Howard A. Okita Field will always be Hawaii Pacific softball’s Field of Dreams.

While it might not sound as majestic, it might be more precise to call it a Field of Devotion.

Utter devotion drove the late Howard Okita, a soft-spoken, sincere guy whose impact on Hawaii softball over an astonishing 55 years of coaching and mentoring — to say nothing of groundskeeping! — is hard to fathom.

Last month, HPU and its ohana celebrated and commemorated the 30th anniversary of Howard A. Okita Field between games of a senior day doubleheader. They honored a unique man whose devotion changed lives and nurtured a championship atmosphere around a unique and beautiful field at the base of the Koolaus in Kaneohe.

Okita, assistants Bryan Nakasone and Michele Fukumoto and their players built the field literally from the ground up. Their labor of love began in 1991 — when their Hawaii Loa team won the NAIA national championship. It lasted until 1993, when HPU and Hawaii Loa merged and the field was finished.

HPU would go on to capture the 2010 NCAA Division II championship and make a dozen postseason appearances with Okita.

Okita and that 1993 team, packed with exceptional Hawaii high school softball players, have been celebrated every decade at his field. They planted the 200-plus Norfolk pine trees and put together everything from the fence that surrounds the field to the dugouts, flag pole, scoreboard, batting cage, storage areas, bullpen, locker room, press box and restroom.

“It says, ‘HPU softball is built on the principles of laulima (cooperation), malama (to care), ikaika (strength), kuleana (responsibility), pono (right) and aloha,’” says current head coach Jarnett Lono, noting the final three are the HPU values. “Every student-athlete that has come through our program learns about the history of the field, the work we do to maintain it, and they carry on that torch to maintain the field. This allows them to make a personal connection with the field and their experience as a student-athlete.”

Coaches, players and many, MANY volunteer parents, uncles, aunties and generous supporters have kept it up, and kept it special.

Lono, guiding her team at the PacWest Conference championship this week, was named co-head coach in 2017 and head coach in 2020. She has been with the program since 1995, as player and coach. She worked as a volunteer until 2011 and calls the field — where Okita’s celebration of life was held in 2017 — and “all of us” Okita’s legacy.

He earned it, and loved it.

The ‘Iolani alum and retired Chief Master Sergeant for the Hawaii Air National Guard spent much of his 81 years coaching Little League baseball and softball, at Kailua High School and for the Mongoose, Sea Warriors and Sharks of Hawaii Loa and HPU.

His teams rarely lost.

After guiding Kailua Little League to two state titles, he was 181-24 at Kailua High, taking the Surfriders to six state high school championships. His coaching record at Hawaii Loa was 125-65 over five years and 701-274 at HPU, as head coach and assistant.

His field was into its third decade when he retired, and he never stopped trying to make it better. He constantly came up with ideas for improvements and never tired of manicuring the field, whacking the weeds and doing absolutely everything necessary … and dreaming beyond that.

“Coach O birthed it from inception — his idea — to its completion,” Lono says. “And every so many years, he had a new idea or wanted to incorporate an idea from another facility that we visited or competed at.

“He dreamed up all these wonderful upgrades that benefited our student-athletes. He ultimately wanted the student-athletes to have the best opportunity to succeed in sport, but more importantly, in life after softball.”

Okita was inducted into the HPU Hall of Fame in its second year (2012), and again in 2017 with his 1991 national championship team.

He was honored for his coaching and, especially, his gift for helping kids — most from Hawaii — get a degree while enjoying their sport at a high level.

And, oh yeah, for that fabulous field where he could often be found.

Bryan Nakasone took over from Okita as head coach and spent infinite hours working with him on that field, which was only part of Okita’s dream.

“His dream was not only grass and dirt, but it was all the players,” Nakasone said when Okita died. “And to get them to dream big and work hard to see it through.”