii	50–16	10–5	2nd
1982	Hawaii	59–17	17–7	1st	NCAA Regional
1983	Hawaii	47–20	17–7	2nd
1984	Hawaii	48–22–1	8–6	1st	NCAA Regional
1985	Hawaii	56–31	15–9	2nd
1986	Hawaii	43–24	15–9	2nd	NCAA Regional
1987	Hawaii	45–19	21–2	1st	NCAA Regional
1988	Hawaii	40–21–1	21–6–1	T–2nd
1989	Hawaii	40–27	18–10	T–2nd	NCAA Regional
1990	Hawaii	37–24–1	17–10–1	4th
1991	Hawaii	51–18	22–5	1st	NCAA Regional
1992	Hawaii	49–14	20–6	1st	NCAA Regional
1993	Hawaii	34–25	11–13	4th	NCAA Regional
1994	Hawaii	28–28	8–16	5th
1995	Hawaii	30–24	12–17	6th
1996	Hawaii	29–26	12–18	5th
1997	Hawaii	22–34	14–16	4th
1998	Hawaii	34–22	12–18	4th
1999	Hawaii	37–20	15–14	5th
2000	Hawaii	28–28	15–15	4th
Hawaii:		867–556–3	319–214–2
Total:		1079–648–4
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

References

1. "Rainbows in Omaha". ESPN Honolulu. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
2. "LES MURAKAMI". Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
3. Aimee Harris (April 1, 2012). "Les Murakami: The Heart of a Warrior". Generations Magazine. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
4. 2013 Hawaii Rainbows Baseball Media Guide (PDF). Hawaii Rainbows. pp. 63–70. Retrieved September 14, 2013.