 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. This show is based on my books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game, and it's about leadership, character, and creating a superior culture of excellence. My special guest today is one of the best sports casters in Hawaii. He is Kanoa Lehi, and today we are going Beyond TV and radio. Hey, Kanoa, welcome to the show. Hey, what's up, Coach Rusty? It's an honor to be here, and congratulations to you. Episode 200 was recorded last week, so I mean, that's phenomenal. I don't even know if I've watched 200 episodes of anything, let alone been a part of that many episodes as a production, so congrats to you. Well, thank you, Kanoa. It's unbelievable to me, but you have been such, I mean, you've been making such a great mark in Hawaii following in the footsteps of your grandfather and your dad, but first, Kanoa, can you tell me a bit about your background growing up? Sure, I grew up in a sports casters household, right? My dad, who actually started off his professional life as a high school teacher. And so he was kind of like you. He was very much into wanting to guide and mold young minds, and that was how he felt like he could contribute to the community, but because his father, my grandfather, Chuck, was also a sportscaster, he had inroads and did it sort of part-time on the side until he was given an opportunity to go into sports casting full-time, working in television at KGMB, and then eventually that evolved into being the voice of University of Hawaii Sports on Television for the better part of three decades. And so I grew up in that, I was just around it, I would accompany him to games. I'd sit in the press box, he would give me a little bit of a glare whenever I'd make too much noise because he was thinking it was bleeding out onto the mic, and I was ruining the whole production. And so I kind of had that experience, which was very unique as a kid. It was a very unique upbringing. Educationally, I grew up Catholic, so I attended Catholic school for the majority of my youth. Did attend Punahou in fourth and fifth grade. My fourth grade teacher is a guy who I work with now on spectrum sports coverage of University of Hawaii Baseball and that's Powell Eldridge. So that was pretty phenomenal. And then in high school, I attended Iolani. And so I was very much into sports. Basketball was my favorite, but my knees and other joints didn't really agree with my career plan. So I had torn ACL in each of my knees in successive C's as my junior and senior year. So I always joke around, my MBA career ended before it started. And it was a very early indication that maybe I'd be safer, maybe I'd be better served. Just talking about sports as opposed to trying to play sports. And it just so happened, coincidentally, I got an opportunity to do that. As a senior at Iolani, Mike Vaskensal is former Shamanad Athletics Director. His daughter, Ki-E Spencer Vaskensal, who was a phenomenal basketball player, was playing at Punahou at the time. And I think Mike wanted to get a little bit of publicity for girls' ILH basketball and thought it a novel idea maybe to recruit a younger broadcaster, I think also because he thought there'd be kind of a cheap talent fee, right? If it was someone on the younger side, less experienced. And I think just assuming, hey, look, Kanoa, I know him. His last name is Lehi. He kind of grew up around it. Maybe he'd be interested. And I was rehabbing from my second, pretty large knee injury. And so I had a little time on my hands and I thought, I'll give it a try. Little did I know how much I had sort of absorbed from just being around my dad. I started listening to tapes of my grandfather and it became something that I just really immediately felt comfortable with, was able to develop a passion for. And this is when I'm 17 years old in high school. And next thing you know, I started getting some opportunities doing Hawaii Pacific University baseball. I ended up after two years at UH, transferring to HPU to be their radio voice of their athletic department. And that was a remarkable opportunity presented by then HPU president, Chad Wright. And then in 1999, I got a call from Robert K. Kaula who was becoming the sports director at KITV, the late great Robert K. Kaula. And he recruited me in to be one of the three on air sports reporters at KITV. It was Robert and Dan Meisenzall and myself. This young wet behind the ears rookie who was just kind of learning the ropes and spent five years at KITV, eventually promoted to weekend sports anchor. And then Rick Blandiardi was the GM at the time at KHON in 2004. And he brought me over to KHON as the sports director. And I spent nine years there sitting alongside Joe Moore on the anchor desk. And it was wonderful. It was an incredible experience to be around a guy like Joe who had just exuded that kind of confidence and greatness and recognition for so many years. And I just, I look back on that and I feel really fortunate to have been able to glean some of that what you always write about and what you always talk about that sort of standard of excellence. I was able to glean some of that from some of the major names that have gone through this local sports industry. And my father, Robert