Do you call it as you see it? Maui County needs sports officials for every sport, at all levels

In Maui County, athletes are plentiful. But those who officiate the games, matches and meets at all levels are dwindling in numbers. Many are retiring as they become too old to keep up with the action and others are quitting the profession for various reasons, including being tired of the verbal abuse from coaches, players and fans.

A huge drop off of local sports officials occurred a few years ago after the COVID-19 pandemic. While the number has recovered a bit, Thomas Yoshida, vice president of the Hawai‘i Sports Officials Hall of Fame, said: “We have needs for officials across the board.”

The lack of available officials has led several elder statesmen to stay on the job while they look for younger replacements. Among them is 83-year-old Joe Apolo, the Maui Football Officials Association president, who still runs the game clock at most Maui Interscholastic League football games.

When asked how long he has been a football official on Maui, Apolo simply says: “Too long.”

Although it varies from sport to sport, almost all provide training and evaluation meetings to support sports officials.

Here is a rundown of some of the officiating associations:

MAUI FOOTBALL OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION

The Maui Football Officials Association has 18 current members, but it takes 11 at a time — six on the field, three on the down markers and two timers in the press box — to officiate one MIL varsity game.

During the 2024 season, there were three varsity games and two junior varsity football games each week in the MIL 11-player ranks. The Maui Pop Warner Association, which already is near full capacity for the 2025 season in the fall, usually plays eight games each Sunday, and the MIL eight-player ranks also have two or three games per week.

Add in the first year of MIL girls flag football and the Big Boy intermediate school developmental league during the spring, and it’s clear the calendar has grown immensely for football referees in the last few years. Many football referees work four to six games on a fall weekend.

Retired 2nd Circuit Court Judge Joseph Cardoza has been an MIL football referee for more than 45 years and in recent years has added wrestling to his referee repertoire. He was the first Mauian inducted into the Hawai‘i Sports Officials Hall of Fame in 2022.

At 64, Lionel Montalvo is still busy as well, refereeing a full slate of football games in the fall and MIL Division II baseball in the spring. He limits himself to D-II baseball because he is an assistant coach for the Division I Kamehameha Schools Maui baseball team.

Montalvo, the vice president of the Maui Football Officials Association, points to weekends where referees have to travel to Lānaʻi or Molokaʻi for Saturday day games and then hustle back by plane or ferry to officiate night games on Maui. Moloka‘i currently has three football officials and Lānaʻi has just one, Montalvo said.

“So, Saturdays can be pretty tough,” Montalvo said. “Sometimes guys are doing three games in one day.”

Maui Football Officials Association referees make $80 per MIL game.

Those interested in joining can reach the Maui Football Officials Association by calling Apolo at (808) 871-1027 or (808) 281-6481. The mailing address is 378 Mokapu St., Kahului 96732.

MAUI ASSOCIATION OF HAWAI‘I BASKETBALL OFFICIALS

Nate Kurisu, the head of the Maui Association of Hawai‘i Basketball Officials, is 75 and still runs the court to officiate the often fast-paced games. The association has about 22 current members, but Kurisu says they need 30 to properly fill the assignments.

Kurisu said it’s difficult to keep referees in the rotation with the grief they often take from coaches, parents and fans at games. Unlike football and baseball, who definitely also hear it from the stands, the fans are closer to the basketball court and can yell at the officials with much more vengeance.

“It’s difficult because of the verbal abuse they take,” Kurisu said of retaining referees. “We had a few pretty good ones that came and they started and then left. But then everybody makes mistakes. You miss calls and stuff. It’s a learning thing where you just have to take it in stride. You just got to keep going and get the next one. And then the coaches are badgering you for missing something.”

But Kurisu says the profession also can be incredibly rewarding for the folks who can handle the demands.

“It’s for the kids,” Kurisu said. “We just need all of the parents to realize that.”

Romel Aguiran, a 34-year-old Lahainaluna High School graduate, is the example that Kurisu points to as the big success of his association. Aguiran has climbed the ladder from Maui Interscholastic League junior varsity basketball assignments eight years ago to the NCAA Division II level in the PacWest Conference that has teams on O‘ahu, Hawai‘i Island and California.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Aguiran said Monday. “I never expected it.”

Aguiran refereed 14 women’s games in the PacWest in his first season that ended in March, but those were among the “few hundred” games he estimates he does in a calendar year between MIL, recreational leagues, youth leagues and Maui County adult leagues.

