I remember how great summer was when I was growing up:

School would get out around the last week of May, and there was a tremendous feeling of freedom, of three months of just fun to look forward to and savor.

In elementary school, it meant Summer Fun programs — playing shambattle, swimming in the pool almost every day, taking field trips. In the late afternoon, it was baseball practice and games until July.

Before and after the Summer Fun schedule, it was watching the Price is Right, Checkers and Pogo, reruns of Gilligan's Island and Bewitched.

There were also family outings on the North Shore or trips to the Mainland.

Later on, in intermediate/high school summers, there was some going to basketball clinics or playing summer league, but in between also lots of surfing and going to the movies, watching Atlanta Braves baseball almost every day.

A time to relax, have fun.

Now, is it my imagination or does it seem like summer has disappeared?

What used to be considered the "slow" season now seems just as busy as the school year.

There's tons of camps and clinics going on every week, there's off-season conditioning and club practices/games going on almost every day.

For coaches and administrators, there's still meetings and awards banquets that creep into late June, not to mention golf tournaments and other fund-raisers.

And yes, for sports reporters there's still All-League and All-State teams to select and publish and news happening almost every other day.

The last state tournament game finished May 17 — five weeks ago — but things haven't slowed down much around here and I feel just as busy with just as much stress as any time during the school year.

People usually come up to me this time of year and say, "So what, you must be cruising now ah, nothing fo' cover?"

I wish.

It's my job, welcome to the adult world, I guess.

But what about the kids? Do kids nowdays still feel relaxed and free during the summer? Or are they running around from one practice or game to the next?

Any time for the beach, to catch some waves or just swim around? Any time for camping, or taking a family trip somewhere?

I realize there's no "Checkers and Pogo" anymore, but there's still Atlanta Braves baseball on TBS, and I'm sure you can find reruns of Gilligan's Island and Bewitched somewhere in the hundreds of digital channels.

We've got the All-State softball team coming out later this week, and next week is the All-Poly Camp.

About 12 days after that is the 2009 OIA football coaches meeting. Practice starts July 26. The first game is Aug. 14.

And then it's non-stop high school sports again until late next May.

The three-month summers of my childhood have now shrunk to about two weeks.

Where's that damn Gilligan when you need him?

OK, I finally have a free hour or so, and that's at least how long it'll take to explain the background of recent reductions in state tournament participation.

First of all, let's discuss what prompted these cuts to be proposed in the first place: the Department of Education's mandated 50 percent cut to public schools' athletic budget for supplies, equipment and transportation.

This mandate, effective July 1, was cited as the rationale for the OIA's stack of proposals to reduce participation in just about every state tournament except football.

The Neighbor Islands, meanwhile, maintained — accurately — that the DOE money is not used for state tournament travel, anyway, so the 50 percent cut is not directly related to state tourney participation.

True. They pay for state tournament travel through fund-raising and support from parents.

But in the OIA's case, the DOE cuts will have a widespread impact that includes state tournament travel.

And here is why:

• As the state's only league made up entirely of public schools, the DOE cuts directly affect every one of its members.

• As part of the same system, the OIA throws all of its gate receipts from revenue-producing sports into one big pot. Part of this money goes to help subsidize state tournament travel. With these DOE cuts, however, the profits from gate receipts now are more likely to go toward making up for the budget shortfall.

• Individual OIA schools already subsidize their own state tournament travel with money raised from game concessions, especially from football, basketball, volleyball, soccer. But with these DOE cuts, more of that money will now go instead to making up for the shortfall.

• Like Neighbor Island schools, OIA schools already do a lot of fund-raising for state tournament travel. Again, a lot of the fund-raising now will go instead toward making up for the shortfall from DOE cuts.

All this is not including an additional 5 percent cut proposed by the DOE, which may or not materialize.

So, conspiracy theories notwithstanding, the OIA concerns about its financial future are real and legitimate. Make no mistake, the public school athletic departments are hurting for money.

Now, from the Neighbor Island public school perspective:

• They have been relying solely on fund-raising — not DOE money or league subsidies — to pay for state tournament travel for years. So the DOE cuts are not a factor.

• The state tournaments present a rare opportunity to showcase their athletes, since most of the media coverage during the regular season is centered around O‘ahu.

• With already limited participation due to the representation formula, any cuts will have a bigger impact compared to the OIA, the state's largest league.

Again, legitimate and real concerns.

But as OIA executive director Dwight Toyama said, all signs point to a continued economic downturn. So although Neighbor Island schools may be able to fund-raise now, they may not be as successful with people in the community losing jobs or taking huge paycuts.

