Not just drills, but thrills: Vulcan Camp a summer staple passed down through a generation

Editor’s note: Bill O’Rear is a former UH-Hilo all-district guard. He will coach in this summer’s Vulcan Camp, his 37th time working the event. This is the second in a two-part series.

The Vulcans-Hawaii Basketball School has been more than just a week-long sport’s camp during its 38-year history. It’s also been a unique gathering place for the Big Island’s top young basketball talent and local coaches as well as a strong foundation for lifelong friendships.

The “Vulcan Camp,” hosted by the University of Hawaii at Hilo, has been idle the past four years. But it will return to the college campus this summer when co-directors GE Coleman and David Kaneshiro will lead a staff of coaches to teach basketball fundamentals to young players ages 8-17.

The Vulcan Camp was founded in 1976 by four UH-Hilo representatives — men’s basketball coach Jimmy Yagi, athletic director Ramon Goya, and assistant coaches Dwight Sumida and Joey Estrella — with the coordination of Orange Coast Community College coach Herb Livsey, who ran the famous Snow Valley Basketball School in Santa Barbara, Calif. Yagi, Goya, Sumida and Estrella attended the Snow Valley Camp in the mid-1970s to see if they could start a similar type of camp in Hilo to help develop local talent.

Livsey’s Snow Valley Camp was known throughout the United States for its outstanding teaching. And over the years, it featured staff coaches with names like John Wooden, Denny Crum, Greg Popovich, Pat Riley, Bill, Stan and Jeff Van Gundy, Dan Hays, Don Meyer and Scott Brooks as well as many top college, junior college and high school coaches from around the country.

Jeff Van Gundy, a current NBA analyst and former NBA coach, once called the Snow Valley Camp: “The premier teaching camp in America.”

“It was incredible to see all the great things that were being done at the Snow Valley Camp,” Goya said. “Herb and his staff did a really great job teaching every aspect of the game We knew if we could start something in Hilo and follow the Snow Valley Camp model, it had a chance to be successful and help the Big Island players and coaches. That was our goal.”

From 28 to 500

In July 1976, the first Vulcan Camp was held at the tiny UH-Hilo Gym, and attracted 29 players. That sparked an impressive 38-year run with the Vulcan Camp quickly pulling in more than 200 campers for the week by the early 1980s and soaring to above 500 campers and 80 coaches for six straight years under then UH-Hilo men’s coach Bob Wilson in the late 1990s to 2004.

“It was really an exciting time for all of us when the Vulcan Camp ran that week in Hilo,” said Wilson, who will return this summer to coach in the camp with Coleman, the current UH-Hilo men’s coach, and Kaneshiro, the current UH-Hilo women’s coach. Kaneshiro attended the Vulcan Camp as a youngster while an outstanding point guard at Hilo High School.

“The town was buzzing and we had hundreds of young basketball players running around the campus, from morning to night,” Wilson said. “It was a neat situation, especially for the campers. It didn’t matter what school or town you were from, you were going to play with your friends and rivals, and a lot of new friendships were built every summer at the camp.

“We also had a lot of Big Island coaches and coaches from around the state. It was very competitive, but everyone realized that we were all there to help the campers get better and the coaches learned a lot, too.”

Camp bloosoms

Two former Hilo High standouts, Paul Lee and Bruce Ferreira, attended the Vulcan Camp as youngsters and made strong impressions.

Going into his senior year, Lee played on an undefeated team that won the camp’s NBA Division championship. He was named to the camp all-star team but just missed out on being the division’s Most Valuable Player. He was disappointed in not getting the MVP, but turned that off-season motivation into a sterling final year at Hilo High. Lee, a 6-foot-1 forward, helped lead the Vikings to the State title in 1991 and earned the coveted MVP trophy in the state tournament on Oahu.

“Not being named the Vulcan Camp MVP made me work harder and helped me with my drive to accomplish my ultimate goal of a state championship for my team and Hilo High School,” Lee said.

Lee said he would highly recommend the Vulcan Camp for any youngsters looking to improve their game and mental approach.

“For me, I was able to develop and improve my basketball skills and IQ under very skilled coaches at the camp,” he said. “I was able to pick the minds of these great coaches and the areas they specialized in the best. I owe a huge part of my basketball success as a player and coach to the Vulcan Camp.

“As a coach, I was able to pick up a lot of my coaching style from my mentors that coached me there as well as the coaches I coached with.”

Lee also fondly remembers the camp environment.

“I enjoyed meeting the great people of the camp — the staff, players, coaches and volunteers that I still interact with today,” Lee said. “That was special, to build memories and relationships that will last for the rest of my life.”

Ferreira, a 5-5 dynamo point guard while at Hilo High in the mid-1980s, started attending the Vulcan Camp when he was 8 and wowed coaches, opponents and spectators with his brilliant ball-handling skills.

“Bruce was amazing with the ball at 8 years old,” Yagi said. “He could dribble all around and no one could catch him or guard him. He was really skilled for that age. And because he was so dominant, we had to adopt the ‘Bruce Ferreira rule’ which meant you could only dribble the ball twice before passing to a teammate.”

Ferreira became an all-state player at Hilo High and was known for his leadership, a keen ability to pass the ball, and a knack for scoring points when the Vikings needed them.

“I learned very quickly how important it was to share the ball,” Ferreira said. “When I was 7 or 8, one of my outside coaches had a rule that I couldn’t shoot. So I focused on my passing and trying to help my teammates. That’s when I learned the meaning of team basketball.”

