Ex-St. Louis football coach Lee honored, roasted in same day
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hours before being roasted by fellow sports celebrities like June Jones and Jim Leahey last night, Cal Lee was honored by the sports people he cares most about: the students of St. Louis School.
In a morning assembly before the entire student body at McCabe Gym, Lee was honored by distinguished alumni and staff, and presented with a custom-made crystal and granite trophy for his 22 hugely successful years as the Crusaders' head football coach.
He also was given two standing ovations by the students.
While St. Louis' unprecedented football success under Lee — 16 consecutive Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships, 14 straight Prep Bowl or state titles, a record of 241-32-5 — generated most of the media attention, the theme of yesterday's assembly was his influence on the individual lives of his players.
"His players enter the program as boys and leave as men," said alumnus Dr. Reggie Ho, a prominent oncologist whose three sons played for Lee.
Tony Guerrero, a First Hawaiian Bank executive vice president who heads a St. Louis scholarship program, said Lee never got enough credit for sending players off to college.
"In 1995, the year George Ornellas graduated, 24 players got some kind of college scholarship," Guerrero said. "To me, that's better than all the wins on the field. That made his winning percentage 100 percent."
Guerrero told the students Lee's trademark was "kina'ole" — doing the right thing.
"It's about doing the right thing not because you have to, but because you want to," Guerrero said. "That's what Coach Lee is about."
Later last night, Lee was honored in a much more elaborate setting, the Sheraton Waikiki's Hawai'i Ballroom.
But his heart, as always, was at St. Louis, a school he failed to gain admission into 42 years ago. He got choked with emotion yesterday morning while giving thanks to Brother Ed Gomez, the former principal who gave him a second chance as head coach in 1982 and stood by him after a rough season that year.
Gomez died on Jan. 21.
"This is all heart-warming," Lee said. "But it was never about one person. It's always been a team effort, but I'm the one who gets the awards and trophies. I don't think that's fair."