K. Kaula, Joe Moore, I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And after that I transitioned into being a little more focused on the play-by-play announcing side which has always sort of been my true passion. And so that's where I'm at now having spent a good amount of years at Spectrum Sports calling the majority of University of Hawaii telecasts and then doing a radio show which just launched recently on ESPN Honolulu in addition to some other ancillary work as well. So a lot of moving parts but it's been a lot of fun and it's been a pretty awesome ride. Well, Kanawa, I mean, I absolutely love your sports casting, your commentary, I mean, everything that you do. I mean, you're such a natural at it but I think it's because you have those genes like you said from your grandfather and then from your dad and I grew up listening to your dad, Jim. I mean, what are some of the, what are like one or two of the biggest things, specific things that you learn from your dad, Jim? Well, in my opinion, and maybe this is biased but I do look at it as objectively as possible as a sportscaster. I think he's the goat. I think he's the best that's come through here. What I learned from him was just trying to develop that passion. If you're not passionate about it, people will see right through that. If you are being disingenuous, people will see right through you. And so having that genuine passion is something that comes across over the airwaves whether it be on radio or television. And so that was something I learned from my dad very early on. And there was a picture there on set of Lehi and Lehi on PBS Hawaii and I was able to work alongside my dad in that production and have some great guests coming through the screen door as we were in our fake studio kitchen that a lot of people strangely thought was actually our kitchen at home. And I'm like, really? You really thought that? There were panels missing in the walls but whatever it was a show that resonated to a degree for a niche group and was a really, really wonderful experience for me. Maybe the most important though set of lessons that I learned from my dad pretty early on was his three rules of broadcasting. He says, always be yourself. Because that is your genuineness. That is what's gonna come across and you can't fake it and try to be something that you're not. He says, always tell the truth because therein lies your credibility. And your credibility in television, especially when you are either a sports broadcaster or sports reporter, that's everything. And he said the third and maybe most important rule is never ever trust broadcast management. And I think that one actually a few times came into fruition and a few times definitely was something that I had to look back on and go, wow. He nailed it on that one for sure. Well, I like hearing those three rules. I mean, it's so correct. And I like what you said about having the passion. And it seems like he provided a really great framework for you but you have your own style. And why is it that you connect so well with your audience? Well, I think another lesson that I learned from my dad is just the work ethic. When I first got into, I mentioned that that first gig calling girls, I like basketball on radio on KGU. My dad gave me whatever kind of advice he could but he also said, hey, look, you got to go out there and you got to swim. You got to jump into the deep end, you got to do it. And he said, I'm not going to help you. If anybody could have sort of greased the roads for me and used connections to advance me through the industry at a quicker pace at an earlier age, it was my dad, but he didn't. His first lesson was you have to pay your dues. And along with that dues payment comes the lesson of putting in the work and preparation. And I think that that's something that you develop over time when I was calling girls, I like basketball on a desk phone at the top of Damien Memorial School Gym while I was also six, I'm covering the receiver so I could cough on the side. It's a very pre-COVID, mind you. But yeah, those were formative experiences. Those were part of the dues paying process when I was doing NCA Summer League basketball on O'Lello and filling an hour and a half block of commercial free television with one external mic tied to a camera that was positioned at the top of the bleachers. And I'm over here announcing the game and we had to fill 90 minutes. If the game ended in an hour, I had to fill 30 minutes with interviews. I'm yelling across the court, getting like Anthony Carter and all these other guys to come over so I could just interview them. It was low budget production for sure but it was part of the formative process. And I think that's for me, that's something that has always been key is put in the work, put in the preparation because if you don't, you'll be exposed. And so that's always something that I have valued is there is no game, no production, too small. It's never beneath you. No matter what you're doing, no matter in what context it is something that deserves your full attention, your full ability, your full effort. Well, Kanoa, I love what you said right there about preparation. And as you know, in my books, I talk a lot about the difference between creating a culture