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Sadao Hamada is in his 31st season with the Stanford men's gymnastics program. Hamada, who has led the Cardinal to three NCAA Championships (1992, '93, '95) during his tenure, resigned as head coach after the 2002 season.
"Sadao has kept the men's gymnastics' program among the nation's elite throughout his long tenure here, and will retire as one of the great coaches in the history of this department," Stanford athletic director Ted Leland said. "We are sad to see him step away, but he leaves this department with many great memories that we will never forget."
"My time here has been a great experience," said Hamada. "I have been fortunate to work at such a wonderful institution with a great administration. I love the Stanford community, and have spent more than half of my life here. After I retire, I would like to help the program or department in any way I can."
A three-time National Collegiate Coach of the Year, Hamada has coached seven individual NCAA Champions in his 29 years as well as Olympians Steve Hug (1972, 1976) and Jair Lynch (1992, 1996). He earned conference coach of the year honors on six occasions and was selected as regional coach of the year twice. In 1989, he was named the USA Coach of the Year. Hamada's teams have won three NCAA Championships (1992, 1993, 1995) and two conference titles apiece in both the Pacific-10 Conference (1990, 1992) and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (1993, 1995).
The 1989 season saw the Cardinal burst onto the national scene. Hamada led his team to a second place finish in the Pac-10 and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Highlighting the '89 season was a Stanford assault on the USA Championships, which culminated in two gold medals for his competitors and USGF Coach of the Year honors. The 1990 season was a breakthrough year for Hamada. Stanford won its first Pacific-10 Championship and Cardinal gymnasts qualified for all of the event finals, including Charles Loop, who won the parallel bars (9.50), and Lynch, who finished first on both the high bar (9.85) and floor exercise (9.35). In addition to those titles, there were four second-place finishes to go along with one third, two fourth and two fifth-place finishes.
In 1992, the Cardinal captured its first National Championship as Hamada won Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors. In winning the NCAA title, Stanford established a record of 289.575 points in the NCAA Championships. In addition, Lynch won the first NCAA individual title in Stanford history on the horizontal bar.
"My highest moment was when we first won the NCAA Championships in 1992," Hamada said, "Nebraska was favored to win, and we went into their territory and won the title. I enjoyed teaching, not only to my teams, but the entire Stanford student body (golf and gymnastics). My major concern was that all of my gymnasts were prepared for life after college."
Under Hamada's guidance in 1993, Stanford brought home its second consecutive NCAA title, becoming the first team to repeat in a decade and only the 11th team to win back-to-back titles in the 55-year history of the collegiate championships. Stanford held off Nebraska and Ohio State to bring home the second-ever gymnastics title in Stanford history.
With his second straight national title, Hamada earned additional national recognition for his coaching efforts. Hamada took home the first-ever MPSF Coach of the Year Award as well as repeating as National Collegiate Coach of the Year.
The 1994 season saw Stanford finish second to Nebraska in its attempt to three-peat. The Cardinal had one individual champion - Mark Booth on the floor exercise. In 1995, Hamada led the Cardinal to its third National Championship, topping Nebraska and Penn State in the final. Stanford's first place finish in both the NCAA and the MPSF earned Hamada his third National Collegiate Coach of the Year Award (1992, 1993, 1995).
Hamada was an outstanding national-level competitor in his collegiate days in both Japan and the United States, finishing second in the All-Around at the 1970 and 1971 National Senior AAU Championships. He is a 1969 graduate of the internationally recognized Nippon College of Health and Physical Education in Tokyo, Japan. During his collegiate years, he led his team to a second-place finish at the All-Japan Championships.
Hamada moved to the United States in 1969 to serve as an assistant gymnastics coach while studying for his graduate degree in physical education at Kent State University. He enjoys teaching golf, and also playing golf at the professional level.
Hamada's Coaching Career Highlights
*Three NCAA Titles (1992, 1993, 1995)
*MPSF Champions (1995)
*Pac-10 Champions (1990)
*National Collegiate Coach of the Year (1992, 1993, 1995)
*MPSF Coach of the Year (1993)
*Pac-10 Coach of the Year (1983, 1985, 1990, 1991, 1992)
*West Regional Coach of the Year (1986, 1992)
*USA Coach of the Year (1989)
*Coached seven individual NCAA Champions
*Coached Olympians - Steve Hug (1972, 1976) and Jair Lynch (1992, 1996)
*Coached World Championship members - Conrad Voorsanger (1989), Tim Ryan (1989), Jair Lynch (1995), Josh Stein (1995).