Driven to succeed

By BILL O’REAR

Tribune-Herald sports editor

“Student athlete.”

It’s a term often used to describe high school and college athletes who fare well in the class room and on the playing fields, courts or diamonds. Of course, the description can be overrated when the word “student” doesn’t always go hand in hand with the athlete.

But when you do actually see what a student athlete can accomplish in those two intersecting worlds, it can be a breath of fresh air and underlines the fact that a dedicated individual can truly shine as a student and an athlete.

St. Joseph High School’s Thomas Fairman and Sebastian “Sebi” Ohara-Saft are prime examples of true student athletes. In four years at the small private school in Hilo, the current seniors have cumulative grade point averages above 4.0 and prepared themselves academically to succeed at the collegiate level.

During the first semester this year, Fairman had a 4.3 GPA and ranked No. 2 in his senior class. He scored a 2150 on the SAT test. Ohara-Saft had a 4.3 GPA and ranked No. 7 amongst the seniors. He had a 1950 SAT score.

Both players have also starred on the Cardinals’ Division II basketball powerhouse during their four years, including playing critical roles in the squad’s Big Island Interscholastic Federation D-II championship in 2009 along with then senior Jacob Andrade and junior Will Scanlan-Leite. It was the school’s first league crown since 1974.

The first three seasons, Fairman, a 6-foot-6 center, and Ohara-Saft, a 6-1 shooting guard, played under the late Harry Scanlan-Leite; the last two years under Scott Saft, Sebi’s father who was a co-coach with Scanlan-Leite in 2010 when the former St. Joseph mentor battled cancer.

“It’s extremely impressive what both Thomas and Sebi have done in the class room and on the basketball court over the past four years,” Scott Saft said. “They’ve stuck together and haven’t let anything change their overall focus.

“For Sebi, we gave him guidance when he was younger to provide time for homework. But his school work has never been an issue and he’s worked hard academically. It’s been a breeze for him and he’s always understood the importance of both academics and sports, and how to do well in both.”

Fairman has applied to 10 colleges, including Stanford, his first choice if a financial package can be worked out. And no matter where he goes, he’d like to sit out or redshirt the first year and then try out for basketball after that.

“I’d love to go to Stanford,” he said. “If I do, I’m going to focus on academics. I’m going to go into some kind of engineering, but I’d still like to play basketball on the side, maybe in intramurals.”

Ohara-Saft has applied to nine colleges, mostly smaller NCAA Division III schools with strong academic programs. Eight of the schools are on the West Coast, the other one on the East Coast.

“I’m looking at a strong academic school so I can get a good education,” Ohara-Saft said. “I’m not sure what I will major in yet, but I want to play basketball if I get the chance. I’ll probably choose one of the schools on the West Coast.”

The last two summers, Fairman and Ohara-Saft played on the Iolani Raiders traveling team that competed in tournaments in Las Vegas. The talented Big Island duo fit in well with the Oahu cagers and more than held their own against quality mainland competition.

Then in the Moanalua Preseason Basketball Tournament in December, Fairman and Ohara-Saft led the small-school Cardinals to an overtime upset of state D-I powerhouse Iolani, stamping St. Joseph as a state D-II title contender and allowing the Card standouts to smile a little bit wider as their Big Island team stunned the heavily favored Raiders.

“It was great to beat those guys because we were teammates with some of them during the summer,” Ohara-Saft said. “In beating them, it earned our small St. Joseph team some respect around the state. It showed we could play with them on a given night.”

Fairman agreed: “It was a big win, and everyone on our team contributed. It was very satisfying to beat them over there.”

Thomas is the son of Paul and Wanda Fairman of Hilo. He has two brothers, Alex, 24, and Matthew, 15, a freshman on the St. Joseph squad; and a sister, Alana, a promising 8th grade St. Joseph student athlete who plays basketball and volleyball.

Alex Fairman, a 6-3 forward, played his junior year of basketball at Hilo High under the late Larry Manliguis and finished his prep career on the mainland. He attended the University of Southern California on an academic scholarship and graduated in four years. He is currently working on a postgraduate degree. Father Paul played baseball at UC-San Diego while mom Wanda was a prep basketball star on the East Coast.

“Obviously, we’re very proud of Thomas and all of our children,” Paul Fairman said. “But Thomas has worked really hard and it’s nice to see both Thomas and Sebi be recognized for their efforts in school and in basketball.”

Sebi is the son of Yumiko Ohara and Scott Saft, both professors at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Scott, at 6-6, is a former high school and NCAA Division III basketball standout from the East Coast and proudly taught his son how to play the sport. Yumiko didn’t play basketball, but she attends all the St. Joseph games and nervously cheers and “coaches” from the stands.

The couple met on Oahu in the early 1990s, got married and spent five years teaching in Japan. Both Sebi and Scott speak fluent Japanese.

“I went to pre-school in Japan and eventually finished up second grade there,” Sebi said. “It was a great experience living in a different culture and learning to speak a different language.”

But after the Ohara-Safts returned to Hawaii and moved to the Big Island, Sebi ended up going to St. Joseph and flourished in school and basketball. The experience of playing at a small private school has worked out well for both Cardinal student athletes.

“I’ve enjoyed going to St. Joseph,” Sebi said. “It’s a small school that provides its students with some good opportunities. School is crucial and combining both academics and sports has made me sharper as a person. I’ve had to manage my time to be able to fit everything in. It hasn’t been easy but I’ve really enjoyed my overall experience of being part of a small school.”

“I think it’s really important to be a student athlete,” said Thomas, who was also recently named the school’s homecoming king. “You’ve got to take school seriously because it’ll help you in the future while basketball is there on the side. It’s all fun, but it’s also a lot of hard work.”

And now with their senior year winding down, Fairman and Ohara-Saft are looking to take the Cardinals as far as they can in the BIIF playoffs and hopefully the state D-II tournament on Oahu. The BIIF will send two teams to the states this year, scheduled Feb. 22-25.

Fairman and Ohara-Saft also realize this may be a last hurrah for the proud St. Joseph basketball program — one that in the 1970s drew 3,000 fans to Hilo Civic when the Cardinals took on heated rival Hilo High. St. Joseph only has a varsity team this year and only two freshman on the squad — Matthew Fairman and Koa Galves. That, coupled with a dwindling enrollment, could mean the Cardinals won’t field a varsity basketball team next year.

But both Thomas Fairman and Sebi Ohara-Saft want to focus on this year, capping what has been a remarkable four years by these outstanding student athletes. They’ve worked hard in class and on the court, and will be remembered for all of their success in those intersecting worlds.

Email Tribune-Herald sports editor Bill O’Rear at borear@hawaiitribune-herald.com.