More than 100 people attend the May 31 retirement
celebration in Wahiawa, Hawaii, of educator John Sadowski. That’s one
indication of Sadowski’s positive impact during a 41-year career.
Sadowski graduated from Linfield in 1970 with a bachelor
of science degree. In 1971, he earned a master of education degree. As a
student, he was member of the Linfield football and track & field teams.
He started teaching in 1971 at Leilehua High School in
Wahiawa, initially as a physical education/ health teacher and head junior
varsity football coach. Later, Sadowski joined the varsity football staff as an
assistant to head coach Hugh Yoshida (Linfield Class of 1962).
During his time at Leilehua his duties included being
boys’/girls’ track & field co-head coach and JV and later varsity boys head
basketball coach. He also was head coach of boys’/girls’ golf and served as
acting athletic director. He also served as a career guidance counselor and
head of physical education/health.
He left Leilehua and for three years was in the Hawai’i
Department of Education central
office in teacher development working with new kindergarten through 12th
grade teachers. Returning to Leilehua, he served as a teacher mentor, initially
for new teachers and then all teachers.
Looking back on his career, Sadowski says, “I was
blessed to have great coaches in high school and college. Being mentored by
Hugh during my tenure at Leilehua
was special. Linfield was a big part of
my life. I was grateful to share what I've learned from my Linfield coaches, Paul Durham, Ted Wilson, Roy Helser, Hal Smith; Ad Rutschman, Ted Henry and John
Knight and student coaches Tony Ah Yat and Pete Dengenis. Professors Wilson, Helser, Durham, John Boling, Ray Befus and Roy Mahaffey and many others positively impacted my growth and
development, too.”
His
hard work as a mentor, teacher and coach were acknowledged in April when he was
given the high school’s first “Leilehua
Way Award” honoring his leadership, humility and service.
As busy as he was at Leilehua, he has made and
continues to make a positive impact in Ewa Beach, where he lives
with his wife, Sharan, and mother, Wilda.
In retirement, he'll continue helping fight a flood of litter on Ewa Beach. Sadowski created Save Our Surf and
Seals which holds monthly cleanups of the Ewa Beach and channel. For his efforts, he has been
honored with:
- a 2009 Laulima Award -- presented to him in the state capitol in Honolulu -- for helping keep Hawaii beautiful.
- a 2012 "Good Neighbor Award" for making significant contributions to the City and County of Honolulu’s Storm Water Quality programs.
