TACOMA, Wash. — To say that Dean Ando is excited about attending the Democratic National Convention is an understatement.

Ando, 47, of Tacoma, Wash., ordered business cards that not only include his name, post office box and e-mail address, but they also announce to the world that he is a "national delegate pledged to Senator Barack Obama," and — it says so right on the front of the card — "Barack's high school classmate!"

Ando, one of eight national delegates from Pierce County, Wash., became friends with Obama, known then as "Barry," in 1971 when they were both 10-year-old boys attending Punahou School, a private school in Honolulu.

"Dean-O" and Barry played basketball together, and they remained friends until they graduated from high school 1979. After that, the two men went their separate ways — Ando to Claremont College near Los Angeles and eventually to a state government job in Olympia — and Obama to Occidental College in Los Angeles and later to Columbia University, Harvard Law School and a meteoric rise through politics.

Ando followed his old friend's career from afar, taking note when Obama became the first black president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, when he ran for the United States Senate, and when he delivered the speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention that is credited with catapulting Obama from a little-known senator from Illinois to a national figure.

"I saw many of the same things I remembered," Ando said, recalling Obama's 2004 speech. "The smile, the way he walks, the hand motions. They were all the same."

What was different, though, was the obvious political ambition.

When Ando and Obama were kids growing up in Honolulu, it was not apparent that Obama would eventually be a candidate for president of the United States, or even a state representative. Obama was clearly smart, but he was more interested in basketball than politics, Ando said.

"He had no political inklings," Ando said. "I think that really was developed after he left Hawaii."

Ando, on the other hand, grew up in a political household, an upbringing that helps explain how he became a delegate. His father served on the Hawaii state Board of Education for 20 years, and Ando said he grew up around "grassroots politics."

Ando and Obama played basketball together for years, including on their school's freshman team. Ando was the point-guard, and Obama, a left-hander, was a forward. Ando quit basketball after that year to concentrate on running cross-country, while Obama went on to play on his school's state championship team in 1979.

Obama might not have looked like presidential material in the "70s, but he stood out from his classmates, Ando recalled. "He was a seeker of knowledge," he said. When other kids were into rock music, Obama listened to jazz.

"He had this intense interest in things other than just Hawaii," Ando said. "He was a little more worldly than your average American high schooler."

Ando said he was impressed that Obama managed to take all of his potential — potential that he did not always make the most of in high school — and evolve and grow as a person. And he's drawn to Obama the candidate because of Obama's record of trying to help people, a record that goes back to his days as a community organizer in Chicago.

Ando met up with Obama in December when the candidate came to Seattle. "I got to hang out with him for about 10 or 15 minutes, much to the dismay of the Secret Service," he said. "He was still the same funny, smart kind of humble guy I knew growing up.

"I always tell people, 'If you could just spend a few minutes with Barack, you would know he's the real deal."'