And even if they are able to fund-raise, that effort may be needed more to subsidize league play just like the OIA.

It is notable that even the all-private school ILH sympathized with the the OIA's plight, even though none of its members are directly affected by the DOE cuts and — according to conspiracy theorists — the state tournament reductions were aimed at them.

It's also notable that although the Neighbor Islands still privately voiced opposition to the reductions in participation, the ultimate vote was unanimous.

All things being considered, I think the reductions — mostly in the 20-percent range — are reasonable. State tournaments are great and many times a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but they are not for everybody.

It's supposed to represent the best of the best. And whether that means 160 boys cross country runners as opposed to 200, I still think that's enough to recognize who the best really are.

I don't know how Friday's HIADA committee votes will turn out for the high-profile proposals, especially the one reducing team state tournament fields from 12 teams to eight.

There's arguments for both sides, and I have my own opinion, but I'll let it play out Friday before commenting here.

On the issue of cutting participation in boys and girls golf, however, I don't think there should be much argument from anybody:

If you're going to talk about reducing state tournament participation — for whatever reason — then this is where you need to start.

And the proof is in the scores. Not to make these players feel bad (it's not their fault for qualifying), but here are some of the one round scores from last month's tournaments:

GIRLS: 180, 169, 135, 134, 128, 127, 124 (twice), 123.

BOYS: 110, 103, 102, 101.

I'm sorry, but those scores simply do not belong in a state tournament. And I should know, because I've shot some of those boys scores myself without hardly any practice.

And I certainly don't belong in any state-level competition.

Again, it's not the kids' fault for qualifying and accepting the invitation. Why not? Free trip, miss couple days of school, stay two nights in a nice hotel, play two rounds on a resort course for free and get to say you played in a state tournament.

But participating is one thing; competing is another.

And state tournaments should be about competing. As stated in the BIIF's proposal, "The BEST players from across the state should be involved ... golf allows us a method of determining the 'best' players and this should be utilized."

Couldn't say it any better myself. If you are shooting 180, or 110, you simply are not among the "best players from across the state." Sorry.

The OIA and ILH also submitted proposals to trim the tournament fields, and the most modest recommended cut (from a BIIF proposal) suggests reducing the boys field from 120 golfers to 96 (20 percent). If you apply that to the girls, it would be cut from 82 to 66.

I think this is more than fair.

Applying that cut to this year's field, the 66th-place girl shot 102-101. The 96th-place boy shot 91-85.

I think it is more than fair to exclude anyone below that score line. Anyone shooting higher than that has no real chance of competing for the state championship.

The other proposals about cutting state tourney participation involve arguments about whether it will save money, but that's a whole 'nother debate that gets complicated.

Cutting back on state tournament golfers could or could not save the schools money; it definitely will save somebody money: Somebody is paying for these kids to fly to Maui, stay in a nice hotel (rates there usually start at $150/night and up), whether it's the school or a booster club or parent.

Not to mention missing the two days of school.

As Kahuku AD Joe Whitford said about state tournaments in general, "We're all for giving kids opportunities ..." but especially in these times of talking about cuts across the board, a line has to be drawn somewhere.

And with apologies to the 100-plus scoring golfers (I'm one of them), it should start with boys and girls golf.

Wrote here last year about ESPN SportsCenter anchor Neil Everett's inspiring speech at the Kaimana Awards Banquet.

Well, gotta say he gave an even better one Sunday night at the HHSAA Foundation Hall of Honor Banquet at the Sheraton Waikiki.

The message was similar, about always sharing and spreading the aloha no matter where your journey takes you.

But Sunday, he had a living, breathing example to show the crowd of about 550.

Everett recalled his days as sports information director and NCAA compliance officer at HPU. He said in the mid-1990s, he met a young boy and his sister, maybe 8 and 6 years old.

Everett noticed them hanging around Fort Street Mall by themselves, never saw their parents, didn't even know if they even had a home.

But he remembered the aloha he received as a malihini from Spokane, Wash. via the University of Oregon, an aloha that convinced him to make Hawai‘i his home after what was supposed to be just a summer in the Islands.

So Everett befriended the two kids, remembers buying the boy a bike for his birthday, the girl a nice dress for hers.

After a couple years, the two kids disappeared and he never saw them again. He often wondered what happened to them.

Well, he recently found out, and it's a great thing he did. Everett attended the girl's college graduation this spring — from UC Berkeley.

Turns out the girl is Fran Weems, who became a track and field standout and honor student at Kealakehe. She was inducted into the Hall of Honor in 2005.

