Don Botelho, standout Hawaii athlete and influential prep administrator, dies at 93
Don Botelho, who made indelible marks on Hawaii sports for 60 years, died peacefully Saturday at a hospice facility, a person close to the family said. Botelho was 93. In 1955, Botelho played in one of the most storied University of Hawaii football games, and later, in the 1980s, coached the conglomerate Pac-Five team to two Oahu Prep Bowl championships.
His most lasting impact, though, might be in behind-the-scenes roles as leader of the state’s athletic directors and league administration. Botelho pushed forward the move to classification in Hawaii high school athletics, leveling the playing field in football and other sports. After graduation from Roosevelt High School, Botelho served in the U,S.
Coast Guard before enrolling at UH. He was one of the 28 Rainbows football players who flew to Lincoln, Neb. , and pulled off what many still consider among the greatest upsets in college football history: a 6-0 road victory over the Huskers, on Sept.
17, 1955, 10 months after Nebraska beat UH, 50-0, at Honolulu Stadium. As part of that team, Botelho was inducted into the UH Sports Circle of Honor in 2000. “I didn’t start that game (at Nebraska), but quarterbacks kept getting hurt.
So I end up in the game at halfback, a sophomore,” Botelho said in a 2009 Honolulu Star-Bulletin interview. This was before players specialized on offense or defense, and Botelho was one of just two defensive backs as UH crowded the line of scrimmage to negate Nebraska’s size advantage. “They ran the option and threw maybe three passes at the most,” Botelho said.
Continue to the original source for the full article.