“Costas: Warrior for Life”

250-page book by Costas Theocharidis

>> Cost: $20

>> Order: Through Amazon

Costas Theocharidis’ storybook life is now a storybook.

Theocharidis, 44, has written and published an unfiltered autobiography of his rise and aftermath as the most decorated men’s volleyball player in University of Hawaii history.

“Costas: Warrior for Life” chronicles Theocharidis’ path from a phenom in Greece under a temperamental club coach; to becoming the UH program’s only four-time, first-team All-American; to being a key member of a national champion team; to retiring from the sport at 23 to enter a two-decade career in finance, to reconnecting with the Rainbow Warriors last year.

“It’s a fun book, it’s a sad book,” Theocharidis said. “It’s a story of love, pain, struggle, and redemption.”

Theocharidis said he wrote the book, in part, to provide what he hoped would be an indelible accounting of the 2002 Warriors, who defeated No. 1-ranked Pepperdine in the championship match of the NCAA tournament.

“In all honesty, everybody is going to be gone from this Earth at one point in time,” Theocharidis said. “A lot of them won’t be remembered. … There are certain things that are meant to be (remembered). That team, with what we accomplished, it was the first (national) men’s (team) title for the UH athletic program. I wanted to do something, within my power, to create immortality for that team.”

For the full perspective, Theocharidis addresses the Warriors being stripped of the 2002 title. In September 2003, four months after he completed his collegiate career, the NCAA ruled that Theocharidis retroactively relinquished his amateur status because he was a member of a pro team in Europe prior to initially enrolling at UH in August 1999. The NCAA took away the Warriors’ 2002 title, but allowed Theocharidis to keep his All-America awards and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation records.

It was no secret a teen-aged Theocharidis played on that pro-league team; it was published in the school’s media guides each of his four UH seasons.

“I was in Greece on a professional team playing as an amateur,” Theocharidis said, echoing UH’s appeal to the NCAA. “I didn’t have a contract, didn’t have an agent. There was no compensation. … How can you be a professional if you don’t have a contract?”

A few years later, it was widely agreed Theocharidis should have been acknowledged as an amateur.

“It’s unfortunate,” Theocharidis said. “You can’t change it. You grow a scar and you move on.”

But he said “nobody can take away” the on-court results of the 2002 title match. Pepperdine beat UH twice during the regular season and then in the MPSF Tournament. The Waves had a towering block and size advantages at every position. But middle blockers Delano Thomas and Dejan Miladinovic defended the Waves’ quick attack, libero Vernon Podlewski dug the angle shots, setters Daniel Rasay and Kimo Tuyay steered the accelerated offense, and Theocharidis, Eyal Zimet and Tony Ching repeatedly tooled double and triple blocks.

“Nobody can take away those memories,” Theocharidis said.

Theocharidis said then head coach Mike Wilton, a church deacon and ex-Marine, was “tough and demanding but not demeaning. … Coach Wilton is a treasure. I love him. From him, I learned the discipline of early-morning workouts. He gets up at 3. I can’t do that. I got up at 4:15, and I’d do my thing. He was inspiring, as a father, as well. He’s one of the kindest human beings you’re going to meet.”

Growing up, Theocharidis said, “I had a (youth) coach who had a different way of approaching things. When I was 14, 15 years old, his way of dealing with frustration would be by hurling chairs or throwing glass ash trays or striking you in the face or punching you in the chest. … Coach Wilton was not like that. He was the exact opposite. What I appreciate is he allowed me to express myself on the court. Everybody has off nights, but he wouldn’t breathe down my neck. He was very understanding.”

In a sport in which a team must divide the financial equivalent of 4.5 scholarships, Theocharidis received a full ride.

Under Wilton, the players had to learn the lyrics to “Hawaii Pono‘i.” Theocharidis still sings it. He also keeps in touch with the “Aunties” — the trio of fans who gave lei to players from both teams after matches. They also used to send newspaper clippings and VHS tapes of UH matches to Theocharidis’ family in Greece.

“In early-morning hours, my dad would pop the tape in and watch,” Theocharidis said. “That’s all you can do from so far away. He was so proud to see his son who was basically halfway around the world. That’s not a small thing. I don’t know if you get that anywhere else.”

After earning a degree in finance, Theocharidis played a season in Puerto Rico, then retired from volleyball. He has lived in Washington D.C., New York and, the last five years, in Boston. Last year, he changed fields to spend more time with his wife and three daughters. After visiting Hawaii last year, he reconnected with the Warriors. In January, he decided to write the book.

Following the discipline used for training for last December’s Honolulu Marathon, set a goal of writing between 500 and 1,000 words a day for six days. He averaged 833 words. His wife edited the text, he rewrote it, she made more edits, and, he said, “eventually I got to a point where it was time to be able to share it with world.”