Shaun “Buge” Saribay and his daughter, Marley, stand in the homegrown workout gym at the Saribay home where it all began.

LAHAINA — In the old, black-and-white motion picture and television comedy series of the 1930s and ’40’s, “The Little Rascals/Our Gang” programs endeared us all with the adventures — and misadventures — of a jolly band of playful youngsters.

Their leader in the hilarious episodes of soap box car races, football games, spooky campouts or wooing the darling Darla was the delightful Spanky McFarland.

In the old Pioneer Mill camp adjacent to Lahainaluna Road, the leader of the pack was one Shaun Saribay.

This self-admitted kolohe kid of the Kuhua Camp neighborhood grew up “… making trouble with my friends, bombing everybody with rotten mangoes, or stealing lychee from the nearby trees.”

“Buge,” as he is now affectionately known, also remembers counting down the minutes in the penalty box on the wall in front of his house he was banned to for a “time out” rendered by the mom/referee for one too many spicy “F-bombs” in the neighborhood street hoops games.

Da Buge is now 30 years old but maintains that same gregarious personality that the neighborhood remembers fondly of Spanky and the Little Rascals and, more succinctly, the Kolohe Kid of Kuhua Camp.

He and his girlfriend, Twyla Kukahiko, have a beautiful three-year-old daughter named Marley as this extended family maintains the easy going, happy lifestyle in the Saribay household and throughout the neighborhood that Buge and his band of merry boys helped establish over the turn of the century.

Along with a tattoo artist job with Mid-Pacific Tattoo in Lahaina, Buge has launched a mixed martial arts (MMA) career that has spawned the founding of his own business, the Hustle and Throw gym at the Kilohana Center above Lahaina Gateway Shopping Center.

“Around 2003, I started to work out with a few friends, and I had a couple of fights along the way,” he explained as Marley played nearby in the carport of their home.

“We were just a bunch of friends keeping in shape. Then we started to learn a little wrestling from the guys that had competed at Lahainaluna, and also some jiu jitsu from some other guys. A little while later, we started some backyard training and then set up a little workout area in our carport. We used duct tape and towels on the cement floor for our workout mat.”

The opportunity arose for a space up in the industrial area above Lahaina Gateway, and in March of this year, Saribay opened the Hustle and Throw MMA gym.

“I saw a movie called ‘Hustle and Flow,’ and that turned into Hustle and Throw. Today, we have Dimitri Offergled, a jiu jitsu black belt; Sergio Haro, a youth kickboxing teacher; Jeff McGee offering boxing instruction; Tony Pang with girls’ MMA; and myself helping with the MMA as well. We’re here from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and on call for Saturdays.”

Saribay reported that recent Lahainaluna High School graduate David Arcangel, a standout from the Lunas wrestling and football teams, will fight at the MMA Expo on June 18 at the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu.

After that, Buge, Lahainaluna three-time state wrestling champion Travis Okano, Luis Pico (another Luna wrestling veteran), Naz Nunez and Kapono “Bones” Pali will scrap in the “War On The Valley Isle” on July 1 at Wailuku War Memorial in a card presented by VIC Promotions.

Also on tap will be the debut of 12-year-old Ethan Kaleiopu on July 16 in the “Save MMA For Kids” card in Wailuku.

“We’ve got plans for future events in Oregon, Las Vegas and in Guam,” Buge continued. “Right now, things are going really good — smooth and going as we had planned. We’ve got about 70 active in the gym, and we’re doing fundraisers to buy equipment and keep the gym going.

“I am thankful to Twyla, my family and everybody who supported me and believed in me,” he concluded.

For more information on Hustle and Throw, call Buge at 463-4227.