of excellence versus a superior culture of excellence. And I think that's what you're about. You're about these high standards. And do you agree that you have that expectation for everyone else around you on your team as well? Yeah, I think so. I think that we all develop that, right? And we all have our own perspective of it. And again, I don't feel like any job is too small, especially when you're part of a team, as you know, as you have obviously tried to convey over the course of many years. And so yeah, there is an expectation, no matter if there's someone on the crew that's just holding cable, that's just gripping for another cameraman or if it's someone that's just running statistics from the truck over to our position on the court side, you know, media role. I just, I do sort of have the expectation, the anticipation that everyone is going to be trying to do their job at the highest possible standard into the utmost level of effort. And I think that that's fair. I think, you know, when everybody gets that message, when everyone's on board and everyone's paddling the canoe in the same direction, that's when greatness occurs, that's when you achieve. And so yeah, I do have that expectation. I've been really fortunate because I've also had the opportunity to be part of these productions that are perhaps considered a little bit higher scale, right? I've worked numerous events with ESPN. So I'm working with ESPN directors and producers, people that do these national broadcasts, CBS Sports Network. And so I think seeing even another level to the industry, another level of expectation, that has also changed the lens and the scope for me when it comes to what I then at least effort to try to convey. And then obviously what I expect from those around me too. So, you know, I'm not here to suggest that I'm in any way better than anybody that I'm working with. I feel actually quite the contrary. I'm always really honored and feel privileged to work with the people that I do. And that just, you know, that I trust in most instances that they are all trying to achieve what I'm trying to achieve, which is just trying to put on a good product so that people at home watching University of Hawaii Sports, they're feeling what we're feeling and experiencing what we're feeling in real time. Well, it's coming across that way where everyone's feeling what you want them to feel because I feel it when I'm watching and listening to you. And Kanoa, you've worked so closely with Chris McLaughlin and Chris McLaughlin is the one that hired me to be head coach at Punahou. And you guys make such a great team together. What's the biggest reason why? Well, you know, I've known Chris basically my whole life. He worked with my dad covering UH Volleyball on television for so many years. And then, you know, I got the honor to sit alongside him for all of these years as well. He's just a tremendous man. He's a person of incredible moral character. And he just always seems to see the good in every situation. He is a guy who just has a passion and zest for life. And specifically, when you talk about volleyball, that is an area that obviously piques his interest and piques his curiosity and energizes him. And that's easy to work off of, right? When you have somebody that sort of brings that to the table, it lifts all boats, right? He provides that kinetic energy in many ways that just makes it very simple to work with and feed off of. And then you find yourself in this situation where we're kind of going back and forth and it's becoming this on-air broadcasting dance to a degree. I think it also helps that UH Volleyball on both the men's and women's side is a wonderful product. It's an exciting game time in and time out. And so that it really sets the table for us to just kind of enjoy, enjoy each other, enjoy the game. And I would hope that that comes across. But, you know, you mentioned he hired you. This is a guy who I think really has a strong sense of people and he can see the good in people. He can see the value in people. He does a lot of work with the athletes, with the teams themselves on trying to create certain mindsets and think positively and just the mental aspect of sports and the mental aspect of performing under pressure. So this is a guy that's just plugged into that. And I think that's what makes it so easy to work with him. Yeah, I completely agree with everything you said. Chris is a man of great character. I mean, he's been making such a tremendous positive impact in society through, you know, for all these decades. And another man that has great character is one of your friends, Rob DeMello, who you had on your ESPN radio show. And, you know, Rob, I've had him on my show and I really, really love his story. And what do you feel is the biggest thing that you admire about Rob? Yeah, so Rob and my relationship is interesting. I met him first when I was working at KITV and he was doing the PA announcing at the Softball Stadium on the Windward Campus for Hawaii Pacific University in the Howard Okita field. And he was doing the PA announcing, I just met this guy and I didn't really think anything of it. And then fast forward several years, he was interning at KGMV for Neil Everett. And then Robert Cacaullo was talking