Longtime Castle High School baseball coach Joe Tom Jr. died Friday night, after suffering an apparent heart attack at home in Kane'ohe.

He was 52.

Tom was Castle's head coach from 1991 through 2006, then was co-head coach with Brent Taniguchi in 2007 and served as an assistant this past season under Taniguchi and co-head coach Chad Uyehara. Taniguchi and Castle athletic director Richard Haru said they were told Tom had felt ill and checked into a hospital earlier in the week with signs of pneumonia, but was later released.

Tom was at home Friday and suffered an apparent heart attack later that evening, Taniguchi said.

"His son said Joe told him he felt fine (Friday) morning," Taniguchi said. "I was really shocked (he passed away)."

Tom, a P.E. department chair, was a fixture at Castle since 1991, when he took over for Taniguchi as the Knights' head coach. Tom guided Castle to the state championship in 1994 and an O'ahu Interscholastic Association title in 1996.

He previously had coached at Kamehameha — his alma mater — and Kahuku.

Tom also was very active in Kane'ohe Little League, coached American Legion baseball during the summer and served as a color commentator for OC16's softball and baseball broadcasts. He played football and baseball at Kamehameha and lettered in baseball at Washington State University.

"In the dugout, he would talk about anything under the sky," Taniguchi said. "I told Richard, 'This guy loves being at the ball field, he just loves baseball.' "