The glue guy is the bridge between past and present, and in this case, the father and the son played the role to the fullest, and a breakthrough state title was the result for the Saint Louis Crusaders.
Shoncin Revuelto, a senior starting guard, and father Mark Revuelto, an assistant coach, were part of the transition from the previous regime to new coach Dan Hale in 2019.
Often enough, Shoncin was an unsung, ultra-reliable and trustworthy grit and grinder. The one who speaks rarely, but cherishes every opportunity to do the heavy work.
“I’m not going to lie. From the time we won until now, it hasn’t sunk in yet. Sometimes, I do miss it. I go down to Kanewai (Park) and play, watch old games on OC16, but it hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said.
He embraced his role to the fullest. The senior guard was the ultimate glue guy, taking on the toughest defensive assignments, handling pressure with Hayden Bayudan as an elite ballhandler, and hitting key 3-pointers when defenses closed in on Aiva Arquette and AJ Bianco in the paint.
Saint Louis’ first state championship since 1986 required a glue guy, but it went beyond the 2021-22 season.
Ask the Crusaders who is most likely to coach some day, and Shoncin Revuelto’s name often comes up.
“He’s going to be a great coach one day if he wants to,” coach Hale said.
Revuelto arrived at Saint Louis as a freshman, following the path of his father. Younger brother Shancin, a freshman who also played on the varsity this season, came in as a seventh grader.
“It was Shancin’s goal all off-season long to make the varsity. He’s always been the water boy, so he knew we had the pieces, just putting it together, riding the ride,” Mark Revuelto said. “That was his goal.”
The moving parts were often kept together by their family’s “glue guy,” Rayline Revuelto. Transporting four children to their activities, maintaining the household while working day and night. Every day, Shoncin Revuelto sees his mother go to work at two jobs. Rayline Revuelto, who played at Kaimuki, sees a lot of herself in their oldest child.
“For me, his defense stepped up a whole lot. To see him win a state championship, that makes me proud. He’s not one of those players who shows emotion. Shoncin is kind of the, it takes a lot for him to say anything, but as a senior, he took the leadership to control the team,” she said. “He’s patient, and them being on the team, that brought them closer together as brothers.”
Shoncin hears and listens.
“My mom works really hard. She’s really dedicated and she sacrifices a lot, working two jobs so I can go to Saint Louis. Not too many people get the chance to go to Saint Louis and I’m just lucky I get to go to a school like that. I’ve never seen her react to my games or Shancin and (youngest brother) Shaicin’s games, but at the state title game, she was passionate,” he said.
The footsteps to Kalaepohaku began well before Shoncin Revuelto was born. Mark Revuelto grew up in Aliamanu, living with his grandparents.
“Everybody tried for Kamehameha. I had a cousin who went to Saint Louis and I was living with my grandparents. They thought Saint Louis would be better,” he said. “I didn’t get into Kamehameha. My grandparents didn’t want me to go to public school.”
Thus began a life on TheBus.
“I caught the bus from Aliamanu, No. 12, to downtown, (transfer) to No. 1,” he said.
Nicholas Revuelto never missed a single one of his grandson’s games during those early 1990s ILH battles. He got to see his great-grandsons make some history this season.
“He’s in his 80s. He goes swimming every day, still pretty sharp,” Mark Revuelto said. “He remembers a lot of stuff.”
When Mark began assisting at Saint Louis, grandpa gave a big thumbs up.
“He said, ‘You’re giving back. It’s not for the money. It’s for the love. You’ve got to love what you’re doing.’”
During the early ‘90s, Revuelto made the varsity team as a junior. Before senior year, Daryl Gabriel became the new head coach. Gabriel, the former standout player at Punahou, coached University to a state championship, long before the classification era, in 1988. He led the Crusaders on a highly successful march, reaching the state final three times along with three third-place finishes between 1995 and 2003.
Revuelto’s final season in ’93 may have been equally transformational.
“My senior year was coach Daryl’s first year. We went from 2-10 (in ’92) to the state tournament. We ended up losing to Kaimuki and Shannon Lee,” he said. “For the entire last 20-something years, I’ve had to deal with it because my wife went to Kaimuki then. She grew up with all those guys who were on that team.”
The connection from ’93 to the present day at Kalaepohaku was one factor in the ’22 squad’s state and ILH titles. A big one. Revuelto had already been on staff under previous coach Sol Batoon. He and other assistants were on the front line.
“I think that’s why coach Dan kept me on, because I played for coach Daryl. So I played for a Punahou guy and I coached with a Punahou guy, so a lot of the things were similar. Defensive schemes, buying in defensively. Basically, every defense of coach Dan is similar to coach Daryl,” he said.
The impact of Hale’s arrival in ’19 was felt immediately.
“From day one, the two alpha males were Isaac Silva and Jayden de Laura. They bought in and when the leaders do that, everyone follows,” coach Revuelto said. “The COVID year, we had Aiva, AJ and Shoncin back, and Jydon (Hall). The seniors this year all bought in, so the culture never changed. They were already all in and knew what they wanted to do. Nobody on this team was going to change that. They set the bar high as far as how practices are run. Nothing was going to deter them from getting their goal.”
Hale has mastered the art of merging the new with the old.
“Mark and Shoncin started out as bridge guys. From day one talking to Mark, we were both on the same page as far as what the program needed to do to become successful. With him playing for Daryl, he understood exactly what I wanted to do and was a great bridge to bring those concepts to the current players,” Hale said.
“Shoncin continued that bridge to the players on the court through his leadership. He was almost always around and listening to Mark and I talk about the keys to being successful through trust, sacrifice and accountability. That transitioned into glue guys as things progressed and they helped solidify what we were doing. Shoncin set the example for commitment and hard work not just during the season, but more importantly, in the off-season.”
Two generations of red and blue make for a proud father.
“It’s been awesome, like a dream come true to coach your own kids at this level. It just makes it satisfying, coaching them in Little League, flag football, PAL. to do it with both of them,” he said.
As for Shoncin, the path continues on, probably to Oregon State.
“I did a college tour there back in October. I like the football stadium. It was really nice. I liked the classes. Those are eye-opening from how Saint Louis is, how evenly spread out it is,” he said. “I want to try and walk on when I go there.”
He is optimistic about the program even with 10 seniors graduating.
“I would like to see them win back to back. They have the right weapons to win next year. They’ve got my brother returning and some good bigs in Pupu (Sepulona), Jordan (Posiulai) and Kache (Kaio). They also have JC (Ramos).”
The culture is intact and gaining strength — an astounding feat at a school renowned for football.
“Coach Dan has that trust in his players. Most coaches, once you do something wrong, he yanks you out, but he trusts the players and lets you make up for it,” Shoncin Revuelto said. “During preseason, I picked up two or three fouls and he wanted to yank me, but I told him, I’m not going to pick up my third or fourth foul. Just trust me. He ended up trusting me and I ended up not getting another foul.”
That game? A 63-61 overtime win over eventual OIA champion and finalist Mililani.
Love this article. Congratulations to Shoncin and his family! I’ve known of Shoncin for a few years now but more recently my son has played with Shoncin and has nothing but positive things to say about him. And yes, kid has high basketball IQ.