HONOLULU (KHON2) — If there was one thing Steve Scott knows, it’s slippers from rubber to leather and any color under the sun. He’s got them.
But selling slippers isn’t the only thing that Steve takes great pride in.
When he’s not in his warehouse, he’s likely to be found on the water, where he’s recognized as one of the greatest coaches and outrigger paddling history.
Winning six times with the men from the Outrigger Canoe Club and one more championship with the women.
“I think it’s more a testament to the paddlers that I was coaching at the time in most cases, especially in distance. It takes nine for the men and 10 for the women,” said Scott. “It makes it difficult in a sense that you have to get nine or 10 who are all thinking the same goal.”
From paddler to coach, Scott has witnessed the evolution of the sport, from stronger paddlers to faster boats.
But it was after the Tahitians won in 1976, he says that one of the biggest changes happened when local coach Tommy Connor offered to watch their canoe during the off-season.
“So in the process of taking care of the canoe, he made a mold, and that’s what we actually used in ’79 when we won,” said Scott. “And that’s when we started winning in ’86, ’87 and ’88. The Tahitians were our competition. We had a great race in 1986. We beat the Tahitians, and that was very satisfying.”
In recent years, Scott and everybody else have watched the sport grow globally, from the mainland to Asia to the South Pacific and beyond.
But he says Hawaii will always and should always be the center of Outrigger canoe paddling.
“I think it’s huge because one brings a lot of attention to the sport itself also brings a lot of attention to Hawaii being especially Molokai. I guess, considered the Super Bowl,” said Scott.
And when it comes to winning, he says, whether coaching the men or the women, success ultimately comes down to one thing.
“By the time you get to Molokai, you want to be padding like your one person it’s not nine it’s not six it’s one person and I think that’s most satisfying is getting to that point where you actually realize that everyone that you have coached or you pallet with are all thinking same goal, same technique, same conditions, same preparation, that’s satisfying,” Scott said.