Wayne “Big Dog” Joseph, the tireless soldier, teacher, writer, advocate, runner and coach, crossed the final finish line Tuesday night, dying in the arms of his loving wife and daughter at their home in Hawaiian Paradise Park. He was 65.

Joseph’s life matched his running philosophy: Never take shortcuts, an…d never back down. He tackled the Volcano Marathon the same way he tackled his opponents on the chess board, lazy Waiakea High cross country runners, or the governor in an on-camera confrontation — he’d huff and puff, and raise his voice, and run directly at the source of the problem. Students rarely beat him in chess, and when they did he’d demand a rematch.

The Big Dog only half lived up to his nickname, which he earned during a basketball game years ago. He was tall only by Hawaii’s standards, and lean, but he was all alpha dog. He wasn’t the fastest runner in the race, but he was the most bull-headed.

He set high standards, but those demanding traits served him well as a coach of many Waiakea High cross country and track teams. He only had five rules, and as judge and jury he sentenced violators to 25 pushups for each violation. No swearing. No rolling down the hill. No sitting during practice. No gay jokes. And no cutting the course.

“You’re only cheating yourself when you cut the course” was one of his mantras, one that many former runners carried with them into their own lives: No shortcuts. Take the hard way. Give it your all, and finish the job.

In 1998 when a runner, Sixto Padamada, collapsed with a stroke during a warmup, Joseph asked the team to dedicate the rest of the season to Padamada. They did, and had a breakout year. When in 1999 the team had a real chance of breaking Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s 26-year stranglehold on the boys cross country title, Joseph promised to shave his head if the team won. They fell short by two points, and the runners kept their end of the bet and shaved their own heads.

Although only seven runners mattered in cross country team scoring, Joseph never held tryouts and he never cut anybody for injury, arrest (a funny story for another day) or lack of athletic ability. The only way a runner could leave the team was for lack of will. As a result, the Warriors fielded a team of dozens of runners. The team bus was so full that parents organized their own system to transport runners to race courses around the island. As the coach of an outdoor sport in the nation’s rainiest city, he once said a lightning storm was the only reason he would cancel practice.

Before Joseph became famous as a writer with his more than 500 “Running with the Big Dog” columns in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, he was a legendary endurance runner, logging tens of thousands of miles during his lifetime. He competed in marathons across the state and the nation. No marathon or ultra marathon was too difficult for him. In later years he moved from being a racer to a race director, becoming the organizer of the Big Island International Marathon and many other smaller races.

He taught modern Hawaiian history at Waiakea and developed a penchant for local politics. Upon retirement, he became president of the HSTA-Retired. He ran once for Puna’s seat on the Hawaii County Council. He bonded with Harry Kim, a former cross country runner from another era, and became the only person in recent history to be appointed to two county commissions simultaneously — the Cost of Government Commission and the county Ethics Commission.

Although humility was never a strong personality trait in someone who called himself the “Big Dog,” he was humbled and a little befuddled on July 3, 2012, when a former runner turned news reporter (ahem) secretly arranged for Puna’s representative on the County Council to present him with a certificate honoring his life’s work.

True to form, he fought his impending death and was able to hold it off until his daughter could return from study in Taiwan. His spirit was unsinkable even as his body failed. When 500 high school cross country runners who barely knew him wore gray ribbons at a meet last season at Kamehameha Schools, he was sitting at the finish line, waiting to interview the winners. He wrote his “Running with the Big Dog” column until the cancer and the chemotherapy robbed his ability to type.

Joseph’s family wishes to remember him as he was before his cancer; healthy and active.