Everett's point, with Weems in attendance as a living example, is that aloha is something we must continue to pass on no matter where life takes us. Because you never know how that aloha can change somebody's life, the way his life was changed and the way Weems' was changed for the better.

Everett said, "It's cool to say you are from Hawai‘i, but that's not enough. You have to live and show what Hawai‘i is all about."

It's a powerful message as this year's Hall of Honor class heads out to San Jose, Calif., Santa Clara, Calif., Los Angeles (USC), San Diego (Point Loma Nazarene), Ogden, Utah (Weber State), Provo, Utah (Brigham Young), Pocatello, Idaho (Idaho State), South Bend, Ind. (Notre Dame), State College, Pa. (Penn State), Ithaca, N.Y. (Cornell), Cambridge, Mass. (Harvard) and UH Manoa.

But really it's also a reminder to us all who live here as adults.

As Everett said, you never know how much of an impact spreading that aloha can make, or who it might inspire.

Stunned and sad to hear about the recent passings of Pio Sagapolutele and Steven Donahue, two young guys with strong ties to Hawai‘i high school sports.

Pio of course became well known even nationally, playing for New England in the 1997 Super Bowl, but I remember him as a tall, skinny basketball player his junior year for Maryknoll. My first impression: Wow, this guy can jump!

And he was athletic, graceful, especially for a 6-6 teenager.

My next memory of Pio, as a senior defensive lineman/linebacker: Wow, he got bigger (weight-wise), filled out some. But still athletic, quick, graceful.

Obviously colleges saw the potential, and Pio got a full ride to play football at San Diego State. Then came the NFL. I was happy for him, because I knew he came from KPT. I like it when Kalihi athletes make it to college, do well.

And true to form, Pio didn't forget his roots, even after eight years in the NFL including an appearance in the Super Bowl.

He came back home five years ago for a Pac-Five reunion, and he called his experience with the Wolfpack a "building block" for his success.

"That (Prep Bowl) championship is something I'll always hold dear to my heart," Pio said. "The bonding we had on that team was awesome. It didn't matter what background you had or what school you went to ... the most important thing was the bond we had."

Shocking and sad that "always" meant only till 39 years old.

My condolences go out to the Sagapolutele ‘Ohana.

Just as shocking and sad, meanwhile, was the news about Steven Donahue, who died in a motorcycle accident Friday.

I never met him, but I did meet his dad, former police chief Lee Donahue, and his mom, Lucy. Nice people. And I do remember watching his son, Steven, play linebacker for Saint Louis a couple years ago. Good player.

People may or may not know that Chief Donahue coached football for many years.

Like Pio, Steven's life was cut way short. He was only 43.

Heartfelt condolences go out to the Donahue ‘Ohana.

Went to the Roosevelt graduation last night, and as always, going to a graduation always brings back so many great memories for me.

There are a lot of ups and downs in high school, good moments and bad moments, thrills and heartbreaks. But on graduation night, all the bad thoughts seem to magically disappear and everyone — great athletes, average athletes, and even non-athletes alike seem to share the same feelings of joy and accomplishment, not to mention an exciting new look at the future.

There are a lot of things I would do different if I had to go through high school again, but at the same time, I remember feeling no sense of regret on graduation night. Just joy, and relief.

So I wish all of this year's grads the same thing: No matter how your high school career went, no matter what disappointments you may have had in sports or academics or romance or anything else, you made it through to the finish line.

You completed a major chapter in your life, and now you're about to enter another exciting one full of promise and hope. It's a fresh new start.

Enjoy this moment, savor it, have fun this summer celebrating at all the parties but above all, please be safe.

You've got your whole life still in front of you, so make the most of it.

Oh, and don't forget to thank your parents for their support.

To all of you in the Class of 2009, CONGRATULATIONS!!

In some ways, I feel the same about Parker McLachlin's extremely generous $24,000 donation to the HHSAA Hall of Honor scholarship fund as I did about Pearl City football coach Kai Kamaka and his staff agreeing to work this coming season for free:

Very grateful and appreciative, but at the same time just a little uncomfortable that it has come to this.

Great gestures as they are, high school football coaches shouldn't have to work for free and a young, 30-year-old married guy just a couple years into his PGA career shouldn't have to bear the entire burden of supporting the Hall of Honor scholarships.

Especially in a pro sport like golf, where there are no guaranteed paychecks and your income — sometimes lack thereof — is determined week to week.

For example, Parker shot an 81 Thursday and if he doesn't make the cut today, his income from this Memorial Tournament is $0.00. And he still had to pay for airfare, hotel, rental car, meals, and his caddie, so he would probably be in the hole several grand this week.

