A Coach's Story
Dennis Agena
Founder & Head Coach, Kalakaua Basketball Clinic (1966 – present)

If you’re part of the Saturday night crowd, you may see a familiar face. In fact, he’s familiar at Farrington because he’s been there for over four decades. He’s Coach Dennis Agena, who played basketball there and then made a hobby out of coaching others. In fact, he’s become one of the most respected coaches in our state. But it didn’t start easy.

Mom’s Motivation & Coach’s Push
When he was just 8 years old, Coach’s mom passed away. He recalls, “We [kids] were split up and sent to live with different relatives.” He started to hang out in Kalihi, where many other kids were sniffing glue and getting high. Instead, he spent long hours alone, releasing his pain on the basketball court.

In high school, one of his coaches became gravely ill. At the hospital, his coach made Dennis promise to help: “Of all the boys, I think you can keep the basketball program going.”

Forty-one years later, Dennis is still sharing his basketball knowledge. What started as a means to keep youth out of trouble, today is a clinic with a waitlist of 2 years.

An All-American All-Star
“Coach” as thousands of youth know him, started the clinic when he was half-way through his senior year at Farrington High. Since then it’s helped almost generations of kids learn the basics of basketball and life. Graduates of his clinic include such notables as Nani Cockett, Bobbie Nash, Brandi Richardson, Derek Low, and the current High School State Champions… both boys and girls (Iolani & Punahou respectively).

That’s quite a scorecard for this humble Kalihi kid!

Add to that his recent sports clinic with New Hope and you’ve got quite a witness!

An All-Out Volunteer
His wife, Lani, is quick to share the inside scoop on her wonderful husband, she often acts as his press agent when organizations call and want to know about this unbelievable coach. After listing at least 5 top basketball programs he’s coached at (including UH, Kamehameha, Iolani and Punahou) and many state awards, she surprises us with an aside: “By the way, he’s a volunteer and so are all his assistants. And whenever he travels, it’s also out of his pocket.”

“We take our annual vacations to visit our former students attending college.” And they’ve been everywhere—from the Ivy leagues of East Coast to the sunnier West Coast colleges, from wintry Utah to humid Lafayette.

“It has been a wonderful experience to watch the kids grow up, go off to college, play college ball, and then become good people in our communities,” reflects Lani. “We recently heard from a fellow after 20 years of no contact. He became a U.S. Marshal in California. His teammate took the other road and is now doing 20-to-life in prison.”

That’s been Coach’s mission: to keep kids out of trouble & in school. And it’s worked.

One of his former players remarked, “I could have gone either way. Dennis not only guided me in basketball, but welcomed me into his life. He encouraged me and worked on my strengths…. I played in college. Today, I have a good job, a wife and two kids… and a lot of happy memories with Dennis – he bought me a lot of plate lunches!”

“I just try to teach my students to be humble,” says Coach. “Through sports, we teach the kids commitment, hard work, loyalty and giving back.”

A Blind Date
They say that behind every great man there’s a great woman. And for Dennis that’s Lani; thanks to a little meddling:

“Dennis and I met on a blind date set up by one of his students, 17 years ago. We both were 39 years old when we met (same class of ’66 – he was at Farrington and I was at Kaimuki across town and never knew of him!). We decided we were too old to start a family. So, everybody’s kids have become our kids. We’ve sponsored basketball shoes to prom hairdo's. We love it!”

Today Coach Dennis and Lani are getting ready for this summer’s clinic at the Kalakaua Rec Center, starting June 11. They’re also a regular part of the New Hope ‘ohana ever since they first attended in 2002. “We thoroughly enjoyed Pastor Wayne and look forward to hearing him each Saturday.”

Many, many mahalos to Coach & Lani for a living legacy of shining a “future and a hope” for Hawaii’s youth!