CLAY BENHAM / 1920-2002

Longtime ILH official
Benham dies at 81

A brain ailment claims
the indefatigable advocate
of local prep athletics

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By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com

Clay Benham, executive secretary of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu for the last 32 years and a lifelong advocate for high school athletics, died yesterday afternoon at the age of 81.

Benham was admitted to Queen's Medical Center's intensive care unit Friday afternoon with a brain abscess. His condition deteriorated quickly and he went into a coma. He never regained consciousness and died at about 4:20 p.m. yesterday.

The longtime Kamehameha Schools teacher and coach was scheduled to preside over last night's monthly ILH athletic directors meeting.

"Everything he talked about was the ILH, and he was always involved in athletics," said Hawaii Pacific University and former Maryknoll athletic director Tony Sellitto, a close friend of Benham's since 1963. "I've known him almost daily for so many years, and that's all he talks about."

"He was the ILH," said Mid-Pacific athletic director and Pac-Five football coach Don Botelho. "It's going to be very difficult to continue without him. I consider him one of my mentors in athletic administration. ... He just had something about him that was just outstanding."

Clayton Benham was born Oct. 5, 1920, and raised in Hawaii. Benham seemed destined for a career in athletics as a youngster in Kahuku, where he organized races among the neighborhood kids, Sellitto said.

Benham graduated in 1940 from Kamehameha, where he was a standout in football and tennis. He later earned bachelor's and master's degrees in secondary education from Denver University.

Benham put his degrees to work as a physical education teacher and coach at Kamehameha in the 1950s. He was also a member of the Honolulu Police Department for several years.

He later served as Kamehameha's athletic director for 17 years before taking over as executive secretary of the ILH in 1970. Benham retired from Kamehameha in 1982.

"He's always been involved with the kids and has been a proponent of what's good for the kids is good for the state," Sellitto said.

"I think he'll be a person who'll be missed because he wasn't afraid to speak his mind. He was very outspoken about local sports and what's good for the young people, and we don't have enough people like that around."

Benham took the reins of the ILH during its most tumultuous period.

Shortly after Benham was chosen for the post, a dispute between the ILH's public and private schools led to Farrington, Kaimuki, Kalani, McKinley and Roosevelt bolting from the league to join the Rural Oahu Interscholastic Association and form the foundation of the current OIA.

Under Benham's watch the all-private-school ILH has grown to include 28 programs and sponsor 22 sports.

"He's had a tremendous impact on generations of Hawaii high school student athletes and coaches," said Keith Amemiya, executive director of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association.

"He'll be sorely missed by not only those at Kamehameha and in the ILH, but the entire state as well."

Benham also helped in the creation of the OIA/ILH Prep Bowl in 1973. The match-up between the football champions of both leagues was regarded as the unofficial state championship game for 26 years until the HHSAA established a state tournament in 1999.

Benham survived a bout with throat cancer during the 1990s but returned to work quickly and maintained his leadership role in the ILH.

He was at the forefront of a high school sports issue again last summer when the ILH went through its biggest football shakeup since 1970. The league was split into two divisions after Damien indicated it would forfeit instead of playing St. Louis. The game was salvaged, and the realignment renewed the call for football classification.

Benham was also an accomplished tennis player. He was a territorial champion and won the National Public Parks Doubles Championship in 1950. He worked as a teaching pro in Denver and was a member of the famed Beretania Tennis Courts club since 1943. He continued to play several times a week through last week.

"He didn't slow down at all," Sellitto said. "He certainly lived a great life, a really exciting life. ... He influenced me more than anyone I've ever met."

Benham is survived by his wife Marian, brothers Roy and Howard, sisters Elouise and Eula, daughter Betsy Del Fierro, son-in-law Gerald Del Fierro and grandchildren Renee, Maile and Camille. Services are pending.