Molding men and building winners

• Chevron State Football Championship bracket

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

"More important than the knowledge of the game is his knowledge of dealing with people," assistant Tim Seaman said.

From his players to coaches, all said they consider it an honor to play for or assist Lee, who said during the summer that this will be his final season as coach at St. Louis.

In his 21 seasons, he has compiled a 241-31-5 record entering Friday's Chevron State Football Championship game against defending champion and top-ranked Kahuku. Lee has won 14 O'ahu Prep Bowl championships and one state title, as well as 16 consecutive Interscholastic League of Honolulu crowns and 18 overall.

Lee's teams have attained national recognition through rankings; the Crusaders' highest finish was No. 2 in 1998. He has averaged six NCAA Division I scholarship players the past eight years, and at one time had three quarterbacks starting for a Division I program (Tim Chang at Hawai'i, Jason Gesser at Washington State and Darnell Arceneaux at Utah). Five of his former players made NFL regular season rosters, and three are still active (centers Olin Kreutz of Chicago and Dominic Raiola of Detroit, and fullback Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala of Pittsburgh).

But those associated with Lee mostly remember how he treated them.

"It's been a privilege because I've always wanted to come here as a youth," said senior defensive lineman John Siofele, who used to attend St. Louis practices and watch older brother Joe, now at the University of Arizona. "Hearing about his dynasty, it was an honor to play for him."

Senior slotback Ross Dickerson shared the same sentiment.

"It's like playing for a living legend," Dickerson said. "Growing up and watching him coach different teams that won different championships and Prep Bowls, it was an honor to play for such a great guy."

The players said Lee's practices are orderly and efficient, despite having more than 100 players to manage.

"At practice, he's all business," Siofele said. "There's a time for playing and a time for being serious. At practice is when he's serious."

But off the field, football is hardly the topic of conversation.

"He comes to talk to the students, socialize with us," Siofele said. "He asks us how things are going."

Getting maximum effort from his players is one of Lee's strengths; he does the same with his assistants.

Defensive coordinator Delbert Tengan has been with Lee for 19 seasons. The Kailua High graduate began as a student teacher under Lee in 1983. When a defensive backs assistant left, Lee asked Tengan to step in. "It was just for the pass league until he found somebody," Tengan recalled. "But he never found somebody, so I ended up with the job."

Tengan has ascended the ranks, taking over the defense four years ago. It wasn't easy because Lee had handled the defense until then. St. Louis is known widely for its run-and-shoot offense, but through the years defense has defined a Lee-coached team.

Lee helped make the transition easy for Tengan.

"He slowly kind of gave me more responsibility," Tengan said. "He would call the fronts, I would call the coverage. Finally, he said, 'Why don't you take it over?' I was really hesitant on it, but he said you have to start someday."

Most of St. Louis' coaching staff has been with Lee more than a decade; defensive line coach Sam Downey has been with him from the start. It is loyalty rarely seen in football coaching, which hardly has any head coach with more than 10 years of tenure.

Tengan said the coaches stay with Lee because there is mutual respect.

"He's a good coach to work for," Tengan said. "He lets his coaches coach. He'll give you suggestions or tell you what he thinks should be done. But he doesn't micro-manage, as far as the coaching part is concerned."

Seaman said Lee is good at teaching coaches.

"He's on top of the game at every position," Seaman said. "Very knowledgeable, offensively, defensively, special teams. (If) you're ever stuck for an answer or a technique, he's always there to provide you guidance."

Seaman's ties to Lee go back to high school. Seaman played for Cal's brother, Ron, when he attended Kaiser High in the late 1970s. Although Cal Lee had left Kaiser by the time Seaman got there, he did get to know him later. Seaman said that when he was a head coach at Kaiser and McKinley, he knew he could go to Lee for help.

"He provided guidance," Seaman said. "Not just Xs and Os, but dealing with administrative type of duties and handling certain situations that might arise."

For those outside the St. Louis program, they know one thing about Lee: He won frequently. No other Hawai'i high school football coach can match the number of league championships Lee has won.

"It will be a long, long time before anybody can duplicate or better his record," said Pac-Five coach Don Botelho, who just finished his 37th season as a head coach. "We may never see that in Hawai'i again."