David Ishii's immense popularity in Hawai'i goes far beyond his immense success on the golf course. For all the championships, paychecks that end in zeroes and honors — including his induction into the Aloha Section PGA Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame last night at Hawai'i Prince Hotel — what we admire most about him is this:

Ishii is just like us, at our best.

Nothing about him is larger than life. He hits a golf ball the way we do — at our best, not in our dreams. Relatively short, most often in the fairway, always well thought out.

Ishii does not overpower a golf course or overwhelm a field. He plays his precise best, that day and at that moment. His persistence, and resistance to becoming something other than what he is, has paid off for him in ways far beyond the millions he has won.

He is just like us, or at least the way we know we can be. We cheer for him because in him we see what is possible — in terms of golf and gratitude, generosity and humility.

While the Aloha Section honored Ishii last night as "the greatest competitive golfer in Hawai'i history and a gentleman of character and unsurpassed accomplishment," Ishii spent his entire 30-minute speech thanking people who had helped him along the way.

He started with mother, Ethel, and wife, Lorraine, the "glue that holds our family together" and allowed him to travel often and without worry. He thanked Pearl Country Club, whose early support also allowed him to focus on golf. The thanks ranged from his childhood friends to a series of Hall of Famers, therapists, mentors, friends and those who contribute to the treasured "joke book" Ishii has gleefully compiled for years.

Seemingly from the day he took the game up on Kaua'i as a small boy, Ishii has come remarkably close to his golf potential. His father, Chica, started him and the late Toyo Shirai nurtured his game. Ishii would later soak up golf wisdom from many more Hawai'i Golf Hall of Famers, especially Allan Yamamoto. He took parts of their games that would work for him and he worked, and worked, and worked.

Ishii is the antithesis of John Daly. He wins with patience, dignity and near-par scores. He grips and grinds, analyzes angles, sneaks up on pins, picks apart golf courses, gives back more than he gets.

He is the golfer who reminds you of your uncle or your cousin or your nephew, a guy who loves golf passionately and works at it religiously. Only Ishii works harder, hits the fairway more often, sinks a few more putts and somehow has found the inner fortitude to succeed in a game he initially enjoyed "because I was shy and near-sighted" and now still plays at a level arguably better than anyone in Hawai'i history.

Ishii has found the way to finish, to play to his potential much more than most. He has laid out a lifestyle with his family that allows him to succeed at the game he loves, here and in Japan, and still keep his priorities — like his drives — perfectly straight.

When he won the 1990 Hawaiian Open, the PGA Tour players didn't know what hit them. Ishii simply outlasted them, with that gritty game of his and, admittedly, a little help from his Hawai'i friends.

"The power of the people carried me through that day," Ishii recalled of an atmosphere that left him "floating" on fairways rather than walking them. "It was effortless ... a magical day."

Every shot he absolutely had to have he hit — dead-solid perfect. Craig Stadler's putts kept spinning out and Paul Azinger's charge fell a shot short. Three years after becoming the first foreigner to win the Japan PGA's Order of Merit, Ishii beat the best players on the planet — at home, in front of people who could have been watching their uncle, or cousin or nephew.

Ishii was one of us, at our absolute best.

Even as he opens the moonlighting portion of his career at 50, he continues to do the things we wish we would and could do. He puts his money where his heart is, elevating the impact of the David S. Ishii Foundation — the dream he and Lorraine willed into reality — to nurture more Hawai'i golfers who are not that big and not that gifted, but can be "somebody" if given the slightest encouragement.

We would like to see many more David Ishiis. He would never say that. He is too humble, even now, as the 59th and latest member of the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.