"He is very protective," said his father, Sam Ranit. "He won't let them be left out of anything."

But Zachary applied the same philosophy to his school buddies when he attended 'Ewa Elementary.

Many of them lived in single-parent households and he would invite them to spend their vacation time living at his 'Ewa Beach home, his father said.

"He would say they have nothing to do," said Sam Ranit, who owns a home renovation and property management company.

Zachary entered the seventh grade this year at 'Ilima Intermediate, but at 'Ewa Elementary he frequently befriended special needs students and walked them to lunch, Sam Ranit said.

"All the teachers would say, 'Do you know what he is doing when all the boys are teasing them?' " he said.

His family insists the 12-year-old boy is shy, even laid back, a child who won't go out of his way to be in a crowd.

But on a baseball field, something clicks within him.