about hiring him when I became the weekend sports anchor because we needed a third guy. And so that's what ended up happening. And we forged a friendship. He was one of my closest friends. And when I went to KHON, one of the things I really aspired to accomplish was eventually to bring Rob over to KHON to work as the weekend sports anchor in my department. And that's what happened. And so it's funny. We've kind of always been linked to one another along the way in some capacity and some stretches. And I think what makes him so good is he's just got this incredible level of humility. He really does treasure Hawaii sports. He really does believe that this thing that we cover farm-wide, representing the student athletes, the professional athletes that are from Hawaii, just the entire climate and landscape of sports in Hawaii, he is someone that just feels like that is of such a high value and substance. I think that comes across. I mean, he is just genuinely a kind man. And his passion absolutely, I think flows through and transcends the television screen each and every time. Oh, you're so right about that. I mean, you can just feel his passion and his excitement about sports. And earlier, you mentioned about preparation, the importance of it. And every great leader, every successful person, they're always prepared for everything and anything that can happen. But can you share, Kanoa, some of the real detailed insights about how you prepare for a sports cast or for this commentary that you might do for games? I mean, what are some of the details that you actually focus on in your preparation? Yeah, I kind of liken it to studying for a midterm exam. My dad used to say that it was perhaps similar to how a lawyer prepares for trial or something like that is you gather all the notes, accompanying pieces of information, and you try to burn it to memory as much as possible, but then have references that you can quickly turn to in the course of what is a live broadcast. And so when it comes to preparing, I would say the sport that is the largest endeavor is football because there's so many players. It's just such a big type of event. And so, yeah, I put boards together and I have in on each board, I basically have the first several, first, second, third string players at each position. I have a little box for them with their name, number, hometown, and some bio information, statistics. And I basically just pile my notes and these boards with all of that stuff and I study it. And I spend a significant amount of hours trying to get as comfortable and familiar with that before we go on air. It's an exhilarating thing when you do live television. There's no script. It's like you can have all of the script and all the production pieces in place in the pregame and then all of a sudden the kick goes up in the air or if it's basketball game, the tip goes up in the air or volleyball that first serve or baseball that first pitch. And after that, it's like, all right, here we go. We're winging it from now on. And so you have to have that preparation because every game takes on its own identity. It's like a snowflake. No two games are ever exactly the same. And you have to be ready for the twists and turns, the plot twists, the paradigm shifts, things that occur over the course of a sporting event. But that's also what makes it so fun. It's also what makes it so enjoyable and exhilarating to be a part of. But yeah, the preparation is key. I think a lot of guys can, a lot of people can go on the air and they can have a semblance of like, all right, this is what we're gonna plan on doing today. And I've got as much information as possible in front of me. And then once the ball goes up in the air, sometimes it's hard, easy or maybe difficult depending on how you wanna describe it, but it's difficult for some people to sort of keep up with that. And if you're not prepared, it makes that all the more difficult. So yeah, the preparation is key for sure. I like hearing those insights because I know that you do a ton of homework and spend a ton of hours doing what you do just in preparation for that live broadcast. And I wanna ask you about mindset. I do a lot of executive coaching for business owners, CEOs and so much of it. I share with them that, you need to have 100% confidence in what you do because that will become contagious within their organization, their team. And 1% doubt is often a confidence killer because I want these leaders to help train their team members. So they're actually coaches, coaching their team members and that 1% doubt is a confidence killer and you're doing these live sportscasts. What is your mindset like? Yeah, that's an interesting question. I do have at times a bit of a fatalist mentality. So there is like this cross your fingers, like I hope nothing goes too bad. It's the old adage of you do sort of have to expect the worst or anticipate things not going as planned so that you can kind of brace yourself for when it inevitably does. But my mindset going in sometimes while maybe there's a bit of nerves heading in and people always ask you, do you still get nervous? Say, absolutely. And I think any kind of performance art or any kind of on air live presentation that you're a part of, if you don't get nervous