Posted on: Wednesday, June 26, 2002

Ricardo Oamilda, Waipahu sports figure, dead at 85

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Ricardo "Kadong" Oamilda was a plantation worker who never finished school, never owned a car and never had a telephone for many years. Despite his modest lifestyle, he was able to put his eight children through private school and still had time to excel in sports.

Oamilda, who worked for O'ahu Sugar Plantation for 48 years, died June 14. He was 85.

Oamilda was born Feb. 11, 1917, in Carcar, Cebu City, the Philippines, and his family moved to Hawai'i when he was 1. They lived in Waipahu, and plantation life was all he knew.

Oamilda finished only the seventh grade, but he promised himself that it would be different for his children.

"It was a choice between going to school or having nice clothes or a nice house," said his daughter Gwen Montibon. "It was either education or the frills. We didn't have the frills."

But Montibon said the family enjoyed the plantation lifestyle.

"Most of us have come back home to live in Waipahu," Montibon said. "We enjoyed everything that the plantation had offered, the different cultures, different races."

When he wasn't working, Oamilda played on plantation teams and became a famous multisport athlete. He boxed, bowled, golfed, skated and played basketball, volleyball and tennis. He also played with the Braves of Hawai'i Major League baseball, and many believed he could have made it as a professional in the big leagues.

But Oamilda had his priorities set.

"We often wondered why he never went beyond Waipahu, but in the later years we found out that Dad had made the decision that his family was first. His career was not important," Montibon said.

In 1999, Oamilda was included on a Legends in Sports monument celebrating the 75th anniversary of Waipahu's Hans L'Orange Park.

In addition to Montibon, Oamilda is survived by his other daughters, Gretchen Dayanan and Georgette Montibon; sons, Gene, Glenn, Gary, Gordon and Guy; 16 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; hanai sons, Ray Desmet and Ray Ramos; hanai daughters, Ronnie Desmet and Rose Ramos; and sister, Esidra Oamilda.

Visitation is 6 to 9 p.m. today at Mililani Mortuary Mauka Chapel; service at 7 p.m. Visitation also 8:30 a.m. tomorrow at St. Joseph Church; Mass at 9:45 a.m. Burial will be at 11 a.m. at Mililani Memorial Park.