Pavao

Big Island Road Runners

 Race Schedule 2013

!.         Feb. 24  Waikaumalo 7 mile Challenge and 4 Mile Run

2.        March 29  5:30 pm Coconut Island Parking Lot   Emily Wedeman 5 Miler

3.        May 12 Scholarship 5K  7:30 am   Coconut Island Parking Lot

4.        July 4 Veteran’s 5K   Liliuokalani Gardens

5.        August 4 Mana 10’s   10 Mile and 10K  Mana Road Waimea  7:30 am

6.        Sept. 8 Hilo Bay 5K & 10K   7:30 am Coconut Island Parking Lot

7.        Nov. 28 Wayne “Big Dog” Joseph Thanksgiving Day  5K   7:30 am Coconut    Island Parking Lot

8.        Dec. 15  Jingle Bell Run  5K and 2 mile Walk Around the Prince Kuhio Plaza

9.        Jan. 18, 2014 Hilo to Volcano Ultra and 50K Relay

“May I say at the outset that I have never been an athlete, but I have been an ardent admirer of good athletes and feel scant sympathy for those who have treated their bodies to drugs or booze,” Custis Green 90 year old who now lives in Hilo said.

Green moved to the Big Island from the Caribbean eleven years ago where meet his wife who was serving a 2.5 year term in the Peace Corps there.

“I have always appreciated the efforts and dedication for healthful living with the focus on running and walking,” he said.

Green learned at an early age the he wouldn’t do well at athletics when he tried out for the football and basketball teams when the school didn’t have a uniform size small enough that would fit him.

“I weighed 83 pounds when I entered high school three years later,” said Green.  “So I volunteered to be a locker boy. My job was to make sure the guys on both teams had the proper equipment at the right time.”

Although Green became regulated to the bench he did follow the careers of the famous professional stars of the times like Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio. He would listen to the radio and read the newspaper in order to keep up with these athletes’ careers and others of our times, even today.

Green also had a musical talent and tried out for the marching band where he played the trumpet. This allowed him to watch the games and cheer for his favorite players on the field.

During World War II Green was a B-17 Bombardier flying out of England over Germany.

“On a bombing run the pilot of the lead plane in formation lost control in a bad hit slamming into our plane,” he said.  “Out of the 19 men on the two planes three of us survived.”

Green became a prisoner of the Germans for 6 months and when he returned home to Colorado his father had hoped he would join him as a funeral director.

“I hated to disappoint him but I wanted to work with children,” Green said.  Green got an MA in education and spent 35 years in Portland Oregon.  He spent most of that time as a principal. It was during this time when he was playing volleyball with his staff that he slipped and fell injuring his back. The doctor advised him to change to swimming saying that he was not as young as he used to be.

“I hadn’t been swimming much since I earned my Boy Scout Merit badges in swimming way back when,” Green said.

“Okay, I’ll give swimming a try,” he said.  “The first time I entered the pool I was hooked.  I also swam for a purpose which was to raise money for a hospital. I strong armed friends and church members into donating money for every lap that I swam in the pool. This earned me a certificate thanking me for earning the most money for a hospital.   I’m rather proud of that,” he said.

Of course Green has slowed down since his younger days but he has developed a routine in swimming three or four days a week at the local YMCA in Hilo.

“I swim at the Ululani YMCA three or four days a week at 7 am for 30 minutes and it goes like this,” Green said.

“For half the length I walk then I crawl with my head down in water; next I crawl with head up,” Green said.

Finally he will do the breast stroke with his head down.  “I don’t turn my head to breathe,” he said.  “Then shower and head home for breakfast where I read all the sports in the HTH then do the cross word puzzle (usually napping in the middle of it,” he said with a wide grin.

Green confess to eating three good meals a day, unless he has to make his own lunch which is usually a peanut butter sandwich.

“I have celiac disease which means I have to remain on gluten free foods, he said.  “That leaves me eating mostly vegetables, fruits and meats.  I munch on fruit slices of jelly candy in between meals and drink soda pop and tea.”

Green having to remain gluten free means no eating rye, wheat, barley and other grains.

Green consumes no coffee, no alcohol and very little water which this 90 year young person admits to a weakness unless the water is flavored.

“I sleep pretty well most of the time,” he admits.

Now I must say this 90 years young person is probably in better shape than I am and he has a better fitness routine.

And someday should you happen to see a senior crawling up Shower Drive in Hawaii Paradise Park remember to smile and say ‘woof’ and never shy away from “Running with the Big Dog”

Email the Big Dog at waiakeabigdog@aol.com.