At Vulcan Camp, Ferreira said he always enjoyed working on the dribbling drills which he said inspired him to become a better ball-handler.

“It was also exciting to find out what pro team or college team you were on for the week, and the scrimmaging,” Ferreira said.

Ferreira’s daughter, Alyssa, and son, Noah, went to Vulcan Camp on a number of occasions and their father felt it helped them.

“As a parent, I always felt a positive vibe at the Vulcan Camp,” Bruce Ferreira said. “The instructors were always personable and easy to approach whenever we wanted advice on what things we needed to work on.”

Both Alyssa and Noah Ferreira went on to rock-solid prep careers at Waiakea.

Lee is the current Waiakea High boys basketball coach and Bruce Ferreira, the current Hilo High boys coach They both went onto to play at UH-Hilo under Wilson and both will coach with their former mentor in this summer’s Vulcan Camp.

Former Hilo High three-sport standout Reed Sunahara attended the first Vulcan Camp in 1976 and remembers it well.

“My favorite memory was the very first year it started and I went,” he said. “I was so scared because I’d never been to a camp before. I loved it and it was one of the best camps I’ve been to, with great coaches. I learned a lot at that camp. I try to emulate my experience and lessons I learned at the Vulcan camps to the camps I run now.”

Sunahara, who was all-state in basketball, baseball and volleyball as a Viking, went on to become an All-American volleyball player at UCLA. Following college, he got into coaching and has been a highly successful NCAA Division 1 women’s coach for 30 years. He currently is the head coach at the University of West Virginia.

Former Konawaena High standout Pat Baran-Primacio also shared his favorite camp memories.

“I liked Coach Wilson’s shooting drills, and meeting and hanging with friends from all the different schools from around the island,” Baran-Primacio said. “Many of them became lifelong friends.”

Campers didn’t know it at the time, but Bob Wilson often used a women’s basketball in his shooting clinics because it was smaller, felt more comfortable in his hands, and went into the basket easier due to its size compared to the men’s ball.

“That was one of my secrets,” Wilson said with a laugh. “But everyone who worked in the camp, worked hard to make it the best camp we could. We were just proud to be involved in it. And the best part was that the kids were having a great time while learning a lot about the game of basketball and doing it with their friends.”

Who’s who list

Besides Kaneshiro, Lee, Ferreira, Sunahara and Baran-Primacio, the Vulcan Camp has a history of attracting many of the Big Island’s top players over the years, players who had outstanding prep careers and some who went on to play in college.

The impressive list also includes:

• Boys: Reed Sunahara, Rene Sanchez, Konrad Ross, Kyle Bartholomew, Brandon Cablay, Shon Malani, Jason Cabral, Jason Mandaquit, Ben Pana, Jamie Ahu, Arlen Bento, Jr., Randy Apele, Steve Strout, Thomas Fairman, Sebi Ohara-Saft, Brandon Bautista, Bradley Estabilio, Sean Francisco, Shane Kaohu, Newton Rabang, Aaron and Royden Silva, Don Fernandez, Kai Lau Kong, Branden Kawazoe, Brandon, Jason and Grant Kauhi, Aukai Wong, Justin Bihag, Ken Factora, Vince Sanakane, Tolby Saito, Lanaki Apele, Garrett Arima, Lenny Kai, Ed Aldridge, Jeff Liborio, Ed Andrade, Kimo Alameda, Jacob Andrade, Will Scanlan-Leite, Pat Baran-Primacio, Jonathan Viernes, Bronson Ganir and many others.

• Girls: Kalei Namohala, Shelley Nakasone, Jenn Kaeo, Melissa Libero, Kahea Schuckert, Onaona Miller, Sissy Gambol, Elena and Alana Cabatu,Marlo and Jodie Tomas, Toni and Maya Higa, Keisha Kanekoa, Vicky Tagalicod, Kamie and Kirsty Imai, Saundi and Nikki Wilson, Vanessa Eaglin, Ashley Kualii, Amy Kaaikahumanu, Stacey Yanagihara, Kelly Wegner, Annette Marquez, Ally Martin, Kanani Bugado, Lea Basque, Krystal Nakamoto, Sonia Momohara, Tanya Kamau, Charleann Martin, Erika Tadio, Kami Shigematsu, Shawna Lau Kong, Sheila Orio, Natashi Ludwig, Sheila Nobriga, Lynelle Paranada, Chelsey Santos, Jamie Moe, Mary Pedro, Aisha Sueda, Chelsea Cooper, Aliyah and Alexis Pana, Kizzah Maltezo and many more.

This summer, Wilson looks forward to coaching in the Vulcan Camp again — 22 years after he left the Big Island for Vanguard University.

“It’s been a long time since I was back,” Wilson said. “I’m sure I’ll recognize the last names of some of the players at this summer’s Vulcan Camp. But this time, it will be the sons or daughters of those campers who came to Vulcan Camp back in the day. That’ll make me feel a little — or a lot — older, but it’s really nice to be a part of the Vulcan Camp tradition.”

Camp info

UH-Hilo will host the 2017 Vulcan Camp, July 24-27, for youngsters ages 8-17 at the campus gym as well as the Panewa Covered Courts. Cost is $75 and includes a camp T-shirt and photo, a basketball and a notebook. For more information, call 808-932-7802 or go to www.hiloathletics.com and download a camp brochure.