Roosevelt stadium nears completion

Work on Roosevelt High School's new stadium isn't done yet, but it's in good enough shape for its first event: Saturday's graduation.

And that's important to the Rough Riders, athletic director John Chung said.

"We're happy they were able to complete 95 percent of the work," Chung said yesterday. "It's tradition to have (graduation) here."

Tradition and history emanate from one of Oahu's oldest schools, and alumni helped fund the $4.5 million project that started last November.

Attorney Bert Kobayashi, a 1958 Roosevelt graduate, spearheaded a fund raiser three years ago that brought together decades of Rough Riders and brought in $600,000.

But Roosevelt isn't the only school that will benefit from the 3,000-seat facility.

Farrington, McKinley and Kaimuki will play home games there, too, in football and soccer. The synthetic track will allow Roosevelt to host track and field meets.

Keith Amemiya, head of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association, and his wife, Bonny, donated $20,000 five years ago for a new scoreboard at the stadium. Chung said the Amemiyas were "really big in helping us get this going, as well as Bert Kobayashi and (legislators) Brian Taniguchi and Carol Fukunaga."

Keith Amemiya said he and his wife got involved because Roosevelt is in the area where they live, and the project helps several schools.

"It's just a way of giving back to the community and supporting our public schools," he said.

The stadium will be suitable for some football and soccer state tournament games, Amemiya said.

The first athletic event scheduled is a preseason football game Aug. 15.

The old stadium suffered from poor drainage in a rainy area, Chung said.

"As soon as we had one big rain (the grass) got wiped out," he said. "Part of the project was to put in a good drainage system. So far from what I see it's working well."