Aloha Spirit in Play! Endowed scholarship founder Dr. John Uohara hosts UH Hilo women’s volleyball team at his home for cultural event
With a private luau filled with good food, mele and hula, Dr. Uohara gifts the team, their coaches and director, a unique experience relevant to the place they represent.
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
This past weekend, Dr. John Uohara, who established an endowed women’s volleyball scholarship with the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo in 2011, hosted the team at his home for a wonderful Hawaiʻi experience: a luau celebration from imu to plate, with joyful lessons in mele and hula.
Dr. Uohara and his wife Shari Masterson hosted the entire Vulcan’s women’s volleyball team, coaching staff, Director of Athletics Patrick Guillen, and Chancellor Bonnie Irwin to their home over the weekend for a team bonding, culturally-rooted luau. On Saturday, the group helped prepare the imu and food, and on Sunday, they feasted and immersed themselves in cultural arts.
UH Hilo Director of Native Hawaiian Engagement Pele Harman taught the women the songs Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī and Hawaiʻi Aloha, and, along with her husband Associate Professor of Hawaiian Studies and Hawaiian Language Kekoa Harman, a short hula.
“It was a lovely gathering,” says Chancellor Irwin. “We all appreciated Dr. and Mrs. Uoharaʻs generosity in opening their home for this event. Our Vulcan athletes are fortunate to be able to live, learn, and compete in such a supportive community.”
Siena Mizuno, UH Foundation’s director of development for Hawaiʻi Island, says Dr. Uohara sees this cultural event becoming a tradition for the team beyond the endowed scholarship.
“Dr. Uohara wanted to give the team a unique experience relevant to the place they represent,” says Mizuno. “The gathering created the perfect environment for team bonding and connecting the players not from Hawaiʻi with Hawaiian practices.”
The history of Uohara Family Endowed Excellence Scholarship in Women’s Volleyball
Dr. Uohara is a retired Hilo obstetrician/gynecologist who in 2011 established a permanently endowed scholarship for players in the Vulcan women’s volleyball program.
The Uohara Family Endowed Excellence Scholarship in Women’s Volleyball supports members of the women’s volleyball team at UH Hilo who demonstrate academic excellence off the court with a minimum 3.5 GPA.
“I hope others will join me in thinking about where the future of UH Hilo athletics lies… it’s in our hands, and our actions speak louder than words,” said Uohara at the launch of the endowment.
Born in Waimanalo, Dr. Uehara moved to Hilo when he was 16 and graduated from Hilo High. He earned a bachelor of science at Lewis and Clark College and a medical degree from the UH Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine. He did his internship and residency at Kapiʻolani Women’s and Children’s Medical Center, was named a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and was on staff at Hilo Medical Center for decades.
Uohara volunteered as team physician for the UH Hilo women’s volleyball team for over 40 years starting in 1979. As the athletic department grew, he extended his services to the women’s teams in cross country, tennis, softball, golf and soccer. He’s now retired from those services.
Dr. Uohara was inducted into the Vulcan Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011 as a Distinguished Vulcan Supporter and celebrated for his longtime service to UH Hilo. In remarks at the induction event, he shared a moving story about the fulfillment of family dreams, describing his great-grandfather, who had scant medical training but delivered babies on the sugar plantation, and his grandfather, Shinichi Uohara, who had only a third grade education but whose fond hope was to someday see a qualified doctor in the family. John Uohara eventually fulfilled his grandfather’s dream, becoming a member of the very first graduating class of 1975 at the UH Mānoa medical school.
By endowing a scholarship in his family name to UH Hilo, Dr. Uohara is perpetuating this legacy and helping young people from other families to fulfill their dream of attaining a higher education.
Dr. Uohara retired from his obstetrics and gynecology practice in 2018 but remains active in the health care and UH communities.
Story by Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
