Kaimuki hoops tournament renamed to honor legendary coach

Rayden Aoki | SL

The Raymond Fujino Invitational.

For head coach Greydon Espinda, it was only fitting that the Bulldogs' 12 team tournament, quickly becoming one of the highlights of the Hawaii boys basketball preseason landscape, be named after one of the school's living legends.

"i just told him and he said, I guess I can't say no," chuckled Espinda when asked about Fujino's response to learning about the tourney's new name. "I told him, we naming it after you because of how much he means to me as a friend and mentor."

Fujino helped lead Kaimuki to its first ever state crown in boys basketball in 1993, a 53-50 win over Aiea, and remains highly regarded amongst his basketball peers.

Former Kaimuki coach Kelly Grant, who won the school's only other state title in 2007, recalled what stood out to him about Fujino as a coach.

"One thing I noticed, just being observant of Ray is that he's a disciplinarian, made sure the boys were all on the same page," said Grant. "And that's super important. The kids trust you. They'll go the extra mile (for you). He had a wide range (of kids) on that (1993) team, you got kids from Palolo, kids from Europe and he did a tremendous job with that group."

Espinda recalled advice given to him by Fujino.

"The best thing he told me was, take care of the little things, and the big things will take of itself," he said. "So I've passed that on (as a coach), things like go to class, behave, do your work, try your best and then everything will take care of itself."

As for the tournament itself, participating for the second year in a row was Island Pacific, which drew the host school Kaimuki this year as it did a season ago.

This time the matchup, now between Fujino's previous school and his new one - he's been Athletic Director at since his retirement from the OIA in 2023 - a tidy juxtaposition and a fitting opening game for a tourney with his name on it.

A young Navigators squad ended up on the losing end of a 52-24 game, but if you sat next to Fujino for duration of the contest, as I did, you would not have known what the margin was at all.

He was focused much more on what the players were doing well, what they were struggling with, commenting on what they could do to get better.

Once a coach, always a coach.

Play continued on the opening day of the tourney with a bevy of state title contenders in the mix, with Maryknoll, Moanalua and Mililani all advancing. Games will continue through Saturday at Kaimuki High School, with the inaugural champion of the Raymond Fujino Invitational set to be crowned after the 2:30 p.m. title game.