Posted on: Wednesday, September 8, 2004

OUR HONOLULU
Milestone for Mo Gaborno

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Day after tomorrow, Modesto "Mo" Gaborno will become the first person of Filipino ancestry to be president of O'ahu Country Club, the oldest in Hawai'i, where Asians could enter only as caddies or waiters until the 1970s. So another barrier falls.

"You'll recognize me by my white hair and white pants," I said when we agreed over the phone to meet at the clubhouse.

"I'll be the only Filipino who isn't working there," he said.

It makes a difference. At first sight, the middle-sized man with a receding hairline and soft voice could be mistaken for the bookkeeper. But not for long. Behind his quiet courtesy is a subtle self-assurance that goes with success, including a home on Mariner's Ridge.

"I got my first job out of engineering school in Hawai'i Kai working for Henry Kaiser," he said over lunch with a spectacular view of the back nine. "Kaiser sent me up to Mariner's Ridge in a pink Jeep to take pictures. I told myself that, someday, I'll build a house up there."

Last year he paid off a 30-year mortgage.

Gaborno also helped build Ala Moana Center, freeways, the Ilikai Hotel, Discovery Bay, the Financial Plaza of the Pacific, First Hawaiian Center, etc. But you wouldn't find him on the site in a hard hat. He was back at the head office estimating the next job, a position that can make the company a pot of money or lead it into bankruptcy.

He retired as vice president of construction for Myers Corp. in 1998 when the company moved to San Francisco. Jack Myers tried to lure him back but Gaborno refused to leave Hawai'i. Now he shuttles back and forth as a consultant "to finish a project for Jack."

And Gaborno plays golf. In 2003 he played 240 rounds and some that he didn't record. At four hours for 18 holes, that's 960 hours of golf per year. He plays golf three or four times a week and calls O'ahu Country Club his "heaven on earth."

We took a tour of the back nine in a golf cart. Everybody on the fairways knows him, even the birds. He's friends with a dove that has a broken leg and a cardinal that hops on one foot. Three kolea came running for the oyster crackers he tossed on the grass.

What he likes about golf, he said, is the challenge. Every shot is different. He soaks up the scenery around him and enjoys the people in his foursome. "It's easier to do business with people you've played golf with," he said. But his doctor has warned him that golf played with a golf cart doesn't count as exercise.

Three years ago, he was one of three club members elected to the board of directors. The candidate with the most votes automatically becomes second vice president of the board, then moves up to first vice president. On Friday, Gaborno will take the top job. It's one reason he told Jack Meyer he won't move to San Francisco.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.