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Henry H. Wong
Star-Bulletin staff
named St. Louis School’s
outstanding alumnusSt. Louis School has selected Henry H. Wong as its Outstanding Alumnus of the Year 2000.
A graduate of what was then St. Louis College in 1931, Wong and his two brothers attended classes at the old St. Louis downtown location at College Walk as well as the present campus in Kaimuki.
His first job after graduation was with Harold K.L. Castle's Kaneohe Ranch Co., as clerk-cashier-bookkeeper and personal secretary. He soon rose to ranch superintendent, overseeing land and beef cattle operations until his appointment to assistant treasurer in 1946.
He became vice president and a director of Kaneohe Ranch in 1951. Wong was named co-executor of the estates of Harold Castle and wife Alice upon their deaths in 1967 and 1980. He also served as a trustee and secretary-treasurer of the Hawaiian Memorial Park Cemetery Association.
Wong played baseball for the Chinese Tigers in the Hawaii Baseball League and was team captain when the Tigers won the League and Territorial championships in 1940.
He later played against the wartime Air Force team that boasted such major leaguers as Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto and Gerry Priddy. Air Force won in a close game.
Wong stepped down as Tigers manager in 1943.
A charter member of Keys and Whistles and the 200 Club as a reserve police officer, Wong also was an active member of Rotary, Lions, two Hawaiian civic clubs and the Windward, Chinese and Honolulu Chambers of Commerce.
First president of the Kaneohe Rotary Club, he also became chairman of the Honolulu Police Commission.
King Intermediate School recognized his Windward community service by naming its athletic field in his honor.
Wong has made substantial gifts to St. Louis School and continues to assist numerous causes through his trust .
Since Wong has been ailing, the Alumnus of the Year 2000 Award was accepted by his wife, Colene, and longtime family friend, Judge James Burns, class of 1955. His father, the late Gov. John A. Burns, on campus with Wong, graduated from St. Louis in 1930.
