Kalaheo's Cashman will retire rich in memories

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

Lee Cashman has watched Kalaheo High School's athletic program grow from the ground up. Cashman has been the Mustangs' only athletic director, starting in 1972. Friends held a retirement party Sunday. Wes Nakama • The Honolulu Advertiser

But she forgot all about that O'ahu Interscholastic Association title until she saw the banner hanging in the Mustangs' gym Sunday night. Her coach, though, she will never forget.

"The one person who made the biggest impact on my life was Lee Cashman," said Winne, whose name was Teri Navarro at Kalaheo. "My parents didn't have a good relationship, and I was a very angry person in high school, although you couldn't always tell. But from the very beginning, Mr. Cashman was so caring and open, and he shared his family with us. He invited us over for barbecues, and I got to see what a loving family is. It affected my whole future."

Winne, a 1979 graduate of Kalaheo now living in Hickory Corners, Mich., returned to her alma mater Sunday along with about 300 others to pay tribute at a surprise party for Cashman, who is retiring next week after 35 years at the school.

Cashman, 60, started at Kalaheo in 1968 when it was an intermediate school and has been its only athletic director since 1972.

Longtime Kalaheo teacher and coach Lew Fuddy will take over on an interim basis, as assistant athletic director Pete Smith recovers from a heart attack suffered on Oct. 31.

"Mr. Cashman has a lot of qualities that will be very difficult to replace," Kalaheo principal James Schlosser said. "One of those is a commitment over time — 35 years. He had that clearly in his mind. We're not here just to win championships. He contributed a lot to Hawai'i by teaching sportsmanship to hundreds of kids."

Unlike the OIA's newest school, Kapolei, Kalaheo was built as and was intended to be an intermediate school but was thrust into the high school world after Kailua's population boomed in the early 1970s.

The campus had almost no athletic facilities, and still does not have its own baseball field or track.

But under Cashman's leadership, the Mustangs won 42 OIA varsity championships and six state titles. The banners include teams representing baseball, boys basketball, girls basketball, cross country, paddling, swimming, track and field and boys volleyball.

This from a school with an enrollment of about 1,100 — barely half the size of competitors like Farrington, Waipahu, Mililani or Pearl City.

"Our kids are very competitive, they like to compete," Cashman said. "We've always been smaller, but the early guys started a tradition of winning, and it's carried on."

One of those "early guys" was Merv Lopes, who went on to coach Chaminade to college basketball's greatest upset over No. 1-ranked Virginia in 1982.

Lopes had coached Kailua to a state championship in 1972, but was fired soon after.

"I was coaching a team at Kailua Intermediate (in 1973) and we played Lee's Kalaheo team," Lopes said. "Lee said he was going to be the (varsity) coach the next year, but I told him I needed a job. So that's what a great guy he is — he gave it up for me because he thought with my experience, I could help out the school. And then he had the vision to bring Pete in (as head coach in 1983). Lee doesn't want to tell everybody he's the boss; everything he did was always for the program and the kids."

Besides the long days and nights and Saturdays that athletic directors routinely put in, Cashman faced additional challenges of scrambling to find practice sites for Kalaheo's teams, which had no gym of their own until the 1980s.

"We had to work for everything we got, and we borrowed all the facilities," Cashman said.

Schlosser also noted that the Mustangs' talent pool was not a steady one.

"We've had a lot of transient athletes, with the military kids," Schlosser said. "That's tough, because usually the successful teams have kids who have been in the program for a while. And given our small enrollment, the success we've had is remarkable."

Cashman is amazed at how the 35 years flew by.

"I still remember bringing my daughter (Colleen) here as a baby and having her wait as we finished basketball practice," Cashman said. "But it's neat to see some of kids of former athletes come through here now, like the Akius, the Aweaos, the Liftees, the Nakashimas. There's been a lot of great memories."

More are to come, though now they won't only include sports. Colleen, a Kalaheo counselor, is expecting Cashman's first grandchild in June and son Kekoa will be getting married in August.

Cashman and wife, Yvonne, also plan on catching up on lost time, starting today.

It's their 35th anniversary.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456.