Alegre's roots come from Honokaa

Greg Yamamoto | SL

Jayme Carvalho is ever mindful of those who came before him.

The fourth-year Honokaa boys basketball coach offered up a history lesson after his team pulled out a 37-34 win over Leilehua Friday at the 18th annual James Alegre Invitational.

"I don't know if you know this, but Jimmy Alegre is a Honokaa grad," Carvalho said of the late, great Radford coach and the tournament's namesake. "He was an all-star (player) at Honokaa, then he came up here and got all his wins up here."

Alegre's decorated coaching career spanned four decades from 1961 to 1995. He won 635 games and four state championships — and more than that, served as a mentor to hundreds of players and coaching colleagues.

As a youngster on the Big Island's Hamakua coast, Carvalho grew up learning all about Alegre's basketball exploits. It's something he has continued to hold close to his heart these days.

"I'm born and raised in Honokaa and so I know my history and how important Mr. Alegre was to Honokaa, even if he was way before my time," said Carvalho, who graduated from Honokaa in 1993 and went on to play at UH-Hilo.

That appreciation for history is something that Carvalho is hoping to pass on to his players.

"If you know who was good before you, you have a chance to be good yourself because you're going to see what was done before you and not make the same mistakes, or copy what was actually good," Carvalho said. "I'm just trying to do this for our kids. I told our kids that there are youngsters looking up to them right now, just like they were looking up to somebody before, so on and off the court we have to be that same person that can be relied upon."

Carvalho and the Dragons, who finished fourth in the Division II state tournament last year, have participated in the last four Alegre Invitationals.

"We've been here since my first year and we feel it's an honor to be a part of a great event like this that honors a great man like Jimmy Alegre," Carvalho said. "As soon as I got the coaching job, I told Mrs. Alegre that if I can travel for the preseason, we would be there."

Honokaa went 2-2 in the tournament, beating Leilehua and Radford, but falling to Kalaheo and Farrington. The visit to Oahu was packed with games, as Carvalho scheduled single games against Roosevelt, Le Jardin and Hawaii Baptist as well.

"This is my senior class that has been with me four years, so we're built for this," Carvalho said. "All these kids put in the effort in the offseason, so they're getting familiar with each other and I think that's the big difference."

It's certainly a labor of love for Carvalho, who also has a traveling team in the offseason that many of his players are members of.

"I had people do that for me and I got to play college ball, so I'm just trying to pass it on and let them know that you're going to get what you put in," Carvalho said.

Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].