Fundraiser extraordinaire. Big event founder/promoter. Facilities builder. Expansion coordinator.

Community leader.

Probably none of these duties was in the job description when Keith Amemiya took over as Hawai'i High School Athletic Association executive director in the summer of 1998.

But they very well might be for the lucky (poor?) soul who should succeed him, whenever that might be.

Because perhaps more than anyone who held the position since statehood, Amemiya has redefined the job almost to the point where the duties are limitless. And the benefit has been to the HHSAA's clientele — the approximately 33,000 kids participating in athletics at the 95 member schools.

"I'm impressed and amazed," said Bill Arakaki, the Department of Education's Kaua'i Complex area superintendent. "Keith does a lot of things behind the scenes, but whenever the schools or kids need something, he finds a way to support them. In our business, we call that 'adaptive leadership' — he's adapted and adjusted to changing situations to meet the needs of the kids.

"He's innovative, and that's the sign of a good leader."

CHALLENGING BEGINNING

Amemiya needed those qualities from the outset, since the HHSAA — Hawai'i's governing body for high school athletics — had recently become autonomous after decades as a division of the state's Department of Education.

Because of its autonomy, the HHSAA was responsible for raising its own funds and would receive only limited financial support from the legislature, if any.

One of Amemiya's first innovative moves was to create a director of information position to oversee a new HHSAA Web site and media relations. The increased visibility would not only give exposure to high school athletes, but also state tournament sponsors.

His first high-profile bold move was initiating Hawai'i's first football state tournament in 1999. Saint Louis had been dominating the Prep Bowl — a "mythical" state championship game — since 1986 and either Kahuku or Wai'anae had been runner-up in 12 of those 13 years. Almost every other state had a football tournament, and adding one for Hawai'i meant a true playoff system where eight teams from four different islands could participate and host postseason games.

Since then, Castle, Leilehua, Kamehameha and Punahou have either won or played in the Division I state championship final.

BROADENING HORIZONS

In 2002, Amemiya took his ideas beyond Hawai'i's shores and presented an unprecedented football doubleheader featuring perennial national powerhouses De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) and Long Beach (Calif.) Poly against Saint Louis and Kahuku, respectively.

The game drew more than 27,000 fans to Aloha Stadium, a statewide and regional television audience and national media attention. The following year, Amemiya led the push to expand the football state tournament to include a Division II bracket, allowing smaller programs to have a shot at a Hawai'i championship.

DII tournaments were added for softball and girls basketball that same school year, and now every team sport has a DII state tournament. Suddenly, smaller schools that had never or rarely qualified for past state tournaments — such as St. Andrew's Priory, or Pahoa, or Hana — were competing against programs of similar makeup.

"(Amemiya) thinks about what is going to be best for the kids, what is gonna benefit the most people, and he has the vision to impact as many student-athletes as possible," said 'Iolani football coach Wendell Look, whose Raiders have won three of the six DII state titles after 24 years between Prep Bowl/state title game appearances. "It's allowed smaller schools an opportunity they might not otherwise have, and how many more kids have benefitted from that?"

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

The HHSAA's primary function had been to oversee state tournaments, but under Amemiya the role has expanded to involve everyday activities as well as once-a-year showcase events.

In 2005, Amemiya learned about an NFL program that assists communities with facility upgrades. He saw it as an opportunity to refurbish the heavily used athletic field and track at Roosevelt, and used $200,000 of NFL grant money to kickstart a private/public fundraising drive that resulted in a new $4.5 million synthetic field and track that now serves as the home site for four public high schools.

"They now have not just a decent field, but a first-class field that is used for different sports," Look said. "To me, that's (Amemiya's) biggest contribution — he provides opportunities because he goes beyond the job description."

That includes taking over the High School Hall of Honor program and banquet in 2006 after it lost its 24-year title sponsor, helping create the "Team Aloha" girls basketball travel squad later that summer, presenting the inaugural Hawai'i/Polynesia vs. Mainland football all-star game in 2008, and kicking off the "HHSAA SOS" (Save Our Schools) campaign last month to help offset state budget cuts to public school athletic programs.

"Somehow," Arakaki said, "he always pulls through to support the kids ... everything is for the kids."