Reading time: < 1 minute
Former University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa baseball head coach Les Murakami has been selected as a part of the College Baseball Hall of Fame’s 2025 class, the College Baseball Foundation announced on June 23.
The namesake for the home of Rainbow Warrior baseball, Les Murakami Stadium, will join pitcher Derek Tatsuno (2007) as those who have been a part of the Hawaiʻi program in the College Baseball Hall of Fame. The 2025 class includes stars such as Stephen Strasburg and Mark McGwire.
As the winningest coach in school history, Murakami built the program into a national powerhouse over his 30-year coaching career. He took UH Mānoa to 10 NCAA Regionals, won six Western Athletic Conference (WAC) titles and led the ‘Bows to their only College World Series appearance in 1980.
Already a member of the coaches-only American Baseball Coaches’ Hall of Fame, Murakami was a two-time WAC Coach of the Year and was named the 1986 NCAA District Coach of the Year and won the Lefty Gomez Award in 1981. Throughout his career he sent 74 players to play professional baseball with 10 of those eventually reaching the Major League level.
Perhaps one of Murakami’s biggest contributions to the program came when he spearheaded the effort to build what was then called Rainbow Stadium that opened in 1984. Now bearing his name, Les Murakami Stadium has consistently been called one of the best venues in all of college baseball.
Since coaching his final game on the field in 2000 and officially retiring in 2001, Murakami has remained an active supporter of the program for the past 25 years.
For more on Murakami’s induction, visit Hawaiiathletics.com.