Dunn Muramaru has had a profound impact on baseball in Hawaii during his nearly 50-year coaching career.
Following a nine-year stint as the head baseball coach Honolulu’s Kalani High School, where he served from 1977-85, Muramaru joined the baseball program at the Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu, Hawaii. After one season coaching the junior varsity team at Mid-Pacific, he took over as the program’s head baseball coach beginning with the 1987 season.
For his career, Muramaru has led his teams five Hawaii state championships while making 11 state title game appearances overall. His career record of 594-293-3 (.667) includes 14 Interscholastic League of Honolulu (ILH) championships with six second-place league finishes, including one while at Kalani.
Muramaru received ABCA High School Div. III Regional Coach of the Year honors following the 2012 season. He has also been named the Hawaii State Coach of the Year on four occasions and the ILH Coach of the Year 12 times.
Muramaru, who retired from teaching in 2017, also hosts baseball clinics at his high school’s facility for youth baseball players in Hawaii. With the help of formers players and coaching staff, Muramaru has been able to provide instruction through these community clinics for more than 15 years.
His programs have produced more than 100 players who have gone on to play collegiate baseball, and 18 former players have gone on to play professional baseball. That list includes current Major League infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa. After making his Major League debut in 2018 with the Texas Rangers, Kiner-Falefa took home the American League Gold Glove Award at third base in 2020. He played two seasons for the New York Yankees before splitting 2024 between the Blue Jays and Pirates.
A 37-year Lifetime Member of the ABCA, Muramaru was recently inducted into the National High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame as part of the seven-member Class of 2024. He has also been inducted into the M-Club (Mid-Pacific) Hall of Fame, and he received the prestigious Chuck Leahey Award in 2009 for his outstanding service to the sport of baseball in Hawaii.
With his induction into the ABCA Hall of Fame, Muramaru joins longtime University of Hawaii head baseball coach Les Murakami as the only two Hawaiian coaches in the ABCA Hall of Fame. Murakami, who was inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame in 2000, led the University of Hawaii baseball team to over 1,000 wins from 1971-2000 and a College World Series appearance in 1980.