As it is, McLachlin entered the week 161st on the money list at $191,082. About 11 years ago, a former PGA member told me it cost at least $150,000 out of pocket just to play on the Tour.

So factoring in inflation, Parker is just about at the break-even point or maybe a little bit over.

That makes his donation even more impressive and heartfelt, because it's definitely money he could use for himself.

But Parker said the "opportunity" to give back outweighed concerns about how much it would set himself back financially.

"I had a good year last year, so this opportunity was something I just couldn't pass up," McLachlin said. "I didn't want to wait to see how many cuts I made this year, or for my next Top 10 finish. Something had to be done now and this was the right time, with this economy the way it is. It's about giving back and carrying on the tradition."

Speaking of tradition, hopefully Parker's donation will start a new one of former Hall of Honor inductees donating to the cause?

There are now 312 currently in the Hall, not counting the 12 who will be inducted on Sunday.

The first class graduated in 1983, which would make them 43 or 44 years old right now. You cannot really expect the recent inductees — those say, 25 or younger — to make big contributions as they are still getting their careers started.

But it would be nice if those older than that could send a check of at least $25 or $50 to the HHSAA Foundation, earmarked for the scholarships. That alone would raise between $5,700 and $11,400, almost enough to foot half the bill.

Maybe even if their parents also chipped in as a gesture of gratitude for helping their kid get through college, you'd get close to covering the whole thing.

Anyway, it's a thought worth mentioning as the economic news continues to get worse and corporate sponsorship money dries up.

As stated a couple blog posts ago, everyone will need to step up and help Hawai‘i high school athletics.

We fully appreciate coaches willing to work for free and young pro athletes willing to donate 12 percent of their income for a good cause, but the burden shouldn't fall on them alone and it shouldn't be the norm.

Maybe if you haven't paid close attention to Hawai‘i high school softball, you may not know much about Kailua coach Bernard Victor, who has retired after 32 years as a head coach (20 years) and assistant (12 years).

And that's probably the way Victor — a quiet, humble guy and a man of few words — would like it.

But believe me, he's done as much for Kailua softball in particular and Hawai‘i softball in general as most coaches have done for their school and their sport over the past 32 years.

Victor set and maintained a high standard that brought respect and recognition to Kailua and Hawai‘i high school softball.

The Surfriders not only won four state championships and six OIA title under his guidance, but they also became an almost permanent fixture in the state tournament.

Everything about the Kailua program spoke of class, from the performance on the field, to the sportsmanship and humility and the immaculate home field built and cared for year-round by Victor and his dedicated staff.

This is yet another example of a public school program that in no way takes a back seat to the private schools'.

But my favorite Victor story is not about great games won or great plays in the field. It is about a bold and gutsy move that speaks volumes about what this man is about and what he tried to instill in the kids:

Two years ago, in the OIA semifinals, Kailua's best player was at the plate in the seventh inning with the Surfriders down by a run and the tying run on second.

Moanalua tried to intentionally walk the batter, but in a moment of anger the batter swung at a pitch way outside the strike zone.

Victor immediately called time and substituted another player to hit, benching the star.

In a game of this magnitude, on statewide TV, he stuck to his values and did the right thing. Kailua ended up losing by one run.

Now, I know this kid personally and know she is a good person at heart, and she even told me afterward she realized her own mistake.

But how many coaches nowdays would do the same thing, with a championship on the line?

But even last night, when I talked to Victor on the phone, he sticks by his decision and you know he would do the same thing again. In fact, he said he did similar things many times, benching star players who break rules, show up late or miss practice without an excused absence.

"Some parents complain, but the rules are the rules," Victor said. "If you not going (enforce) the rules, what good is the rule?"

This is a guy who won a lot — more than most — but he put character, discipline and doing the right thing above winning, backing up that belief with action. And he had no regrets whatsoever about it.

Whoever takes over the Kailua program will have big shoes to fill, to say the least. There's the winning tradition and awesome field to tend to, for starters.

But whoever it is, I hope most of all he/she carries on Victor's tradition of doing the right thing.

Aloha Bernard, and mahalo for everything you have done for Kailua and Hawai‘i high school softball.

About 10 months ago, public high school sports dodged a major bullet when the state's Board of Education agreed to spare athletics from a proposed $1 million budget cut, effectively saving JV programs.

It happened only after impassioned speeches at the BOE meeting by Mayor Mufi Hannemann, UH football coach Greg McMackin, HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya, a couple people from the legislature and a long line of principals, athletic directors, coaches, etc.

