Augie Dias, longtime track official, dies at 81

Advertiser Staff

Services for longtime Hawai'i track and field official Augie Dias will be held at St. Philomena's Church in Salt Lake from 5 to 9 p.m. tomorrow and 8 a.m.-noon Saturday, with a prayer service at 7 p.m. tomorrow and an 11 a.m. mass Saturday.

A 1 p.m. burial at Hawaiian Memorial Park will follow Saturday's service.

Dias, 81, died Oct. 16 after going through health problems the past two months.

Dias was a fixture at Hawai'i track and field events for the past six decades, best known as a starter. He was officiating at youth meets through the summer. Other officials, coaches and athletes remember him as a man who was both well-respected and well-loved.

"All of the officials deferred to him, but he didn't try to push his weight around," said Dick Sutton, president of the Hawai'i Association of USA Track and Field. "He never got angry. The guy had a great sense of humor, and he loved to interact with everybody. He made everyone feel comfortable."

Dias received an O'ahu Interscholastic Association Service Award in 1989 and a USA Track and Field certificate of appreciation, in addition to numerous other awards. He also was a former director of the Police Activities League and a co-founder and the first state commissioner of Hawai'i's Pop Warner Football organization.

"He gave unselfishly and touched the lives of a lot of kids," Sutton said. "Some people who carry positions of authority can be remote, but Augie had a sweet disposition and was very approachable. He had a quick wit, and the best repertoire of ethnic jokes."

Punahou School cross country coach Duncan Macdonald, one of Hawai'i's top runners who knew Dias since the 1960s, said events won't be the same without him.

"It will be very strange," Macdonald said. "He was always there."

Said Sutton: "Augie is someone who will be sorely missed. He was the glue."