Cal Kamaloloikalani Lee has been a football coach for 42 of his 66 years, and he’s currently back coaching at Kalani High School, where he graduated in 1964.

But now “Coach Cal” is running for the at-large seat for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and his name recognition could help him rise above a competitive field that includes incumbent Haunani Apoliona and Molokai activist Walter Ritte. As Civil Beat has reported, OHA races have attracted a lot of candidates, many of them first-timers like Lee.

According to his campaign website, Lee is a 1970 graduate of Willamette University in Salem, Ore., where he garnered All-American honors as a linebacker. He led the St. Louis Crusaders to 14 Prep Bowl titles, 18 Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships and the inaugural Hawaii High School Athletics Association State Championship in 1999. In his 21 seasons with the Crusaders, Lee compiled a 241-32-5 record.

From 2004 to 2011, Lee served as linebacker coach and defensive coordinator for the University of Hawaii Warriors, serving under head coaches June Jones and Greg McMackin. UH’s new coach, Norm Chow, did not retain Lee.

Civil Beat interviewed Lee earlier this month at his Kalani High School office to ask him about the campaign and issues involving OHA. Lee’s most consistent message is that, if elected, he will instill teamwork on the OHA board to move the agency toward its goals.

Civil Beat: Why do you want to be an OHA trustee?

Cal Lee: When people talked to me about running for OHA trustee, I wanted to know if I could help people. I mean, I’ve been in education for a long time, teaching and coaching, helping young kids grow up, teaching them about responsibility. Teamwork to me is a big thing. When people talked to me, it kind of fit into what I do, which is work with people for a common goal. It would be working with people to help the Native Hawaiians.

So, I just thought, what’s wrong with that? If people think I can do it, that they feel I have that experience working with people and developing and getting to the goals that you set, I would be working with other trustees — like we do here in coaching — where we have to work together. We have to know each other. We have to trust each other and basically make sure that the goal of helping the Native Hawaiians is done.

Do you feel that on the OHA board, which has been in existence now for some 30 years, there have been instances of people not getting along and working together?

If I am elected, I think you have discussions — any board will have that. No one thinks alike absolutely every single time. But, you have to toss the questions and answers and the ideas that people have back and forth. But, in the end on everything you have to come to a happy medium where people can go out do what they come out with. In sports, you’ve got different ideas, but when you leave that boardroom, we’re going [together] and we are going to do the things we said we’d do. Maybe not everybody agrees, but they’re going to act, you know, they’re going to have to push with what we decided to do when we left the meeting.

They are going to be on the same page.

Yeah. They have to be. But, nine people, they’ve got nine different views. They have views not like you. But what it does is it makes you think about their ideas, and you question, “Maybe I’m not really right” — you know what I mean? It helps you to think about what your ideas are.

I’m sure you have followed OHA over the years. The trustees have been in the headlines a lot, and there have been some pretty strong personalities. These are tough, intelligent people who have strong views. Do you think you are going to be able to get along with those guys and find a way to work together?

Oh, I think so. I base everything I’ve done on getting to work with people, bottom line. Maybe I have some views that they might be interested in. And, again, it’s a learning process back and forth. I don’t expect to know everything. You learn from people like that, ones that have been office for a long time. Maybe the things I’m asking and questioning, they might learn from. It’s give and take. … I’m fresh, I’m brand, spanking new.

You know, when I went into coaching, I didn’t have any experience. But, dog gone it, I had energy. It was new to me, but I learned from my mentors.

You’ve never run for office before?

[Laughs.] No. It’s brand, spanking new. When I came back from college, they told me, “Coach soccer.” Soccer? They never had soccer when I went to high school. Seriously. Here at Kalani.

You graduated from Kalani?

[Smiles.] Everybody thinks I went to St. Louis, but I just leave it at that. If you think I went to St. Louis, fine. I just give them the year that I went. That’s it.

But, we never had soccer. So, when I came back they had me coach soccer. I mean, I had to do some reading, and I tried to make it simple. But it was something you adapt to. You just grow into it.

Let me ask you something I have heard from a few people, including one member on the OHA board and another person who would like to be on the board: “What does a football coach know about managing a multi-million-dollar government agency with all these assets and responsibilities?” How would you answer that question?

Well, the assets are the players. Those are bigger assets than money can buy. And you’re in charge of that, and you’re suppose to develop that. And I’ve done that for a number of years. A lot of years. It’s a lot of experience I’ve gained working with kids and developing them.

But these are adults, and there are big issues like ceded lands. Does the analogy fit — that “If I can coach football and work with kids, I can also manage these assets,” which are primarily land and the revenue that comes from it.

Well, when you have a trust like OHA has, I think you have to be smart when you have that land. I mean, some people just let it go. But you’ve got to develop it and use it and probably make jobs. Jobs would be great using that ceded land. Managing it, I don’t think it would be a problem.