It all started as a way for Aguiran to stay in the game after his goal of playing college basketball didn’t work out. Aguiran works full-time as a purchasing manager at The Westin Maui Resort and Spa, and said his bosses have been supportive of his busy basketball schedule.

Now, he is in line to do men’s games for the NCAA Division II league and perhaps move up the ranks.

“The goal is to get to the NCAA Division I level. That would be cool,” he said.

Aguiran makes $60 per game in the MIL, a figure set to go up to $70 for next season. But for PacWest games, he makes $270.

Jonathan Conrad is the Lahainaluna High School athletic director and MIL basketball coordinator. He pointed to the challenges of scheduling Division I high school games, primarily boys and girls doubleheaders on Tuesdays and Fridays, and then Division II games that stretch from Hana, Moloka‘i and Lānaʻi and are almost always played Friday nights and Saturday mornings.

The challenges of scheduling in basketball all over the county include making sure that athletic trainers can also cover the expansive schedule for boys and girls varsity games and often junior varsity mini-tournaments on Saturday mornings, along with the MIL soccer schedules during the winter sports season.

“It’s not comfortable, but it’s doable,” Conrad said. “It is a juggling act, but the guys that we got doing it right now, they’re awesome in accommodating us. That also means that sometimes we’re spread thin a little bit to where you may have less senior officials.”

Kurisu is the contact for those interested in basketball officiating in Maui County. He can be reached at (808) 205-8336 or via email at refnsk@gmail.com.

MIL SOFTBALL UMPIRES

The MIL Softball Umpires group had just seven members at the end of the recently completed season and are in large need for next year. The umpire in charge and assigner for the group is Keoki Roman. He can be reached at dyaallday@gmail.com or by phone at (808) 298-9420.

Softball umpires currently make $65 per game behind the plate and $55 per game on the bases. “But we’re putting in for a raise next year,” Roman said.

HIGH SCHOOL STATE TOURNAMENTS

The Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I baseball tournament just held its four-day run at Maehara Stadium in Wailuku. 

Gary Montalbo, the veteran umpire assigner for state tournament umpires, had the challenge of finding enough umpires for the tournament games played Wednesday through Saturday in Wailuku and Thursday through Saturday on O‘ahu for the Division II tournament. There were nine umpires at Maehara Stadium, but Montalbo said he needed 12.

“I see it in the state of Hawaiʻi, very shorthanded,” said Montalbo, who hung up his umpire cleats years ago after a long career that took him from youth leagues to NCAA Division I baseball. 

Now, he sees lack of enthusiasm for the profession, often because of the abuse rained down on umpires at every level. He coaches his grandson’s team and has tried to recruit new blood, to no avail.

“I offered my service to give umpires a clinic on a weekend, several times,” he said. “And nobody has taken me up on my offer.”

Steven “Hapa” Thyne, the president of the Maui Baseball Umpires Hui, was the single umpire from Maui to work the tournament here last week. The Maui umpires group currently has 12 members, many of whom are nearing retirement age. Thyne said the need is at least 15.

“It’s a challenge filling the games because of our age,” Thyne said. “We have an older Hui. And our oldest guy is 76, Larry Anderson, and he still does the plate.”

Although it varies for youth leagues and adult leagues, the salary per game for Maui umpires is usually $80.

The Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association can be contacted here for anyone interested in officiating any of the HHSAA’s 18 sports.

MAUI COUNTY VOLLEYBALL OFFICIALS

Ke’van Dudoit, the vice president of the Maui County Volleyball Officials, recently returned to Maui from the boys state high school tournaments on O‘ahu. Girls play volleyball in the fall in high school, while boys play in the spring.

“We definitely need some help for the upcoming season,” Dudoit said in a text message. Dudoit can be reached at (808) 250-5674.

FILLING IN THE BEST THEY CAN

Yoshida was on Maui last week as a statistician for OC-16 Television for the state baseball tournament. He has been a basketball official for more than 40 years, since he was 19 years old.

“I never lettered in basketball, but I was always interested in watching and loving the game. And so I wanted to be on the court, being part of the action,” Yoshida said.

When Yoshida sees colleagues around the state doing as many as three basketball games in one day, he shakes his head. He referees for the O‘ahu Interscholastic Association and Interscholastic League of Honolulu games, but he knows the shortages are also felt in the MIL.

He said there is a tremendous gap between the elder officials and the younger ones, with most of the new officials lasting only three to four years, with some not even hitting the two-year mark.

“I want to retire, but clearly I know that there are officials in our league that are doing two or three games a night because of the shortage,” he said. “And so I try and do whatever I can to fill in as best I can.”