Resolutions are a small commitment that a person makes to one or more personal goals in anticipation of the New Year. It is a New Beginning for people who want to commit to it and stick with it. Most resolutions people make have to do with changing their lifestyles for the better. New Year resolutions are made with the hope that people can stick with it for the entire year to enhance their lives.

With that being said the Big Dog went about asking a group of volunteers at his run/walk this past Sunday what their resolutions were for 2013. He also asked a few of the more than 200 people that participated the same question and this is what he got as answers:

Paul Okubo the Big Dog timer had this to say, “You never gave me a chance to say this at the Thanksgiving Day race that
 I am profoundly thankful that all three of my children had the good fortune to have a terrific cross-country/track coach 
named Wayne Joseph. Because of you all three children, now adults themselves continue to jog or run in order to keep fit.”

Steve Pavao was on hand to represent the Big Island Road Runners. Pavao put out the  mile markers for this race. His resolution is to do his part to make the world a better place for everyone.

Keith Aoki from Anheuser-Busch supplied the sports drinks for the runners and he had this to say, “I hope everyone has a safe 2013 and that they remember to drink responsibly when consuming alcoholic beverages.”

David Hammes who volunteered to do the turnaround at the half way mark added: “I am resolving to be more compassionate, caring, and giving to everyone I come in contact with. I am hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon (very unlikely, but one has to dream!)”

Sylas Wright a volunteer at the sign in table from  Seattle Washington said this “

I resolve to be more generous with myself in 2013; to live in the moment and love and appreciate all the good things in my life.

Joe Wedemann another volunteer who brought the water and Gator Aid had this say “my resolution is to help my brother Bob get back on his feet after a long, painful divorce. I am giving him a place to stay, (room, board, food, etc.) all out of the goodness of my heart.

I would also note that he is overweight, out of shape, and type 2 diabetic and that I am helping him get his health back under control so he can enjoy his new life here in Hawaii.”

My family doctor, Internist Aaron Morita who was on hand for the run had this to say about his resolution. “My 2013 commitment is to be more attentive to my wife Pat and take care of her better as she takes great care of me, our family, our home and business,” Morita said.

During the Resolution 5K run it was Jason Braswell of the Big Island Running Company who would have won the race had he not taken a wrong turn leading him way from the finish line and allowing a pair of high school runners to pass him near the finish.  This allowed Stephen Hunter from Hilo High to win the race in a time of 18 minutes 08 seconds. Second place went to Waiakea’s Ian McQuate in a time of 18:10.

“I ran today to help the Food Basket.” Said Hunter

“I guess my resolution for 2013 is to know where the finish line is prior to the race and not allow this to happen to me again,” said a smiling Braswell who finished the race in a time of 18:15.

The finish had been changed when a Police Officer had told runners they couldn’t run through Bayfront because of an on going investigation and the entire course had to be changed to run in the opposite direction.

Overall

Taking first place for the woman was Noe Waller (21:29) , followed by Leslie Spinelli  (21:40), taking third place was Mehana Sabato-Halphern.

“I haven’t raced in a very long time. I was terrified to come today.” Waller said. “My resolution

for the new year is to not be afraid to run road races and get back into doing what I love.” Waller said.

This event attracted more than 200 participants and raised over three hundred dollars and trunk loads of can goods for the Hawaii Island Food Basket.

It takes lots of volunteers and community support to step up and be flexible. At the last minute the course had to be re routed due to the closure of Bayfront Highway. The Big Island Road Runners stepped up to make this run/walk possible and at 6 am changed to a new course. Despite the constant rain and change in the course the race was a huge success.

Participants ranged in age from 6 years to 80 years young. Lucas Kay-Wong age 6 had this to say, “I ran with my dad today because he said I would be a better soccer player if I did this race. I had a lot of fun today.

And someday should you happen to come upon a slow jogger resolving to love his wife more and taking one day at a time remember to say “woof” and never shy away from “Running with the Big Dog.”

Email the Big Dog @ waiakeabigdog@aol.com.

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