PCCSC Richard H. Lough Memorial Service Award
Honolulu, HI (April 21, 2012) – At the Annual General Meeting of the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference in April the Board of Directors nominated and unanimously approved the University of Hawaii Sailing Team Coach, Andrew Johnson, as the recipient of the 2012 Richard H. Lough Memorial Service Award. This award is for extraordinary service to collegiate sailing within the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference. Richard Lough, while a graduate student at U.C. Berkeley in the 1940’s, helped to start the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Yacht Racing Association (now PCCSC).
Andrew “Andy” Johnson has served as the head coach of the University of Hawaii Sailing team since he replaced Charlie Dole in 1989. In that time he has developed the team in to a national recognized program with 37 national championship appearances, 15 All-American team members, nine All-American crews and two Olympians.
He is a leader in the Hawaiian sailing community running clinics for the area yacht clubs, junior sailing programs and high school teams in addition to coaching the UH sailing team and managing the UH Campus Recreation programs.
Andy has held many positions in the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference leadership including Executive Vice President, Intersectional Coordinator, Eligibility Committee Member, All-American Committee Member and Championships Committee Member.
When hosting regattas for the conference Andy goes above and beyond his role as host to organize event dinners, housing, social activities and awards to make the events memorable. The UH team has a tradition of “lei’ing” seniors when they host conference championships and many of those seniors hold onto the lei’s as an important reminder of their college sailing career.
About Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference – The Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference (PCCSC) was founded in 1941 and serves as the governing body for collegiate sailing in California, Hawaii and Arizona. Comprised of eighteen member institutions the PCCSC is one of seven conferences in the Intercollegiate Sailing Association of North America.