that probably means that it's not quite doing it for you anymore. It's that part of it is what tells me that I still have a passion and a love for it, the fact that I do get nervous. And sometimes that can feel a little overwhelming if it's a really big game, if it's a nationally televised game, things of that nature. But once we get there, once we're approaching game time and once the cameras are getting ready to turn on and we have the headsets on, there is a bit of a metamorphosis. It then becomes like here we go. Like here we go, this is showtime, this is game time, let's get it on. And that's kind of the mentality I have. And I think that's the mentality that you sort of have to have, right? You've done all this preparation, you've talked to the coaches and the players, you've gotten all of this background information. Now it's time to do something with it. This is what we work for. This is what we prepare for. The time is now, let's be professional but let's also enjoy it. Let's also take time to soak in just how wonderful an opportunity this is to do what we do. Those are things that do consistently go through my mind, especially right before we go on the air. And you're so right about feeling nervous and because I always tell my players that, hey, yeah, I'm glad that you're nervous because it shows me that you care about what you're doing. If you're not nervous, then I would be nervous that you're not nervous. And so they're like, that's right. And I said, you know, there's a difference between excited versus nervous. You need to train your brain to think that you're excited versus nervous so that you rise to the occasion. And Kano, I wanna ask you, when you're doing a sports cast for high school sports versus college sports, what are the differences that you see? Well, there are some pretty aesthetic and substantial logistical differences. One is the amount of information that we usually are provided with when we do a college game because they have media relations and sports information departments. That exceeds pretty significantly what you're provided with for high school. So you have to sort of do a lot more on your own when you're doing, say, a high school game. Also logistics in terms of positioning. When we're doing college games, we're at college arenas, we're at college football stadiums. Those are usually a little more tailor-made for the presence of a broadcast crew and a camera crew. And so, when you're doing high school, we would do games at Castle High School. We're sitting in the bleachers, right next to everybody. We just have like this taped off area with a tent that covers us in case it rains. And it always did because it was on the windward side at Castle. And so it's like, it's just a different experience and it's a little more stripped down. It's a little more raw, but that's also one of the beautiful parts of high school sports, right? I mean, it isn't so manicured. These are kids who are still trying to make something of themselves, make a name for themselves, create these memories that these families are gonna look back on, not just the kids themselves, but their families as a whole are gonna look back on for decades. And so I always, when I was doing high school, I don't do too much of it now with the exception of like the Polynesian Bowl, which is a high school football all-star game that's held here in Hawaii. I've been around now for a half dozen years, but I still take that so seriously because at the high school level, again, it's a little more stripped down. And I think these families take it to heart on an almost more personal level. And so it's important to learn the names as best you can, try to pronounce them correctly. If you mispronounce someone's name, that's gonna be on video and they're gonna be playing that in their household for years and years and years. So you don't wanna be that guy, you wanna respect them because, when it comes down to it, that is their identity. That name, that calling of their name is something that a lot of these young people aspire for and I think get excited about when there's television coverage. But yeah, I think just logistically, college just has a little bit more in the way of resources, generally speaking, Ben, if you're doing a high school game. Well, Kanoa, you're definitely well on your way to becoming a legendary sportscaster just like your dad. And I really, really enjoyed hearing your insights on the show today. Really wanna thank you for taking time to join me today. Oh, it's absolutely my pleasure, my honor. I'm gonna give Rob DeMell a little trouble that he got on the show before I did. But you know what, well, that's water under the bridge here, Coach Rusty. So I'll let it slide. No, this has been an awesome experience and I have just such a great respect for you and what you have done and what you have accomplished and how you're looking to share your wisdom, I think very valuable lessons that we can all apply. So thank you very much and thanks for putting up with this Portuguese chatter here for the last half hour. Thanks, Kanoa. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I hope that Kanoa and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech, Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.