OCC Canoe Racing Head Coaches

Being selected as Head Coach of the Outrigger Canoe Club’s racing program is an honor, but also a lot of hard work, beginning with paddler registration in the spring.  The job entails getting all the canoes ready for the season, selecting coaches for all the racing divisions, coordinating practices of the Club’s 40-plus crews, getting the canoes and people to the race site, finding volunteers to rig the canoes, set up the tent and hold boats for each race, and turning in crew lists to race officials, to name just a few.  You also have to arrive at the race site at dawn, spend the day in the hot sun at the eight regattas encouraging your paddlers, and make sure the last bit of trash is picked up from the beach and the canoes loaded on the trailer and returned to the Club at the end of the day.

Needless to say, the head coach is an important job and the Club strives to fill it every year with enthusiastic, organized and qualified members.

The Club’s first head coach was George “Dad” Center.  He served in that capacity for all sports from the Club’s founding in 1908 until his retirement in the 1950s.  With the resurgence of canoe racing with the founding of the Hawaiian Canoe Racing and Surfing Association in 1950, “Dad” was again appointed head coach from 1950-1952.

Here are the names of other members who have served the Club as Head Canoe Racing Coach.