The numbers alone from Gene Nakamura’s memorable 25-year career as the Berkeley High girls basketball coach exude excellence and command reverence: 563 victories, 15 North Coast Section titles, seven NorCal titles and two state championships.
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Numbers, though, don’t come close to describing the legacy the beloved Nakamura left behind when he died on July 4 of complications from blood cancer at age 81.
The man affectionately called “Coach Nak” by generations of Bay Area players and coaches is remembered much more for how his life impacted others than for the substance of his coaching resume.
Jualeah Woods was a star who helped put Berkeley girls basketball on the map in the late 1980s, but admits she would have been lost if it hadn’t been for Nakamura’s direction.
“I don’t know where I am today if it wasn’t for him,” said Woods, whose 20-plus-year college coaching career has taken her to schools such as Cal, USC, Oregon State and now the University of San Diego. “He was a remarkable man who cared for everyone he came in contact with.”
New University of Nevada head coach Kelly Sopak, another legendary East Bay high school girls basketball coach who stacked titles for decades at Carondelet, Miramonte and Northgate, couldn’t hide his affection and gratitude for Nakamura. Even if he still can’t get their first meeting on the court in 2005 off his mind.
“We Bay Area, Northern California coaches owe Gene Nakamura a lot,” Sopak wrote in an email Thursday. ”He put Bay Area girls basketball on the map. He was not only a pioneer for our sport but the finest mentor and example of what an elite educator and coach is all about! He was always about the players, the team, his fellow coaches and then himself! He will be missed!”
Ironically, and unfortunately for Sopak, the first game of his coaching career was against Nakamura’s talented Berkeley squad.
“We lost, of course – by 19 – not that I remember!” he wrote.
For Archbishop Mitty High’s Hall of Fame coach Sue Phillips, the memories of facing Nakamura’s dynamic Berkeley teams in the 1990s are never far from her mind. To this day, she still keeps a photo in her office from Mitty’s 1999 NorCal title game showdown with the Yellowjackets.
“We always knew we had to go through Berkeley and we had some epic battles,” said Phillips, whose team beat Berkeley on the way to the second of its six state championships that year. “Gene’s teams were so incredibly disciplined and well-coached. I have so much respect for him and the way he coached and the manner in which he built his program.
“I’m really saddened by his passing and my heart hurts for Wade,” said Phillips, who considered it an honor to also coach against Nakamura’s son Wade’s Presentation High teams. “Gene was a phenomenal teacher who had consistently high standards and expectations. He had a level of integrity and he was unwilling to waver from it.
“When you think of the names that come through in your mind who made a real impact in our sport, Gene Nakamura’s name is one of the first that comes to mind.”
Nakamura’s reputation was such that he routinely drew the admiration and respect from rivals and players of all ages.
“I didn’t have the pleasure of playing for him but was inspired by all he did. I remember as a 7th grader everyone wanting to go to Berkeley High as they were tough and played the game the right way!” former Oakland Tech and Cal star and WNBA player Alexis Gray-Lawson wrote on Facebook. “We lost a great man. Prayers for his family, players and community. RIP coach Nak.”
From scores of text messages, social media posts and phone calls from Nakamura’s former players, fellow coaches, teachers and acquaintances, his son Wade has been floored by the outpouring of love and support he and his family have received.
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“All the testimonials coming out from different people … it’s one of those things where you don’t really realize until after they passed how many lives he impacted in a profound manner,” said his emotional son, himself a successful longtime girls and boys basketball coach, winning eight Central Coast Section titles at Presentation and Homestead.
Inducted into the California Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2010, Gene Nakamura’s coaching career began in 1983 at Berkeley and that’s where he coached his final game in 2008. Having announced earlier he would retire at the end of the season, Berkeley suffered a 58-52 loss to Long Beach Poly in the Division I state championship game. Moments after the defeat, true to his nature, Nakamura was on the court posing for pictures with a wide smile while cradling his two small grandkids.
“That’s the beauty of kids and grandkids. They don’t know you lost, they’re just happy to see you,” said Wade Nakamura, who remembers that game vividly. “It made him happy even though he just lost.”
Nakamura’s smile that night was one former star player Tanda Rucker had seen years earlier when the state player of the year led the Yellowjackets to their first state championship in 1991.
After losing in the 1990 state championship game, Rucker vowed to Nakamura they would win it the following year. Berkeley indeed won the state title, methodically dismantling favored Morningside High of Inglewood 76-50 with offensive precision and a pressing defense, long staples of a Nakamura-coached team.
“I went up to him and said, ‘We did it!’ “ Rucker said while getting emotional. “Just to see that smile of his. His smile is everything. His eyes smiled. We just hugged. … I just had a special connection with him.”
In between those successful 25 seasons coaching and 35 years as a teacher in the Berkeley School District, Gene Nakamura made it his mission to better others’ lives.
Nakamura’s teaching career included stints at Berkeley middle schools. Count former student Mitzi Veal as one of the many who Nakamura made a lasting impact on in the classroom.
“Thank you for being that instructor – the one who taught with wisdom and compassion, and who truly wanted to see your students succeed!” Veal wrote on Facebook. “You taught success and were successful at it – thank you! Honored to have been a math student of his at Willard Jr. High.”
Woods may have been the Northern California Player of the Year in 1990 at Berkeley, but admittedly she was a kid who needed guidance in the worst way – and got it in the best way possible from Nakamura, who also tutored her on the side while helping her study for the SAT exam.
Then, when Woods and her mother were overwhelmed by the process of choosing which of the scores of scholarship offers to accept, Nakamura came to the rescue. He showed up at her house, took her to a restaurant where he and Woods spent hours poring over the pros and cons of each offer. By the time they left the restaurant that night, Woods knew where she was headed.
Woods chose USC, where she had a strong career that included winning the 1994 Pac-10 championship alongside Trojan greats Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson. Woods never forgot the impact Nakamura had on her, which helped lead her into coaching.
“He really helped shape my life,” Woods said.
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Gene Nakamura is survived by his wife of 61 years, Diane Nakamura, daughters Lauren and Lisa as well as his grandchildren.
A celebration of life will be held at Berkeley High on Saturday, Aug. 8 at Berkeley High’s Donohue Gymnasium.
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