The Hawai'i High School Athletic Association's "SOS" (Save Our Sports) campaign to raise funds for public schools received national media attention this week, thanks to articles in The New York Times and USA Today.

The Times — which leads all United States metropolitan newspapers with a daily circulation of more than 1 million, published a feature story on the front of Tuesday's sports section with the headline, "In Hawai'i, High School Sports Are Far From Paradise." It was accompanied by a picture of former St. Anthony multi-sport athlete Shane Victorino, now an All-Star center fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Victorino contributed $10,000 to the SOS campaign last month. The latest contributions bring the total amount raised to $717,019 after five weeks.

All money will go toward offsetting state budget cuts that left public high school athletic programs looking at more than a 36-percent shortfall for the 2009-2010 year, compared to 2008-2009 allocations.

"In Hawaiian culture, everybody's got each other's back," Victorino said in the Times article. "I'm not saying that doesn't happen anywhere else, but it is true in Hawai'i. Family is No. 1."

Mayor Mufi Hannemann told the Times that in Hawai'i, high school sports "is not a nice-to-have, it's a need-to-have. The importance of the issue is sky-high. People here get it about the value of sports."

Hannemann and his wife, Gail, contributed $500.

The USA Today — which leads all newspapers with a daily circulation of 2.1 million — published a story in yesterday's edition with the headline, "Phillies' Victorino donates funds to help Hawaii schools."

"(I want to) help kids who hopefully will be in my shoes in a few years and be able to give back themselves," Victorino told USA Today.

According to HHSAA director of information Natalie Iwamoto, the national publicity helped bring in a total of $3,795 from eight Mainland contributors — from Vermont, New Jersey, Pennsylvania (2), Texas, Colorado and California (2).

This week's list of individual donors includes a $3,000 gift from Lillian Yonamine — whose late husband, Masa, was a longtime coach and athletic director at Waipahu High — and son, Ken.

Others listed include University of Hawai'i football assistant coach Cal Lee, women's volleyball coach Dave Shoji and women's basketball coach Dana Takahara-Dias.

To contribute, make a check payable to "HHSAA SOS Account" and send it to HHSAA, P.O. Box 62029, Honolulu, HI 96839, or visit www.sportshigh.com or any First Hawaiian Bank branch (checks only). Contributors at First Hawaiian Bank branches who are willing to be recognized are asked to contact the HHSAA office at 587-4495.

Read his blog on high school sports at http://preptalk.honadvblogs.com