It’s not hard to see what drives Edmond Acoba. As a juvenile public defender for the past 11 years, he is engulfed everyday in a sea of youth crime. So his commitment to the youth of Kaua’i, and to the
It’s not hard to see what drives Edmond Acoba.
As a juvenile public
defender for the past 11 years, he is engulfed everyday in a sea of youth
crime.
So his commitment to the youth of Kaua’i, and to the betterment of
those youth, comes as no surprise.
At the end of October, that commitment
was honored by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) when the
organization named Acoba its HEROES winner from the state of Hawai’i. The
selection will pay him $100 personally, and provide a $400 to Kekaha Pop Warner
football.
The SGMA also hands out a national award. Acoba was selected as
one of 10 finalists for prize, which would bring $15,000 to his
charity.
The awards, handed out to one person from all 50 states (and one
for the District of Columbia), are intended to honor those who, through their
unique commitment and humanitarian spirit, have made an exceptional and lasting
contribution to the pursuit of sports excellence, sportsmanship, participation
or opportunity within their community.
Acoba far exceeds those
requirements.
“I’ve been involved with Pop Warner for 13 years, been a
youth baseball coach, youth basketball coach, a coach with the Kekaha School
track team,” Acoba said. “And I’ve been involved with Special Olympics and been
an official for the KIF in football and basketball.”
He’s also the Food
Booth Chairman for his church.
And before you run out of breath trying to
comprehend how Acoba keeps up, don’t overlook the fact that the man has a wife,
Holly, and two kids, Michael (8) and Beau (7) pining for his time at
home.
“You just put in a lot of time after work, and my vacation periods
and weekends are consumed with activities or fund-raisers,” Acoba said. ” I
sacrifice a lot of my involvement with my kids, but they’re very supportive and
understand that what I’m doing is for the best for all the kids on the island,
those who might be less fortunate.”
Pop Warner has received Acoba’s largest
investment of time. He became a coach in Kekaha in 1987, doing that until 1992.
In 1993, he took over as president, and has been riding that ever
since.
“It’s all about the kids,” Acoba said. “There are so many negative
things that I see out there everyday between drugs and violence. I just want to
provide as positive of an environment as possible for these kids out
there.”
In fact, the more talking Acoba does, the more apparent it becomes
that athletics really are second to providing positive influence.
“I try to
encourage all of the volunteers I recruit to get these kids to set goals,”
Acoba said. “And then encourage them to take what they learn on the field and
apply it off the field.”
Acoba feels he, and the organizations he has been
involved with, have helped to steer many kids to college who might otherwise
not have attended.
“It’s really neat to get a call from those kids when
they grow,” he said. “I see them in their careers and I know I’ve been blessed
to be around them. It gives me goosebumps.”
And those kids are blessed to
be around him.
