Toyama to
oversee OIA

He is chosen over three others
to head the state's largest
athletic league

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

Dwight Toyama, the executive director of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association, will be named head of the state's largest athletic league.

Toyama, 44, is expected to be named executive secretary of the 21-school Oahu Interscholastic Association by the Board of Education at tomorrow's meeting or on Dec. 11, when the board meets on Maui.

Toyama will succeed Ted Fukushima, 59, who has held the position for seven years.

Toyama earned the $70,000-a-year job over three other candidates: Waipahu athletic director Keith Morioka, Roosevelt athletic director Rodney Iwasaki and Leeward district superintendent Wendell Staszkow.

Toyama would not confirm his selection last night, and he and the other candidates declined comment.

He succeeded Ed Kiyuna as director of the HHSAA after the association, which conducts state tournaments, became independent of the Department of Education's financial support.

Toyama has had to recruit corporate sponsors for the 15 tournaments he administers.

Among the new sponsors he's brought into the HHSAA fold are the Honolulu Marathon Association (cross country), the Wally Yonamine Foundation (baseball), Hawaiian Airlines (boys' basketball and bowling), First Hawaiian Bank (girls' basketball) and Hawaii Island Movers (track and field).

Toyama was the Kaimuki athletic director for six years and the school's head football coach for four years.

Toyama was an early advocate of placing certified athletic trainers in all of Hawaii's public high schools. That became a reality this year.