Posted on: Friday, June 20, 2003
ILH's Botelho says he's doing OK after triple bypass
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
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DON BOTELHO
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Botelho, affectionately known as "Coach Bo" to colleagues and former players, was undergoing an angioplasty on June 12 when the procedure revealed almost 100 percent blockage in three arteries, requiring the triple bypass. He is the chairman of the Hawai'i Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association's executive committee, but did not attend last week's HIADA conference in Ka'anapali, Maui.
At the time, Botelho requested privacy about his health situation, and last night Botelho said his main objective now is to rest.
"I'm doing OK, considering," Botelho said. "I was quite fortunate to make it through, and now I'm just trying to recover so I can get back to top shape."
Botelho said his doctors advised him to rest for at least "four or five weeks" before returning to work.
"It depends on how I take care of myself during that time and how my body responds (to the surgery)," Botelho said. "But after that I should get back into the swing of things."
Pac-Five athletic director John Hom said Botelho's duties will be shared by a group of four ILH athletic directors, three of whom handled executive director responsibilities for 13 months along with Botelho after former director Clay Benham died in 2002.
The current "ILH Four" — Hom, Kamehameha's Blane Gaison, University High's Jim Bukes and Iolani's Carl Schroers — has served as an advisory board since Botelho officially took over the executive director position on June 1. ILH athletic directors held their annual workshop this week to mainly work on schedules and order equipment for the next school year.
Botelho was scheduled to accompany HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya to the National Federation of State High School Associations' annual summer meeting in Chicago from June 27-July 2, but will not make the trip. Botelho, the HHSAA's football coordinator, is on the Federation's football rules committee.
Hom said the ILH Four will be meeting July 1-9 to attend to other league business.
"We have a lot of administrative stuff we need to do," Hom said. "But we don't want to make any significant moves without Coach Bo."
Saint Louis assistant athletic director Georges Gilbert recently was hired to be Botelho's assistant, and he will begin his new job on July 1.
SAINT LOUIS UPDATE: Negotiations continued at Saint Louis School yesterday regarding the school's offer to hire Tim Lino as its new football coach. Lino was offered the job on Tuesday, but the offer is being adjusted to make it more likely for him to accept. With athletic director Cal Lee accepting an assistant football coaching job at UH last night, that now opens a staff position at Saint Louis that would offer a salary more in line with Lino's pay at his current job as principal of Ke Kula 'O 'Ehunuikaimalino — a Hawaiian immersion school in Kealakekua, Kona. But that scenario, presented hypothetically yesterday afternoon, was downplayed by Saint Louis' marketing/public relations director Rebecca Fernandes. "I don't think that's necessarily a solution to the dilemma," Fernandes said. "(The AD hiring process) would be taken just as seriously — or more so — as the football job. It wouldn't be offered to someone just out of convenience to hire a football coach."
