Competitive, fundamentally sound and kind: it's the perfect recipe for the greatest water polo coach Hawaii has ever known. For more than 50 years, Ken Smith has been a mainstay at Punahou School building the boys' and girls' teams into the most dominant water polo programs in the 50^th state.
 
Before he was a coach, Smith was a standout player at UCLA in the late 1960s. The two-time All-American started every game during his four years in Westwood when the team went 65-0. He stayed with the Bruins to launch his coaching career under the UCLA legend Bob Horn, and helped UCLA win the first NCAA Championship title in water polo, in 1969. From there, he ventured to Hawaii where he took over Punahou Aquatics, later known as Hawaiian Islands Water Polo. At the same time, he took on head coaching responsibilities for the Punahou boys' team and started a run that included 39 league championships and 359 wins. In 1996, he launched the Punahou girls' water polo program, amplifying the school's dominance all the way to 15 state championships between 2006 and 2023 as well as 292 victories. Under Smith, both Punahou squads set the standard for excellence in Hawaii.
 
Smith's influence radiated even further, however.
 
From 1988 to 2008, every US Olympic men's water polo team featured at least one player that Smith had coached, including Chris Duplanty (1988, '92, '96), Sean Kern (2000) and Brandon Brooks (2004, '08). Smith also mentored Olympic and Hall of Fame referee Aaron Chaney (2004, '08). Many more of his proteges have become coaches, like Brooks (UCLA), Chaney (UC Santa Barbara), Maureen Cole (University of Hawaii) and Ikaika Aki (Loyola Marymount University), and Duplanty (assistant US coach at the 2000 Sydney Olympics).