I wrote on this blog soon after that sports cannot count on such protection again if future cuts were to be made, and sure enough two months later athletics took a $790,000 hit over the school years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, targeting equipment/supplies and transportation.

Well, here we go again with Monday's announcement that another round of budget cuts — this time $160 million — is planned for the DOE.

And this time, you can bet athletics will be asked to pitch in again with their share of cuts and I don't expect that impassioned speeches, as sincere and meaningful as they are, will be heard. Even if they are, it probably won't be enough to immunize athletics from taking a hit.

Not when just about every organization and their employees — private businesses (including The Advertiser), government agencies, non-profits — is feeling the crunch.

To borrow a term used by one BOE member last summer, there will be no "sacred cows" this time around.

As BOE chairman Garrett Toguchi said Monday, "All programs will be on the table."

The public outcry and impassioned speeches of last August proved effective, but I think things are different this time around and the focus instead should be on how community leaders and the general public can help soften any financial blows that likely will come to high school athletics.

The public schools are already in a $790,000 hole for the next two years — "That's the best-case scenario," OIA executive director Dwight Toyama said yesterday.

In other words, this is not the time for words. This is the time for action. Time for the community to step up with their wallets and checkbooks.

It was clear last August that Hawai‘i still is passionate about its high school sports.

Now is the time to prove it with financial support.

On this day (June 2) 68 years ago, America lost one of its great heroes, Lou Gehrig.

Although his era would be considered "way before my time," this man has been special to me since I was a kid, because he happened to be my dad's childhood idol.

So almost from the time I started playing organized sports at age 8, I knew who Lou Gehrig was and what he was all about: an outstanding athlete, with incredible physical and mental toughness, and yet a quiet, humble, respectful, caring human being.

If you haven't seen the movie "The Pride of the Yankees," I highly recommend it.

I watched it again Saturday night, probably for about the 10th or 15th time overall but for the first time in several years.

I think we all need to remember and celebrate athletes like Gehrig, because as the years go by, we see more and more of the opposite: loud, selfish, attention-seeking, artificially enhanced athletes who do not honor or respect the game, their teammates, their opponents, predecessors, authority figures or their fans.

I could write for days about Gehrig's accomplishments and tales of honor, but three things stand out that I believe are most worth mentioning here:

• Many people already know about his streak of 2,130 consecutive games, a record since broken by Cal Ripken in 1995. Some may also know about Gehrig playing and producing through 17 broken bones, mostly in his hands and fingers.

But I just learned about one game in 1934, when he had terrible back spasms and kept the streak going only by batting once in the first inning (he got a hit) and then coming out of the game. He was criticized in the papers for being selfish in trying to keep the streak alive.

But Gehrig knew the streak was important — not for himself, but as an inspiration to a country struggling through the Great Depression: It showed millions of fans how despite adversity and bad times, you have to keep fighting, don't complain and try to show up for work every day to do your job.

(We probably could use such inspiration now)

• Treating people right: A decade before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, Gehrig was outspoken about his belief that black players should be allowed into Major League Baseball.

According to one biography, he "was one of the few white ballplayers of his era to go on record in support of integration. 'There is no room in baseball for discrimination,' he said. 'It is our national pastime and a game for all.' "

No. 1, this was a super quiet guy who rarely spoke out publicly on hot-button issues. No. 2, to say such things in 1930s white America was considered bold and unpopular. But he knew it was the right thing to say, so he said it.

• His farewell speech: This has been well-chronicled, but 70 years later his words still are just as powerful and amazing.

Stricken down almost in his prime (age 35) with a debilitating, terminal disease, Gehrig told a crowd of 62,000 at Yankee Stadium and millions of other Americans reading the papers and watching newsreels that he would still "consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."

And knowing his character, everybody believed he was sincere in that assessment.

Compare that to some of the most famous pro and college athletes of today, many of whom are idolized by youth and high school athletes.

The major sports world now is dominated by money, video games, TV commercials, maneuvering your way onto a championship team, looking out for No. 1, me, me, me.

The more I read, watch and learn about Lou Gehrig, the more I wish I could have seen him play and the more I wonder if we'll see athletes like him again.

I'm lucky, Cal Ripken was close and maybe even as good. Same with Walter Payton, perhaps John Stockton. My favorite baseball player was Dale Murphy, similar type of guy.

But my dad is even luckier.

He was learning baseball during Gehrig's playing days and was old enough to appreciate the "Iron Horse" himself while he was still alive.

Gotta say, he picked a good idol.

To this day, my dad clearly remembers June 2, 1941, the day America lost a great hero.

We all should, too.