Had he not been asked to start a Division I baseball program at the University of Hawai'i nearly four decades ago, Les Murakami might have been a salesman.

Funny, he certainly had to be one when he coached the Rainbows from 1971 to 2000.

One doesn't raise a program with one scholarship into a College World Series runner-up in just nine seasons and build a facility from just a backstop into what would become one of the top-tier baseball stadiums around the country without making sales pitches to the right people in town.

"I could've done a lot of other things," Murakami said. "I could've taught, I guess, or probably be a salesman ... I could sell anything."

If it weren't for Murakami being so resourceful, who knows if there would have been a Division I baseball program at UH.

But first, he had to prove he could win on the field. Pitcher Gerald Ako, out of 'Aiea High, was Murakami's first scholarship player in 1974. But three seasons later, another 'Aiea alumnus followed in Derek Tatsuno.

Soon, gatherings in the hundreds at UH games turned in to standing-room-only sellouts in the little 2,500 all-aluminum bleacher facility that was the original Rainbow Stadium.

It wasn't long before the Rainbows started getting national recognition.

In 1980, or just nine years after he took the reigns of the baseball program, the Rainbows were runner-up to Arizona in the College World Series. That appearance got the ball rolling for construction of the present- day 4,312-seat structure that has named for the coach since 2001.

Murakami had the connections, particularly political ones, to get things started. He knew the movers and shakers to get the job done.

"Maybe we would have never got it," Murakami said of the stadium had the team not reached the CWS.

"It came down to this: When I talked to Gov. Ariyoshi, I told him, 'I go to all these places in Texas and I look at the stadiums they have and I'm kind of embarrassed that we don't have a stadium or any place to play.'

"He said, 'If you get the money, I'll sign it.' So I said, 'OK.'

"I had a lot of people helping. (The late State Sen.) Charlie Ushijima helped me a lot. My cousin David (Murakami, an assistant coach) helped me a lot. We used to go down to the Legislature every night to talk to people, explain to them that for us to get better, we need a better venue. Very fortunately, the legislators saw it my way."

But more impressive than getting the $11.2 million to build the stadium in 1984 was having it completed in less than nine months. Since then, the Rainbows have twice led the nation in attendance (1986 at 114,367 and 1992 at 208,378) in the place that became known as "The House That Les Built."

During his tenure, Murakami compiled a 1,079-570-4 record in 30 seasons with 11 NCAA berths and six Western Athletic Conference titles. In the winter of 1999, he was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches' Association Hall of Fame.

Murakami suffered a stroke the winter after the 2000 season, leaving his long-time assistant Carl Furutani to serve as interim coach in 2001.

These days, Murakami, who turned 73 on June 1, said he's "trying to get better." He still attends some UH baseball games, as well as the annual Grand Slam Club booster club fundraiser. Besides his doctors' appointments, twice a week he attends healing sessions with Grandmaster Hong Li, who shows his clients "the efficacy of self-healing practices from natural healing to complement conventional health practices through education, implementation, and research," according to its Web site. Murakami is also trying acupuncture.

Just how seriously is Murakami taking his healing sessions?

"He (the grandmaster) told me you have blockage on your good side (right)," Murakami said. "So he told me, 'You cannot drink (alcohol).' I don't drink (now), you know."

But Murakami is willing to make the sacrifice to get better. His goal is to return to the golf course. Although the stroke has weakened his left side — he walks with a cane or uses a wheelchair — he said he can still swing a club with just his right arm.

"I don't hit hard because I don't have the good balance," he said. "But like I told the other guys, I'm going to play golf again one of these days. I'm what you call an eternal optimist. And because I told so many people I'm going to play golf again, I can't be a liar."