What about the Kakaako deal — the one agreed to just recently, the $200 million in land, including valuable ocean-front property. Was that a good deal? Would you like to see more deals like that for OHA? That was settling past-due ceded-land claims.

I think it’s a good thing. I don’t know who would say it’s not a good thing.

There were some who had concerns, people like Sen. Clayton Hee who said, “That’s not enough.”

Honestly, I read about it and heard about it, and to me that’s better than nothing. They got the land, right? What did they have before? I’m taking it that the trustees worked on it and talked about it and they got the deal. I don’t know, I wasn’t there. As an outsider, I would think, “That’s terrific. I’m Native Hawaiian” — which I am — “I would say, ‘Hey, that’s a heck of a deal.'”

OK. I know that the Akaka Bill, or federal recognition for Hawaiians, is something that you care about and support. On your website you express some frustration that it didn’t get done under Haunani Apoliona’s leadership. What could you do that would be different to get federal recognition if you got elected to OHA?

You need to talk to more of the people on the different islands. You need more feedback not only from Oahu, but Hilo, Maui, Kauai, all over. I would think that the people would want to voice their opinions. When I go to outer islands, people tell me, they’re talking about OHA, and they tell me about all the problems the trustees aren’t doing [something about].

Have you heard that OHA hasn’t been responsive to the neighbor islands?

I have heard that, that they haven’t been as open as they should be. Of course, Oahu is big.

Geothermal — that’s something you’ve said you are interested in. Tell me about that.

Well, I have a electricity bill, and it’s high. Now, geothermal, the energy that it has and it saves money, it’s cheaper, why wouldn’t you want to [develop it]? It’s like a vision. Are you just going to be complacent, status quo, when everything is going up, up, up, up like oil? Wouldn’t you want to have a vision? And geothermal to me would be a heck of an idea. I mean, I don’t know everything about it, but people I talk to [they say] “That’s the way to go.”

I believe that the investment that OHA — the revenue — doesn’t it come back? That they would make money? It’s an investment for OHA. To me, that’s what the OHA strategic plan was — revenue. That’s what I hear. So, this would be a heck of a thing to do. They have something right now in Puna, and the money they get now is coming back to OHA.

Now, here’s Puna. You ever been to Puna? Very rural. Wouldn’t you want to give back to the community in Puna? Help the people, whatever you can do for them.

You mention education and health on your campaign website. You are an educator. Has it improved? Are Hawaiians in particular benefitting from programs that OHA has, for example? And do you think Hawaiians are healthier? Or are these areas where you are still seeing struggle?

The track record on the health is not real good. Look at me: I’m not as healthy as I should be. The food we eat, it’s all about culture. I think we need to do a better job to educate people on taking care of our bodies, nutrition, that kind of stuff — to help them get in shape, so to speak.

Education for the Hawaiians … what are we talking about, Kamehameha Schools or overall? I can’t speak for all the education, how it’s going, as far as statewide. I know Anuenue [High School], they have a really healthy football team. That I know. And I love the fact that they speak Hawaiian to me.

I wish Anuenue was here, because I’d love to learn more of the Hawaiian language. Here I am Hawaiian and I can’t speak Hawaiian. I mean, Pidgin, if that’s what you call Hawaiian. Slang. But years ago I wanted to learn Hawaiian and never had a chance because the language wasn’t taught. But now, at the university, there is Hawaiian language. I think the opportunity to learn Hawaiian language, Hawaiian culture and history is there for kids. The charter schools have helped. So, it’s OK.

You are running against well-known candidates like Haunani Apoliona and Walter Ritte. What are you doing to get your message out there?

What I’m doing is offering my services, my experience, my knowledge as far as working with people, getting people to work together. It’s all about teamwork, basically. Coaches that we have now, I mean — this is my first year back at Kalani and we’ve got to work together. When I was at the University of Hawaii, I mean, I didn’t know everything, but you’ve got to work together. That’s all part of it.

But getting back to your question, like any politician — I hate to say that I am a politician, but you get classified as a coach if you’re coaching. So if you’re running for office you’re a politician. It’s a big experience because now I have meet-and-greet functions, fundraisers, sign-waving, things of that nature. I just want people to know that I am running, let them know that, “Hey, are you the Call Lee the coach?” Yeah, that’s me. What I’m hearing is that people are very supportive. They’re telling me that we need fresh blood and somebody that is going to open things up and do things for the Hawaiians. It’s all good stuff.

It’s a lot of work. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate everyone that runs for an office. You have to put in a lot of work and a lot of energy and a lot of time. Sometimes I’m on the outer islands, and you miss seeing your family. But it’s all for what you want to do.